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26

Jun, 2025

Celebrating Roy Gillespie

Today, PONY Baseball and Softball would like to honor and celebrate the life and legacy of Roy Gillespie. Today would have been his 97th birthday.

Gillespie dedicated his life to PONY. His love for youth sports began in his early days. He played baseball, football and basketball throughout high school and into his college years at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. He was inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001. He took his love for sports into the writing atmosphere, joining the Illinois State Register as a reporter and afterwards as a sports writer.

Upon moving to Washington, PA in 1958, Gillespie devoted his time to all aspects of PONY Baseball and Softball, serving as the Commissioner from 1964 to 1980 before holding the title of President from 1980 to 1995. After retirement, he continued to volunteer for PONY.

Gillespie also shared his passions in multiple organizations within Washington and beyond, some of which included the National Association for Sports and Physical Education Youth Sports Coalition, Elks Lodge 776, Washington Rotary Club, and the Washington County Community Foundation. He spent some of his proudest years as a U.S. Marine.

His impact lives on in many ways throughout PONY. He was inducted into both the PONY Wall of Fame and the Washington Greene County Sports Hall of Fame, but his heart for youth sports lives on at PONY Headquarters with one of his eight children, Karen Reese. Reese is the current Director of Softball Operations at PONY Baseball and Softball, a title she has held for 35 years. Her love for the game can be attributed to the passion she and her father shared.

Youth baseball and softball players around the world are able to continue playing the sport that they love because of Roy Gillespie. His resilience has never left Washington, PA as his life is dedicated each year at the conclusion of the Printscape PONY League World Series with the championship presentation of the Roy Gillespie Trophy.

He commemorated his experiences with PONY in “Pony Tales & Diamond Dust”, a book he co-wrote with his friend and PONY predecessor, Lew Hays.

Gillespie passed in 2002, but PONY will continue to watch his legacy live on for years to come.

Website Manager

News Detail

26

Jun, 2025

Celebrating Roy Gillespie

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