Jack Wolf – (1998)

When one looks for a dynamo of human action in promoting sports teams and leagues on the local level, the City of Lorain was most fortunate in having the likes of the late Jack Wolf in the early 1950’s until his untimely death on July 18, 1988.

He found time, when he wasn’t politically active as a Lorain County Board of Elections director, to sponsor teams bearing the name of his South Lorain clothing store, “Wolf’s Dry Goods.” For the most part, his teams were comprised largely of African-American and Hispanic youths, many of them from Lorain’s growing Puerto Rican community.

Older baseball players also learned of Wolf’s dedication to the local sandlot scene. His entry in the Lorain Men’s City Class “A” Baseball League was a virtual “little United Nations” with its ethnic diversity. Four of his players who are already enshrined in the Lorain Sports Hall of Fame include: Carl Hartman (1980), Ken Farschman (1994), Tom McConihe (1995) and Ron Bobel (1997). His manager, gruff and tough Wally Knitter, is a 1976 LSHOF enshrinee.

In 1958, Wolf’s lightly regarded “A” team shocked local tournament teams to advance as the Lorain County entry in Cleveland’s top amateur tournament. Again heavily underrated, Wolf’s team beat heavily favored teams from Cleveland, Lakewood, Akron and Canton enroute to a berth in the National Amateur Baseball Federation tournament in Flint, Mich. After winning their first two games, Wolf’s team was ousted by the Memphis, Tenn., team that went on to win the national championship.

Wolf’s team won the 1959 Lorain City Class “A” championship which, sadly, was the last year for Class “A” men’s baseball in Lorain. Undaunted, although stymied in his efforts to build a lighted field in Lorain, he formed the Lorain Harbormen and entered them in the tough Lakewood Class “A” League.

His interest in youth baseball carried over into the Lorain Little League which he served as president. He was a major force behind the development and construction of Columbus Park, a four-field complex on Lorain’s west side that still remains home to the Lorain Little League.