Joe LaFountaine

 

Elected : USSSA New York Hall Of Fame in 2016
Inducted : March 2017, Syracuse, NY
 

Joe was born in Syracuse New York and graduated from Corcoran High School,  He started playing softball in 1968 at the age of 18. Over the years he has played in town, village, county and city recreational leagues.

Working for the Syracuse Parks and Recreation, he maintained the grounds on the city softball fields for many years. He coordinated and ran the old Poorhouse West Softball League for 10 plus years. At age 21 he became an USSSA Umpire and has been alternating between playing and umpiring nights and weekends for almost 50 years.  He has umpired in many local, state, regional and divisional USSSA Championships.  When fall comes around he continues to coordinate a Sunday Morning Fall Softball league in the memory of past Umpire and USSSA Hall of Fame member, Steve Wilson. In the winter he fills his time refereeing City Recreation Co-ed Volleyball.

He has been an active member of the Syracuse City Rec Softball Board of Directors for over 40 years. Being a captain, manager and team sponsor for many teams over the years in both leagues and tournaments has been a wonderful experience leading to many lifelong friendships.

Joe and his wife Cindy live in Syracuse and have 3 children and 4 grandchildren.

A special thank you to Randy Hoose and Hoosey’s Dog House.  His most recent team is one of the best in Central New York. I have had the privilege of playing on the Monday night team at Maxwell park the last 12 plus years.  Many of the players from that team also play together in the City Rec league on Thursday and have been champions for 2 of the last 4 years.