Ken Laase
2017
Softball, Fastpitch-Womens
Born April 27, 1943 in Bellingham, Ken Laase graduated from Ballard High School in 1961 where he helped the Beavers’ basketball team to a second-place finish at state his senior year and earned second-team all-state honors as a guard. At Seattle Pacific University he played another two years of basketball and four seasons on the baseball diamond.
A member of the powerful Heidelberg slowpitch team in the late 60s and 70s, Ken honed his skills and rules knowledge on the field that led to a highly successful umpiring career that spanned well over 30 years.
An one of the eight original umpires in Washington to help the USSSA organization get off the ground in 1980, Ken’s leadership on and off the field helped the men’s, women’s, and coed programs flourish. This led to being awarded the State Directors Award in 1990 election into the USSSA Hall of Fame in 1995.
During his career, Laase has umpired in eleven national softball tournaments, seventeen regional tournaments and countless number of Washington state tournaments. Since 1996 Ken has served as the assigning secretary for the Western Washington Umpires Association which provides umpires for 37 high schools, 45 middle schools and six parks and recreation departments in the Tacoma-Pierce County and surrounding area.
A member of the powerful Heidelberg slowpitch team in the late 60s and 70s, Ken honed his skills and rules knowledge on the field that led to a highly successful umpiring career that spanned well over 30 years.
An one of the eight original umpires in Washington to help the USSSA organization get off the ground in 1980, Ken’s leadership on and off the field helped the men’s, women’s, and coed programs flourish. This led to being awarded the State Directors Award in 1990 election into the USSSA Hall of Fame in 1995.
During his career, Laase has umpired in eleven national softball tournaments, seventeen regional tournaments and countless number of Washington state tournaments. Since 1996 Ken has served as the assigning secretary for the Western Washington Umpires Association which provides umpires for 37 high schools, 45 middle schools and six parks and recreation departments in the Tacoma-Pierce County and surrounding area.