‘I love the game’: Rec league softball player JC Fundahn finally calls it quits … at age 86

JC Fundahn has only been playing softball for about 20 years, but said he’s finally going to hang it up this year.

After all, he is 86.

“Whenever I tell my friends about my dad (still playing) … they’re always like, ‘You’re kidding me, and ‘That’s amazing,’ ” Fundahn’s daughter, Kelly Curalli, said.

Raised in Massachusetts, Fundahn arrived in Spokane in 1965 after joining the Air Force and finishing his service at Fairchild. He’s been in Spokane since. A carpenter by trade, Fundahn contributed to much of the framework in the Indian Trails area. After retiring, Fundahn found softball.

“I love the game. I love the people,” he said.

He said he was introduced to Spokane’s softball church league two decades ago through Foothills Community Church, when his sister and brother-in-law were “trying to play.”

“They weren’t very good,” Fundahn said.

Back then, Spokane’s church softball league had upward of 10 teams, but recently the league has dwindled to four teams, with his Foothills Community Church being one of the teams that fell off.

Soon after, one of the coach-umpire combination players on the team approached Fundahn and asked why he didn’t play with the senior league.

“I said, ‘What’s the senior league?’ and they explained it to me,” Fundahn said.

Men 65 and over and women 50 and over are allowed to play in the co-ed Spokane Senior League during the spring and summer seasons. Among other rules, Fundahn mentioned the players are not allowed to slide into bases and are allowed pinch runners.

“I ended up going over (to the senior league),” Fundahn said. “That was about 2007, I think it said, when we started.”

Through the sport, Fundahn has made many friends. Often, he will see people he knows from softball whenever he goes on errands – including his cardiologist.

“(My cardiologist) is on my team today,” Fundahn said. “Of all these years actually playing, we were never on the same team.”

Although Fundahn claims this is his last season, this is not the first time he has tried to retire.

“When JC retired two years ago, both teams got together and they cheered for him and they gave him a gift,” Fundahn’s wife Kathleen said. “We went to watch a game and they said, ‘Would you please come back – we’re a player short?’ ”

“They wanted me to play right then and there,” Fundahn said.

Two years later, Fundahn is finishing out his last season as a Finity member.

As the league picks new teams every season, Fundahn has played for many teams such as the Codgers and the Silver Bullets.

“I think my dad is good for morale on the team,” Curalli said. “He’s got a positive attitude.”

Fundahn mentioned that many players have told him that he was their motivation to keep playing.

“He loves the game and he loves the camaraderie with all the other players,” Fundahn’s wife said.

Although he is retiring from play, Fundahn plans to continue his softball career through umpiring.

“They are short umpires in (the senior) league, so they want him to (umpire),” Kathleen said.

Fundahn has umpired nearly a dozen softball games. Next season, he hopes to umpire at least 20 games a week.

“(It’s not a lot) when you do a doubleheader,” Fundhan said. “When I was umpiring in the Christian league, I was doing four games (in a day). By the fourth game, I was tired.”

Fundahn is unafraid to change his calls if someone thinks what he called was wrong.

“But if I do blow one, and they tell me, I’ll change my mind. I have no reason why not to do it,” Fundahn said.

“That’s why I think I’m a decent umpire.”

Although Fundahn is retiring from playing softball, he has one last goal to accomplish in the sport.

“I plan to umpire until at least I’m 90,” Fundahn said. “That’s my goal.”