On Monday night, June 11th, my daughter Nikki gave me the sad news about Darlene Panfill’s passing. This information she found on Tiffany’s Facebook page TIFANY HURST-BAXTER. I can only imagine the suffering hubby Dave (married almost 53 years) and the rest of the family is going thru right now.

I first met Dar in 1963 at a Dick Dale King of the Surf Guitar dance of all places, when Dave showed up at the Harmony Park ballroom in Anaheim one night with his new girl friend, Darlene, in tow. These two, as well as Billy D, Mickey Wells, Mason, yours truly and quite a few other kids from Glendale, became regulars every Friday and Sunday nights for a year or more, until the place shut down in late 1964.

Dave and I had been playing softball and flag football for several years prior to 1963. Actually we go back to 1955 when Boomer and I moved in on Geneva Street in Glendale and found Sam, Irene, Marie, Marsha and Dave already there on Cedar Street. But I had to wonder what would happen to his sports playing activities once he got married. I need not have worried for a minute. Not only did Dar not bat an eye about her new hubby being gone every Monday and Wednesday night, it wasnt too long before she started showing up herself. She only on occasion kept score, but there was a ton of knitting, crocheting and “girl talk” going on among NSAA wives and girlfriends as they tended to the posse of little kids always on hand.

Furthermore, when we wanted to have an Awards Banquet at D&D’s Sun Valley home, something most wives would never agree to (and for damn good reason), Dar jumped right in and helped set it all up. Before it was over, she had hosted 8 of 'em. On more than a couple of occasions, im sure she must have doubted her own sanity for even considering such a thing. She also bid Dave a “Have fun, honey” every July for a 5-day weekend when the gang went down to Del Mar on the annual junket. And, nobody, including myself (and a whole bunch of single guys) ever made more of these trips than Dave did.

All this, plus the fact that Dar produced four of the NSAAs all-time best and most reliable players in Timmy (478 nights), Tiffany (210), Todd (446) and Courtney (7), in my mind makes her the official NSAA Spouse of the Century. No spouse contributed more. And that says a lot given all the wives and girl friends who came and went over the 55 years we played ball.

This is truly a very sad time. Dar was born in February 1947 and died at the too young age of 71. The memorial service was held at her church in Panorama City on Sat June 30 and the turnout was nothing short of amazing, especially the NSAA contingent which produced enough players to roll out the string and get a game going. Who showed up can be seen on the chipboard here. --commish