It was a family affair in Charlotte recently when two former star high school athletes
were inducted into a Hall of Fame.Casey Lanning White and brother-in-law Darrell Misenheimer were both
honored as inductees into the United States Slow-Pitch Softball (USSSA) Hall of Fame.
White’s husband, Tim, and
Misenheimer’s wife, Cathy, are brother and sister.
“I introduced Cathy to
Darrell. Then they got married before Tim and I did,” said Casey White, a 36-year-old
teacher and coach at West Rowan Middle School.
Both Casey White and Misenheimer
were star athletes at East Rowan High School, while Tim and Cathy White were standouts at
West Rowan.
Tim, like Casey and Darrell, has
been an outstanding softball player since high school.
“My husband’s all upset
because I got in (the Hall of Fame) before he did.He’s been the MVP of the national
tournament,” said Casey.
Misenheimer starred in football,
wrestling and track at East, then played at Clemson on a football scholarship.
Casey White starred in basketball,
softball and track at East and even played one year of tennis. She earned a
basketball-softball scholarship to Pfeiffer.
Misenheimer started playing
slow-pitch softball with H. Flora Steel when he was only 15, then played for teams like
Mike Steele’s Sporting Goods and Linn-Corriher.
A 325-pound power hitting catcher,
Misenheimer played for Gastonia Heating & Air Conditioning when it won the Class A
World Series in 1983. He went on to play for Howard’s Western Steer on two world
championship teams and Ritch’s Salvage, making All-America five times and all-state
nine times.
“I hit 386 (homers) or
something like that in one season, but they were throwing it underhanded,” quipped
Misenheimer, a staff member and coach at East.
The 42-year-old Misenheimer
remembers hitting six homers in one game, but isn’t sure how many he hit in his
career.
“It had to be between two and
three thousand homers. When you play 150 games a season, it’s not hard to get that
many,” he said modestly.
“I was a pretty good
defensive catcher. I would block the plate pretty good, I know that,” he added.
As for making the Hall of Fame, he
said, “I couldn’t believe it really. It’s just mind-boggling any time you
get in a Hall of Fame. ... To be one of the first ones inducted, that’s really
special.”
The USSSA Hall of Fame had its
first inductees only five years ago.
Casey White started playing
softball at about 10 or 11 years old when her father, Dale Lanning, was coaching
Sifford’s 76. She continues to play, except “when I’m having babies.”
She’s the mother of four future athletes.
She went to her first national
tournament inPearl, Miss., in 1982 with the Union County Merchants, who won both the state
and national Class B titles.
“When we won that national
tournament, I pitched seven straight games on Monday (Labor Day). We lost our first game
and came back and won,” she recalled. “That wasn’t a problem when the
adrenalin’s kicked in. When you’re winning, it’s fun.”
She went on to play a lot of
tournament softball with Easley’s Floor Covering of Kannapolis, playing in the first
women’s World Series, which had 12 teams entered from throughout the country.
“It was the 12 best teams in
the United States. It was just an honor to get to go,” she said. White went on to
play in several more world tourneys.
She also played locally for teams
like Jim’s Barbecue and Whitley’s General Store.
Lanning wasn’t a pitcher
until her senior year in high school, when East coach Fran Watson put her on the mound for
the first time.
“She knew Pfeiffer needed a
pitcher and that Jack Ingram (Pfeiffer’s coach) would be watching the game. I did
fine and got a full scholarship for basketball and softball,” she said.
“In that type of softball,
you can do different things with the ball, like a lot of arch or being able to catch it
and release it again quickly. Good defense helps too,” she said.
“I was a pretty good hitter,
but I relied on my speed more than my power,” she added.
“The banquet was wonderful.
When they started naming names that were in before me, it just made me feel good that I
could be recognized with those kind of people,” she said of the Hall of Fame
induction. |
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