The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas will add their 17th and 18th inductees in the World Baseball Softball Confederation Hall of Fame after administrator Burket Dorsett and coach Godfrey ‘Gully’ Burnside were added to the list last week.

During the WBSC’s Extra Ordinary Congress in Gaborone, Botswana, it was agreed that Dorsett and Burnside will be among 14 honourees from seven countries enshrined in the class of 2018.

The Hall of Fame Commission elected Dorsett for his role as an administrator, having served as the immediate past president of the Bahamas Softball Federation and the current president of the ECAST, the English-speaking body for softball in the region.

Burnside, the immediate past president of the New Providence Softball Association, has served as an BSF executive and is a long time manager/coach of the men’s national softball teams.

They join Colombia’s administrator Luis Diaz Ramirez; Canadian player Doug Chase; Guatemala’s player Diane Lucia Duarte; Hong Kong’s player Johnny Lau Kwok; New Zealand’s players Jerrad Martin and Fiona Timu; Australia’s players Melonie Roche and Natalie Ward; Colombia’s coach Raymundo Narvaez; Panama’s umpire Roberto Peralta and New Zealand’s Bob Leveloft and Guatemala’s Andrew J. Sherman for their Meritorious Service.

“WBSC welcomes these new Softball Hall of Fame inductees and their home federations for helping to shape history and our sport,” said newly elected WBSC Softball chairman Tommy Velazquez.

“WBSC Softball Hall of Fame members represent not only years of the highest excellence on the international stage, but also years of service and dedication to building our global sport.”

Velazquez thanked the Hall of Fame Commission for their diligent selection of the legends who will be enshrined. The class of 2018 now raises the total number inducted to 225 since it was established in 1981 and held every two years.

The WBSC is headquartered in Lausanne Switzerland, known as the Olympic capital of the world. It is the governing body for baseball and softball and has 184 national federation and associate members in 128 countries and territories across Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and Oceania.

The Bahamas was represented at the congress by BSF president Ted Miller and secretary general Daphne McKinney. The Bahamas Baseball Association was also in attendance and represented by president /Sam Rodgers, vice president Terran Rodgers and secretary general Oria Wood-Knowles.

During the working sessions, Miller served on the Playing Rules Commission where updates and discussions of the new rule book and changes to the playing rules took place.

There were a total of 12 new rule changes, which will be interred into the new formatted rule book for 2018-2021.

McKinney served on the Women in Sports Commission as the vice chairman and a member of the Athletes Commission. The aim of both commissions were to increase the number of women and countries participating in senior women’s competition, increase the number of women as technical officers and director’s roles as well as increase the opportunities for girls and women with disabilities, both locally, nationally and internationally.