(Atlantic) The late Mel Allen was inducted into the 2022 Atlantic Softball Hall of Fame in a ceremony on Friday night. Mel’s daughter Susan and her family were on hand to accept the award.
Mel Allen is a true pioneer of girls’ softball in Atlantic. Seeing a definite need for a team, Mel created the girls’ softball town team and coached that team during the 1968, 70, and 71 seasons. Under coach Allen, this team was very successful and did well in the girls’ tournament play. But as many of the schools in the Hawkeye Eight began to adopt girls’ softball as part of their high school sports offerings, it became increasingly difficult for Coach Allen to schedule games with local teams. If girls’ softball was going to continue in Atlantic, it was going to have to be with a high school sponsored program and Mel became the driving force behind the creation of the Atlantic High School softball program.
Mel first introduced the idea of high school softball at the October 1969 school board meeting. After some debate, however, the school board denied his request. Not to be deterred, Mel organized a grassroots effort to include softball and returned to the school board the following year. Mel’s persistence paid off, as the school board voted at the November 13, 1971 meeting to adopt softball as a high school-sponsored sport. Mel’s knowledge and expertise in the game of softball became a critical part when making preparations to launch the first team in the spring of 1972.
Mel stayed active in softball until he passed away in October of 2009. It was his hard work, persistence, and dedication that have allowed so many players in Atlantic to enjoy the sport they love… softball. There would be no conference championships or state tournament appearances without Mel Allen, the newest member of the Trojan Softball Hall of Fame.
