November 24, 2024
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Streator to celebrate 1983 high school softball champions with Champions Day, honorary street naming

Glass Street to be commemorated as Honorary Lady Bulldog Way

By Derek Barichello
Streator Mayor Tara Bedei (left) and Alexandria "Zami" Mogill Hay hold up copies of the proclamation declaring June 10 as Champions Day in Streator and the book "Beyond Their Wildest Dreams" at the Wednesday, May 17, 2023, Streator City Council meeting.

Streator Mayor Tara Bedei (left) and Alexandria "Zami" Mogill Hay hold up copies of the proclamation declaring June 10 as Champions Day in Streator and the book "Beyond Our Wildest Dreams" at the Wednesday, May 17, 2023, Streator City Council meeting. (Derek Barichello)

June 10 will be Champions Day in Streator.

In honor of the Streator High School softball team winning the IHSA championship June 10, 1983, Mayor Tara Bedei read a proclamation during Wednesday’s council meeting with members of the state title team present and then the City Council voted in favor of commemorating Glass Street near the high school softball diamond as Honorary Lady Bulldog Way.

Glass Street near the Streator High School softball diamond will be renamed Honorary Lady Bulldog Way.

Glass Street near the Streator High School softball diamond will be renamed Honorary Lady Bulldog Way. (Derek Barichello)

The 1983 softball team remains Streator’s lone team state title winner.

Bedei said she read newspapers from 1983 prior to Wednesday’s meeting learning the championship came 11 years after Title IX and eight years into the school’s program, and she found it interesting 1,000 girls followed the team into the auditorium for the celebration.

The team’s pitcher Zami Mogill Hay thanked the City Council on Wednesday for the proclamation. She said she and her 18 teammates “grew up playing ball,” noting the community was a great place to grow up. She said her father A.T. Mogill, who coached the team, put an emphasis on team, crediting each and every individual. She also said the team is grateful to the community.

When asked if the team was lucky on its run to the state title, she said her late father A.T. answered the players were lucky to have grown up in a community receptive to women’s athletics, in a place where time and resources were given for each of them to play the game and grow.

Mogill Hay also shared copies of “Beyond Our Wildest Dreams,” which tells the story of the team, and is edited by historian Richard O’Hara.

The team itself will be hosting an open house-style “Night of Champions” at the Streator PNA Hall from 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 10. There will be a cash bar and light snacks at the meet-and-greet event with memorabilia from the state championship season on display.

Bedei said signage will be put up for Honorary Lady Bulldog Way, noting there are no residents or businesses on that portion of street, so there will be no confusion with mail delivery.