A Home Run
Bonita Springs Little League Turns 50
To many Americans baseball is still the national pastime. Case in point: The Bonita Springs Little League is celebrating its 50th anniversary. That’s a half-century for the bat-and-ball game played by the community’s kids, ranging in age from 4 to their teens.
This spring season marks Bonita Springs Little League’s 50th consecutive year as a chartered league under Little League International, Inc. “We are creating a special 50th anniversary patch for the players to wear on their jerseys,” says Billy Cobb, the president of the league, who was a player with the Bonita Springs Little League in the 1980s.
The league’s roots can be traced back to the mid to late 1960s, when Reverend George Dunn worked to develop a league in Bonita Springs. He only had three teams, so he combined with Fort Myers Beach in order to play games. In the spring of 1969, Bonita Springs Little League was chartered through Little League International. Ball games were originally played on the ball field located in the heart of Bonita Springs at Riverside Park, before moving to the league’s current location behind the Bonita Springs Library, off of Pine Avenue.
Fifty years later Bonita Springs Little League operates as a nonprofit organization that fielded 25 teams last year at the community park that has three baseball fields and one softball field.
From humble beginnings the organization’s teams have competed for and earned several championship banners over the decades. In 2018 the Junior Girls Softball team was named District 18 Champions for softball. On the baseball side of the league the senior boys played hard to become the Senior League Florida District 18 Champions, moving on toward a state championship, and in the next level of tournament play they earned the Senior League Florida Section 6 Champions for baseball.
This year, the league has introduced their own website that includes on-line reg
istration, tools for parents, and everything a team manager needs to keep parents up to date. Along with the improvement for player registration procedures, a new relationship is being built with the City of Bonita Springs. “We recently negotiated a new contract with the City of Bonita Springs for field usage, which included removing a per player fee the city was looking to charge the league for field usage. The removal of the city fee was championed by City Councilman Peter O’Flynn,” explains Cobb.
As to why little league continues to attract families, Cobb says, “Participating in little league creates lifelong friendships between coaches and players as well as player and player. It teaches sportsmanship as well as character, courage and loyalty. Which is the little league motto.”
For more information about Bonita Springs Little League, player registration, and league sponsorships, visit bonitaspringslittleleague.com.