Michael “Rammer” Ramirez
It has been said that there were certain players who for one reason or another always seemed to wake up batting .300. Mike Ramirez was one of those players. He started off at the young age of 10 playing in the Pueblo Parks and Recreation youth program at Pitts Junior High School. When Mike turned 19, he started playing for Leroy Trujillo at Bessemer Field with Nunez Tavern and Pat’s Hideaway. At age 22, Mike started playing with the Pueblo Bandits and played with the Bandits for seven years. Following his first stint with the Pueblo Bandits, Mike played another five years with the Houston Nine out of Houston, Texas. He returned home and played with the Pueblo Bandits for another fifteen years and eventually hung up his cleats at the age of 48 in 2016 after a fastpitch softball career of 38 years.
Mike’s record is impressive for the mere fact that he played an average of 20 tournaments per season. In those twenty tournaments per season, he was selected to All-Tourney or Most Valuable Hitter in at least five tournaments every season. That is over 100 selections during his playing days, but when you are having fun, it doesn’t get any better than this.
His knack for hitting was as pure as it could get. Mike played in over 12 International Softball Congress (ISC) World Tournaments, 8 North American Fastpitch Association World Tournaments (NAFA), 12 Amateur Softball Association (ASA) Major World Tournaments, and the Mexican American Fast Pitch Softball League in Newton, Kansas.
Following his playing days, Mike continued to give back to the sport he loved so much. He was an assistant coach at Lamar Community College (1997-1998) and at Pueblo South High School (1999-2000). Mike was an honored recipient of the “Commissioner’s Award” during the Joe Santos Memorial Fast Pitch Tournament in 2020.
Mike has continued his commitment to the community as a Probation Officer with the Colorado Judicial Branch in Pueblo for over 22 years. .
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John V. Hochevar (Posthumously)
The population of Pueblo’s southside increased by one when John Vernon Hochevar was born on July 7, 1923. Throughout the numerous family moves during his lifetime (by chance or design), he was always a “South-Sider” of Pueblo.
John grew up living on the corner of Pine and Indiana during the Great Depression. His family didn’t have much, but they did have enough to equip John with a bat, a ball, and a glove. That was enough to keep him busy, happy, and out of trouble . . . most of the time! He and a slew of neighborhood kids would spend most summer days playing ball on a vacant lot next to the water tower, a block south of his home. After their ball games, they most often could be found on the shores of Lake Minnequa at the Amusement Park. They couldn’t afford the rides at the park, but it was the cool waters of the public swim beach that held their attention. Unbeknownst to their parents, John and his buddies would occasionally swim back and forth across Lake Minnequa.
While attending Central High School, since Central did not have a baseball team at that time, he participated in the various City Leagues. In 1943, he was inducted into the U.S. Army and served in France, maintaining, and refueling Allied aircraft.
Soon after his return from military service, John found himself married with three children and a full-time job in the Rail Mill at the C.F.&I. It was at that time, he got involved in men’s fastpitch softball. John played on many good teams, most notably the VFW Post #61 team that participated in five consecutive national tournaments, winning three in a row – 1950, 1951, 1952, and finishing second in 1953.
Then that darn thing called “age” finally persuaded him to give up fastpitch (and fast-paced) softball. But that was okay because he knew the next generation of Hochevar ball players were in dire need of some specialized “fatherly” coaching. Around that same time, he discovered a sport that, after hitting the ball, required only walking . . . Golf!
As John grew older, he would often reminisce about the good old ball games and would take great pleasure in talking about some of the really good plays that his teammates made..
Alex Michelle Schultz
This inductee grew up playing baseball in Westcliffe, Colorado. Her freshman and sophomore years of high school were spent competing on the Custer County High School baseball team. She was the first female to play in the Hobbs Spring Baseball Tournament in Pueblo and would finish up her short baseball career by starting at 3rd base in the regional semi-finals as a sophomore.
Roy Allen Bonner (Posthumously)
Roy Bonner grew up on Pueblo’s southside and graduated from Central High School in 1966. He is the older brother to 2010 PSHOF inductee, Bobby Bonner. The Bonner brothers filled their childhood summer days with games of pickup baseball at Bruner Park. Nights before dinner were spent playing a quick round of catch in the front yard of their Bessemer neighborhood home.
Following graduation from high school, Roy briefly played semi-pro baseball for Sam Jones Mortuary. In 1970, he started playing fastpitch softball in the Pueblo City League and the Rocky Mountain Travel League. This is when his tremendous love for the sport of fastpitch softball began.
Roy was a fierce competitor and when the game was on the line, he was the one to steal a base, make a catch, or as a catcher, take a hit. As a member of the Blue Lady team from 1970 to 1982, along with his teammate and brother, they won six consecutive International Softball Congress (ISC) Southern State Championships. He also competed in six ISC World Tournaments. In one game at the 1978 ISC World Tournament, Roy helped their team set a tournament record for 38 assists in a single game against the eventual tournament champion from Saginaw, Michigan.
While Roy most often played the position of catcher, he was ready to play any position wherever he was needed. He was considered the ultimate teammate and always gave 100% to the game and his teammates every time he took the field. Roy’s longtime Blue Lady teammate and fellow 2011 PSHOF inductee, Lee Poteet, described him as, “the absolute team player, the type of player that every team needs in order to be successful!” He also spent seasons playing on the Hole-In-The-Wall and Stifino’s fastpitch softball teams.
Roy played against some of the best teams and faced the best pitchers in the world, at a time when men’s fastpitch was a competitive powerhouse. His fearless, competitive nature for the game laid the foundation for future members of the Bonner family, where fastpitch softball runs deep.
Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia played major fastpitch softball for more than 20 years from 1964 through 1985, locally, statewide, and nationally. He played in his first International Softball Congress (ISC) State Tournament at the age of sixteen and instantly recognized that fastpitch softball was going to become an essential part of his athletic career. Jerry was the consummate team player and believed that any Blue Lady success was due to a very good group of talented athletes who understood the importance of fostering teamwork in order to achieve success as a team.
As a member of the Pueblo Softball Association, Jerry played for the Foundation Installers, Stifino’s, Hole-In-The-Wall, and the Blue Lady softball teams, helping guide them to six ISC World Tournaments, six Southern Colorado State Championships, and one Rocky Mountain Softball Congress Travel League Championship.
Jerry was considered one of the best fielding and hitting third basemen in the state at the time. His individual accomplishments include numerous All-Tournament team honors, Gold Glove awards, MVP awards, and selection to the 1977 RMSC All Star team.
The 1979 season was one of Jerry’s most memorable. Jerry had seven (7) RBIs in a single game during the 1979 ISC World Tournament with the Blue Lady Lounge that included other PSHOF inductees Joe Scalese, Jim Bond, Lee Poteet, Kim Giordano, Bobby Bonner, George Dasko, Ray Razo, Fred Espinoza, and newly honored 2022 inductees Jerry Garcia and Roy Allen Bonner. He was selected MVP of the Rocky Mountain Travel League, led the Travel League in RBIs (19), was Travel League runner-up in runs scored (20), was error-free in 76 games, and ended the season with a .339 batting average.
His treasured memories include the opportunity to compete with and against some of the most talented athletes in the state, in front of the most dedicated and loyal fans anywhere, while representing Colorado’s best fastpitch softball association of the time.
Joey Borjon (Posthumously)
A respected pillar in the Pueblo athletic community, 2022 Pueblo Softball Hall of Fame inductee Joey Borjon always demonstrated and demanded scrupulousness and integrity as a player and as an official.
Joey was born and raised in Pueblo where he grew up playing softball as a youngster at Bessemer Park (now Santos Field at Ray Aguilera Park). As did many young men growing up on Pueblo’s southside, made the transition to the Pueblo Men’s Softball League.
Umpiring was his calling. Joey umpired fastpitch and slo-pitch for many years at various levels. He umpired baseball at the collegiate level for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and was in charge of training umpires at the Runyon Field Sports Complex in Pueblo for many years.
Joey was one of the most respected high school basketball officials in the state and officiated thirty-two boys and girls state high school basketball championship games during his career.
Joey spent 30 years working as a security guard at Pueblo Central High School and 18 years in the same capacity at St. Mary Corwin Hospital.
Gerald “Weebs” Gomez
Gerald started playing fastpitch softball at age 9 in the Pueblo Junior Softball League. He grew up around the game and like many of the young players at that time, he progressed through the different Pueblo leagues until he reached the Pueblo City League. Once there he set his sights on Colorado state championships, then regional and national tournaments, eventually International Softball Congress (ISC) World Tournaments.
His fastpitch softball career has lasted over 50 years. Gerald has played in 16 ISC World Tournaments, numerous Amateur Softball Association (ASA) Nationals and North American Fastpitch Association AAA World Series Tournaments. His teams have several top five finishes in both the ISC World Tournament and ASA Major Nationals and have several Colorado ASA and ISC State Championships.
At the age of 48, Gerald pitched five games back-to-back to help the Pueblo Bandits with the 2008 ASA Colorado State Championship. At the age of 58, with multiple injuries to the Pueblo Bandits players, Gerald came off the bench and played five games to help the Pueblo Bandits win the prestigious 2018 Kelso Klassic in Kelso, Missouri. In 2019 at the age of 59, Gerald was called upon once again with the Pueblo Bandits to play five games in one day to pitch in the ASA Men’s Major Nationals.
Gerald played internationally with the Mexico National Team from 1981 to 1991. During his playing career with the Mexico National Team, Gerald won three titles and is a 1989 inductee into the Mexico Softball Hall of Fame. Gerald also played on the international stage with Havana (1981), Mexico City (1983), Panama City (1985), Sao Paulo (1987), and Buenos Aires (1989). During the 1980s and early 1990s, Gerald pitched in the Pan Am Games, Latin America Games, and the Caribbean Games.
To date, it is estimated that Gerald has played in over 7,000 games in his career.
Those who have grown up in Pueblo, followed the game at the height of its popularity, and having watched some of the top pitchers in action, can honestly say that Gerald “Weebs” Gomez was one of the top 10 pitchers ever in Pueblo softball history.
Currently Gerald volunteers his time instructing young Pueblo pitchers. Gerald will join his late father, Pat Gomez (2017) into the Pueblo Softball Hall of Fame.