WATERVILLE – The nation is in desperate need of umpires, a problem that has reached Western Maine.
Ken Ellingwood has been a softball umpire for over 30 years. His love affair with the ballgame began when he played Little League at age 10. He has been on the field every single spring since, excluding only one year thanks to the COVID 19 pandemic. Years later, when his daughter began to play softball and he heard about the opportunity to become an umpire and spend even more time doing what he loves, he went for it. He is still out there on the field, over 50 years since he first started.
He currently works as Umpire-in-Chief for the Greater Waterville Softball Umpire Association (GWSUA). He made the move to Waterville when the Farmington umpire association was forced to close after the pandemic due to a lack of staff.
He explained that the average age of umpires is 59 years old; Ellingwood himself is 68 and often works with people over a decade older than him.
“There’s a critical need,” he said, especially for younger people. He would “hate to think what’s gonna happen,” looking down the road a few years, recalling that 10 years ago Maine had 400 officials. That number has since been halved. Umpires are necessary for the game of softball; last season, there were some games only covered by one umpire, which is a difficult feat and can interfere with the game.
Being an umpire is an opportunity to make a little extra money all while staying active. “It’s the perfect extra gig for anyone from a high school student, to a parent to a retiree,” a recruitment presentation declares.
Ellingwood has had the opportunity to travel all over the country as an umpire, going as far as Oklahoma City to call tournaments. “Travel is available if people are interested in moving up,” Ellingwood said, underlining the opportunities for any and all umpires who are willing to put the time in.
There is training available in the Waterville area. After that, there are opportunities to work at middle and high school games in the springtime and Junior Olympics tournaments throughout the summer. The GWSUA will supply the equipment needed to get prospective umpires started.
There are many ways to fit being an umpire into one’s life; Ellingwood emphasized that umpires can work as little or as much as they want: “This is a part time thing for all of us,” he said. “If you can only work one game a week, so be it.”
Anyone interested in becoming an umpire should contact Ellingwood at asaump@myfairpoint.net or 207-500-0278; Cleveland “Brownie” Brown, State Junior Olympics Commissioner at cebsports@hotmail.com or 207-314-1876; or Steve Belanger, District 6 Commissioner at belangersteve@hotmail.com or 207-649-4701.
