STERLING — The smile on Jo-Ann Cummings’ face at the softball field dedication ceremony in her honor said it all.
The celebration took place April 27 at the fields on Griffin Road, which also marked the beginning of the 50th season of the Sterling Girls Softball Association (SGSA). Cummings was joined by family and friends, SGSA and Sterling Recreation Department staff, and many community members.
“I did not expect all these people,” said Cummings, who was visibly moved as she sat in a chair taking it all in.
Sterling Recreation Committee Chair Heidi Grady spoke about the longtime town resident who served 35 years on the recreation committee and her dedication to SGSA and activities in town, as a coach and umpire for softball and basketball coach among other things.
“We cannot thank her enough for her dedication to the players,” Grady said.
Grady mentioned that before a recreation director was hired, Cummings “volunteered countless hours” at Sholan Park and the town beach, and helped to launch many recreation programs, including the popular lake summer camp, band concerts, and holiday celebrations, “always with a smile.”
Former Sterling Recreation Department Director Kristen Dietel talked about Cummings dressing up as an elf to help Santa at the annual tree lighting, and called her “a cornerstone of our community.”
“You put your heart into every countless hour you volunteered,” Dietel said. “It did not go unnoticed.”
Cummings’ three daughters — Amanda, Melissa, and Samantha — and their families flew in for the occasion from Colorado, North Carolina and New York, and Cummings’ sister flew in from Florida.
Amanda, the youngest daughter, joked that she is “the most athletic” out of the three siblings, and praised her mother for “decades of coaching and umpiring in a male-dominated field” and helping to “expand tournaments.”
“Her home away from home, maybe her favorite home,” Amanda quipped about the softball field now named after her mother. “Let’s carry on what Jo Jo has started.”
Cummings’ younger brother Ron noted that in high school, his sister was “the best in basketball, field hockey, and softball.”
“She always had a quiet confidence about her,” he said.
He teased that you could hear her making umpire calls “from a million miles away.”
“Watching Jo-Ann in action was watching something special,” Ron said. “I am so proud of our family’s living legend. Way to go, big sister.”
Former recreation department committee member Andy Parker teased Cummings about “more or less forcing me to join the rec department” and said that when he was involved with SGSA as a coach when his daughter played, “You had no bones about barking at me.”
“Your influence helped me grow as a person,” Parker said to her.
Cummings was presented with gifts, a bouquet of flowers and a plaque with a picture and name of her field that read “leader, volunteer, mentor.” Then her family unveiled two signs attached to the fence around Jo-Ann Cummings Field, one with the name of the field and another that denoted the reason why it was named after her.
Following a sparkling cider toast that many current girls softball players also enjoyed, Cummings, who has lived in town for 48 years, called the day “amazing” and “humbling.”
“I love this community, and I love girls’ softball and all sports,” she said. “Anything that I can do with to help the community and help the girls, too.”
“I didn’t know I had quite a fan base,” she said with a smile.
She recalled that when she first got involved with recreation in town there were only three programs – and how former Sterling Recreation Department Director Judy Janda “ramped it up to 40 programs.” Cummings, who was the recreation committee chair for 10 years, humbly didn’t mention that she played a huge part in making all of those programs a reality.
She was invited down to the field named after her to throw out the first pitch, and posed for a picture with the two girls’ softball teams playing on the field afterwards.
“Your dedication … is immeasurable,” said current Sterling Recreation Department Director Shari Gonsorcik. “We will forever be grateful.”
