Minnesota softball legend Lou Heller continues building legacy

With only a roster of 10 players, they played in multiple games almost every weekend.

"It seemed like every weekend, two games a week most of the time," Heller said. "Some years we played at least 100 or so games."

After making the switch to fast-pitch softball, Heller's team took first place in 1977 in its district under the Amateur Softball Association. Heller continued his winning ways from there, securing 31 first-place finishes, 12 championships, 12 second-place finishes and five MVP awards.

Heller played legion baseball his senior year of high school, graduating in 1971, but he fell in love with fast-pitch softball. According to Heller it was the pace of the game that set it apart.

"Fast pitch was such a quick game," Heller said. "Everything is so much quicker, and I just fell in love with the game and said this is what I want to do."

It didn't take too many pitches on the softball field for Heller to realize it wasn't something he would give up, even once he got married in 1976.

"I told my wife, my love is to play fast-pitch softball," he said. "I said that’s one of the stipulations that I’m going to be playing ball. I want you to be along, and she said I’m on board, and she’s stuck with me this whole time. She’s been to just about every game."

Heller has maintained a humble persona throughout all of his success, insisting that it’s about the team, not the individual. According to teammate and at-times opponent Brian Johnson, Heller still plays with the same passion now as he did when he was younger.

"He is all about having fun yet still has that inner fire to want to win every game," Johnson said. "With Lou in the circle, you truly felt that you could win every game if you could just scratch out a run or two. He never blames anybody for a loss, he always points back to himself and says, 'I should have thrown better.' He made everyone around him better and was the epitome of what a teammate is all about."

Heller worked just as hard on the field as he did off the field when preparing for the season.

"I do my spring training kind of like the Twins do," Heller said. "I put a mattress up. I got a tree that I propped a mattress against, got the strike zone printed on it. Go out and throw 100 pitches and do that every other day, maybe every three days. Just try to stay in shape so I can keep going."

Off the field Heller was building pole barns and hog barns for a company out of Ormsby, Minnesota. After that he moved onto building houses until he got sick of working out in the cold, moving over to working in a cabinet shop.

"They were looking for more workers, and I was getting to that age where being inside sounded a lot better than being out in the cold," Heller said.

The now 70-year-old Heller is still competing, however, with his next tournament taking place this weekend. He is still giving it his best with no plans of stopping anytime soon.

"I go out and give 100%, which back in the day was probably only 80% now [laughs]. I just enjoy playing the game."

Heller is taking it season by season, stating that he will stop when his body tells him to stop.

"I start in the spring. If my body says go ahead, I do it. If I start to realize that my body can’t do it anymore, I’m going to hang it up," Heller said. "I tell them it’s one year at a time."