Harbor softball pioneer Wayne Ross to be inducted into national hall of fame

Published 8:00 am Friday, February 27, 2026

When he ended his career as an educator in 2013, it seemed inevitable that Wayne Ross’ retirement plans would include playing slow-pitch softball.

As it turned out, lots of slow-pitch softball.

The 76-year-old former Hoquiam teacher and high school girls basketball coach (he also coached girls basketball in Aberdeen) estimates that he currently plays 280 recreational softball games per year in senior classifications.

Many of those are in leagues near his current home in Mesa, Arizona. But he also competes in national and world tournaments in his age group and makes a few trips per year to play in the Pacific Northwest.

One of the Northwest sojourns this summer will be particularly memorable. Ross will be inducted into the National Senior Softball Association Hall of Fame July 7 at the Wallace Marine Park in Salem, Oregon.

Not surprisingly, Ross will also be competing in the accompanying tournament, the Jim Sherman Memorial Northwest Championships. He is the leadoff batter and defensive rover for the Sacramento-based Omen team, which last year won the Triple Grand Slam (Western, East-West Nationals and World Championship tournaments) in the 75-and-over age group.

Although Ross has played adult slow-pitch softball for some 57 years, his latest honor wasn’t solely a lifetime achievement award. The NSSA organization’s Hall of Fame members are chosen through a points system based on Most Valuable Player and all-tournament selections in national and world tournaments.

Ross said he’s played on “six or seven” national championship teams.

“It is such an honor to be selected and to play softball at the highest level,” he said. “Only a few get to be selected in any sport’s Hall of Fame.”

An athlete at Hoquiam High School who still regards basketball at his first love, Ross became involved in recreational softball almost by chance.

While attending Grays Harbor College, he was visiting with friends Keith Reynvaan, Larry Lytle and Bob Paylor at the college’s cafeteria when they were encouraged by another student to form a team.

“We played with a 14-inch ball and wooden bats,” Ross recalled.

Ross and his friends played eight non-league games as a sort of tune-up — and lost them all. That was the last time, he remembered, that he played on a team with a losing record.

Joining standout athletes from both sides of Myrtle Street, the foursome then became stalwarts on the Upland Cedar team that was a perennial state-title contender in the late 1960s through the 1970s — widely considered to be the golden age of Grays Harbor adult slow-pitch. Ross’ fondest memory was beating arch-rival Gene Lobe Oil of Bremerton in front of a crowd estimated at 1,500 at Hoquiam’s Olympic Stadium in 1972.

After Upland Cedar ceased operations, the team was later sponsored by Crosstown Motors and eventually by Aro Glass. The Aro Glass Clubbers won 35 state titles, many of them in senior divisions.

According to Reynvaan, Ross was a bit slower than some of his counterparts to literally and figuratively get into the swing of things at the plate.

“But once he started hitting the ball, he was MVP or all-tournament in just about every tournament,” Reynvaan recalled.

But while most of his teammates either scaled back their appearances or retired from the sport, Ross increased his participation level. His reputation in Northwest and Arizona senior slow-pitch circles resulted in his recruitment by Omen and other national-class senior teams.

“I got better at it and that made me love the game more,” he said.

“When he comes up (to Grays Harbor), he’ll stop by the house and tell me he’s played in 280 some games that year,” Reynvaan added. “That’s dedication.”

Ross currently plays four or five days per week in Arizona leagues, primarily in the fall and winter. When the Arizona heat becomes too oppressive, he’ll join Omen for about eight high-level tournaments and also head north to play in an Oregon traveling league during the spring and summer.

The Oregon league has an added benefit for Ross. When the league plays in Southern Oregon, he’ll often stay at the Medford home of his former Hoquiam High basketball coach Jerry Anderson.

Usually sporting a batting average between .750 and .800, Ross remains productive in the high-scoring world of senior slow-pitch. His team roles, however, have been altered somewhat.

Once a slugger who often batted clean-up, he transformed into more of a line-drive hitter after shifting to the leadoff role. He made the transition seamlessly, batting .850 in a tournament in Palm Springs not long ago.

“My swing naturally evolved,” Ross explained. “I’d usually lead my teams in home runs and runs batted in every year. I don’t hit as many home runs now, but even being the leadoff batter, I’m usually in the top three in RBIs.”

Primarily a pitcher for more than 30 years, Ross discovered his mobility made him more valuable playing the field as a rover — someone who can serve as either an extra infielder or outfielder.

“I’m in pretty good shape because I play tennis,” he said. “That’s why I play rover, because I can move.”

Although a bout with plantar fasciitis (a painful heel ailment) sidelined him for a couple of months, Ross is back in action and looking forward to fulfilling his summer schedule.

His Grays Harbor friends who will make the trek to Oregon for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony shouldn’t expect Ross to mark the occasion with a retirement announcement.

“I enjoy the competition, the camaraderie and the friends you make,” he concluded.