January 18, 1977
El Paso Softball Hall of Fame Association had a real problem on its hands when it came time to award the Mr. Softball title in 1975.
Their “Mr.” was really a “Mrs.” – Evie Monticone – who has been promoting and coaching girls’ softball in El Paso since the 1960s.
After a little thought, they changed the name of the award to the “Mr. And Ms. Softball” and happily awarded it to Mrs. Monticone – who has been promoting and coaching girls’ softball in El Paso since the 1960s.
Softball and baseball have been Mrs. Monticone’s love since she was a little girl growing up in Chihuahua, Mexico.
Her mother died when she was six – leaving her father and godmother to bring her up. She had no brothers, so her father, a good baseball player himself, was pleased when she got interested in sports.
“I would go with him to games. He really encouraged me. I played baseball with the boys and he liked that – although my godmother didn’t really approve,” she says.
She admits it was rather unusual for a girl growing up in Mexico to be allowed to play baseball. “They didn’t like to see girls participating in sports – it wasn’t ladylike.”
In the United States, it hasn’t been until recently parents encouraged girls to participate in team sports. “Now parents see the girls are not getting hurt. Girls enjoy sports just as much as the boys.”
Yet, she also sees a difference in girls and boys playing sports.
“Girls can play just as aggressively as the boys, just not under the same rules. The only sport I don’t like for girls is football, because of the roughness.
“Boys go out to compete and win. Girls like to excel at a sport, but it’s not as necessary to win.”
Mrs. Monticone more or less volunteered herself into a job with Parks and Recreation.
Helping to organize softball and basketball for girls of the Optimist, she had her hands full – hundreds of girls and not enough facilities.
She came to the city to ask for help, the city agreed, and also asked if she wouldn’t like to work for the City doing the same thing.
Mrs. Monticone began working part time in 1969, as the seasons needed, first helping then director Gene Stogner with basketball, then with the football program.
“For girls’ softball, I used to go to the schools and have the principals tell the kids about the summer program for girls. We’d meet after school and I’d take names.
“I would end up with 30-40-50 kids but no coaches. So I’d call the PTA and their parents. Mostly they said, ‘no, I’m sorry, I can’t do it,’ or, ‘I don’t have enough time.’ But I always ended up with someone glad to coach or at least try. Once I got him or her into it, he was generally hooked!”
Under her guidance, the program expanded so quickly, she now has 75 teams, with the average of 16 per team. She has also built up 18 teams of girls’ basketball, and is now opening basketball to women 16 and over.
Her expansion of the programs has only created more work for the mother of three (Joe, 21, Martha, 19, and David, 17). Because she is responsible for scheduling all these teams’ games.
“If somebody wants to enter the league, they can call me or come down. We do have a deadline to allow me enough time to work on a schedule.”
She divides teams into different areas of the city or leagues. “If there are only four teams, they play each other three times. Six teams is perfect. I schedule a double round-robin (each team plays the others twice) for a 10-game schedule.
“Our basic problem is finding locations. For instance, Delta Recreation Center is busy from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. on Saturdays with 10 games.”
Because of the reaction she has had when softball and basketball are offered, Mrs. Monticone hopes she will be able to expand athletics for women and girls Volleyball is the next sport on her list.
“There are a lot of girls who would like to do something – if it were offered to them.”
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