First season of Keohohou in the Women’s Softball League
After talking with Wilson for the first time on the phone, Keohohou solicited a trade from the Racers, where she’d won a championship in 2005.
“It was the right timing for me to be able to do that. When I first talked to Paul before it was official I was coming to the Glory, within the first five minutes of talking to him I was sold,” she said. “He’s very easy to trust. I like what he’s about and I want to be a part of it.”
So much so that Keohohou plans to move from Newbury Park, CA to become an instructor at the Glory’s indoor softball facility.
“I just told Paul, ‘I’m here for you. You tell me what I’m going to do,” she said. “I’m just going to wait until the end of the season and he’s going to be my boss and I’m excited about that because he’s a great boss to have.”
Wilson isn’t a typical team owner either. Sure he has a financial investment that’s linked directly to the team’s success but, in many ways, this endeavor is more personal than professional.
He first considered the idea of buying a franchise — the minimum start-up commitment is $300,000 — because his daughter, Gabriella, plays travel softball. Yet, over the past seven months, he’s essentially adopted a whole new family.
Each one of the players and both coaches — Dever-Boaz and assistant Erin Goettlicher — were handpicked following hours of extensive research and interviews — all with the idea that forming a relationship with the community meant as much as winning on the field.
“They are investing in what you are building and you are investing in who they are,” Wilson said.
It is a commitment the players accept without pause because the true rewards have nothing to be with cashing a paycheck.
Because of the league’s $100,000 salary cap, the average player makes between $2,500 and $5,000 for a 44-game season and virtually every one has an off-season job. Virginia graduate Sara Larquier, for example, coaches softball at St. Anne’s-Belfield in Charlottesville while outfielder Christa Dalakis, a George Mason grad, owns a fitness center.
Wilson hopes that will change one day.
“Every one of our players has to make sacrifices in their own careers,,” he said. “If the league was in a position where we could pay the ladies enough that they could forget about having a job right away then it might be different.
“I won’t be happy until the ladies don’t have to worry about whether their jobs will allow them to do this again next year.”
BUILDING A SOFTBALL WINNER
On a warm, cloudless evening in early July, Wilson’s focus isn’t on the future. Standing just a few feet from where Larquier is taking a practice swing in the batter’s box, the Glory’s charismatic owner stares pensively at the scoreboard.
It’s the bottom of the seventh inning and his team is trailing — a rare occurrence this season. The deficit gnaws at Wilson. He is not fond of losing. But he has unyielding faith in his players and firmly believes that a comeback is just a couple of swings away.
Perhaps the fans feel it, too.
A handmade sign reading Hoo Ray for Larquier pops up behind the right field fence and the familiar chorus of Queen’s “Fat Bottom Girls” — Larquier’s signature song — slowly fades away.
In front of the grandstand, which has suddenly come to life, 4-year-old Ellie Spencer doesn’t seem all that concerned. She looks up into the face of the furry, floppy-eared golden retriever leading the fans in a rally cheer and reaches out to give her a hug.
Gloria the K9, the team’s adorable mascot, winks in return and extends a large fluffy paw. Ellie smiles and tries to shove a pair of Thunderstix up Gloria’s nose.
She giggles playfully.
Then a roar of excitement drowns out the laughter.
Larquier has just sent a pitch from Michigan’s Ashley Hamby over the cardboard sign that bears her name for a leadoff home run. The game is tied.
Wilson pumps a fist in the air. The rally has begun. Moore reaches base after getting hit by a pitch, Nichole Thompson singles to center field and, with two outs, Catalina Morris gives the Glory a 3-2 victory with a line drive base hit down the right field line.
“This is a blast,” Wilson exclaims.
Heading into the final homestand of the regular season, Wilson still marvels at how everything fell into place so quickly.