Robert “Bo” Windy, Lanny Slevin Lifetime Achievement Award

Robert “Bo” Windy

LANNY SLEVIN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

SUBMITTED PHOTOS

Accomplishments

● A 1957 La Salle-Peru graduate, coached summer baseball for 25 years (19671992) ● Helped start Little League

District 20 and served as longtime D-20 administrator ● Driving force behind Peru hosting the Central States

Senior League Tournament ● Ran the Central States

Senior League Tournament from 1980-92, tournament is still hosted in Peru/Illinois

Valley to this day

By Brandon LaChance

Every summer Peru and Oglesby are flooded with baseball teams from several Midwest states such as Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri and Iowa, among others.

The reason is one of the best tournaments in the country – the Central Region Senior League Tournament.

If it wasn’t for Bo Windy, the tournament would never have landed in the Illinois Valley, and Peru wouldn’t be classified as a baseball hotbed.

“I started coaching with my children on the Minor League team and advanced into the Senior League team, which was 14-15-yearolds,” Windy said. “I took a couple of teams to the state tournament, and I always wondered where that team would go if you won a state tournament.

“In 1978, I wrote a letter to the Central States Senior League

WHERE are they NOW

Director, Scott Lowery, and he informed me of the prerequisites of it. He knew I was very interested in hosting that event even though I didn’t have anything lined up with anybody. I was the lone ranger, just inquiring.

“He said since I was so aggressive to get the tournament in Peru that he would need to meet me in Peru. We met in February (1978) and he walked the diamond at Washington Park. He thought the park was good, but it wasn’t adequate. He said it wasn’t looking good for us. I told him, ‘Scott, you give me two years and I’ll bring everything up to the standards.’”

Windy, a Class of 1957 La Salle-Peru graduate, has been around sports his entire life.

When he was in seventh and eighth grades, he was on basketball teams that played in the state tournament. He began coaching baseball in 1967 and didn’t stop until 1992. In those 25 years, he helped found Little League District 20 and was the administrator.

When Lowery granted him the two years, Windy knew his next sports endeavor as he made the updates and led the Central States Senior League Tournament from 1980-92.

For all he accomplished and gave to others, Windy is the 2022 recipient of the Lanny Slevin Lifetime Achievement Award for the NewsTribune’s Illinois Valley Sports Hall of Fame.

“The big reason was I wanted to prove to our kids in this area that our kids can play with the best players in the states the tournament covered,” Windy said. “I wanted to prove to our kids that they were as good as anybody. Over those 12 years, La Salle played in the tournament, which it hadn’t before. Peru played in the tournament, and it hadn’t before. When La Salle or Peru was playing, there were 4,000-5,000 people in the stands.”

His determination led the charge as Washington Park needed a fence, new lights and a scenic upgrade as the first game on the diamond was in 1923.

Also, in the 1970s and 1980s, a Central States host needed 35 homes for the players as each home housed two ballplayers, a banquet big enough to feed 500 people and hotel accommodations needed to be supplied for managers, coaches and umpires.

Not only did Windy and a willing group of volunteers meet the requests, but they went far beyond by giving each team a dozen baseballs and an aluminum bat. They even had guest speakers such as Ernie Banks, who played for the Chicago Cubs from 1953-1971 and is in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

“The first person I talked to was Mayor Don Baker,” Windy said. “He told me not to worry about anything and that the city of Peru will take care of everything. I said, ‘We need to get lights.’ At that time, the Peru mall was pretty busy, and they were pushing the city for some money.

“I said, ‘Would it be possible to put that $35,000 toward new lights into a special fund? We never asked the city for anything; we were self-sustained. We did everything possible to run the tournament on our own and not ask the city for help.

“Once I got Mayor Don Baker and the aldermen on our side, it was unbelievable. They put so much into that park in two years. They brought it up to scale. Scott Lowery said, ‘I can’t believe how much you got done.’”

Another accomplishment Windy will never forget is the summer of 1987 when a team from Athens, Ohio, not only won the Central Region Senior League Tournament but later won the Senior League World Series.

Looking back, Windy knows he accomplished all his goals as he gave kids the opportunity to prove themselves as great ballplayers, entertained his hometown with baseball, helped bring people to the Illinois Valley and made Washington Park adequate enough to where it still to this day hosts the Central Region Senior League Tournament.

Sue Heider Spencer Luecke Mark Witek Steve Witek Kristy Pytel Amy Noy

613 First Street • La Salle • 815.223.3332 witekwealthmanagement.com

Registered Representatives with and Securities and Advisory Services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor. Member FINRA & SIPC

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