ROXANA, Del. >> John Gleason, a 2000 Kelseyville High School graduate currently serving in the United States Navy, has been selected to serve on the umpiring crew at the Little League Senior Softball World Series, which opened Sunday and runs Aug. 6 at Roxana, Delaware.
Like the Little League World Series held every year in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, there are eight other World Series tournaments held in various locations throughout the Country. The Senior Softball World Series includes ladies between the ages of 13-16 who have won their District, Section, State and Regional tournaments and earned the right to compete against other winners from around the world. In all, there are 10 regional champions battling for the title at this year’s tournament. The championship game will be televised Aug. 6 on ESPN2.
Gleason was selected to umpire based on a rigorous process of qualification at the Regional level. All Little League World Series umpires must prove themselves through their performance umpiring a Regional tournament. Gleason umpired the Southeastern Region’s Big League Softball tournament in 2012 in Clearwater, Florida. He joins 12 other umpires from across the United States as well as umpires from Canada, the Netherlands and Puerto Rico.
This year’s tournament is even more special for Gleason because it is his 25th consecutive year umpiring Little League baseball and softball. Raised in Kelseyville, he started umpiring at age 9. When he was selected to play in the majors division at Kelseyville Little League, he began umpiring the minor division for $1.25, a hot dog and a soda, and he hasn’t stopped umpiring since.
After graduating from Kelseyville, he attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, followed by flight school in Pensacola. He flew the SH-60B Seahawk helicopter in Jacksonville, attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, then returned to Florida to fly the new and improved MH-60R as a squadron department head. He is currently the maintenance officer at HSM-48 where he is responsible for leading over 200 sailors as they maintain 14 helicopters.
At every new location on his Navy journey, Gleason found the local Little League and continued to umpire as a volunteer. This World Series is the first he has been selected to umpire in what he hopes will be a long and continuing Little League relationship.
Gleason, who holds the rank of Lt. Commander, currently resides in Jacksonville with his wife Candace, 6-year-old son Michael and 4-year-old daughter Ava.
Umpiring runs in the Gleason family as father Harold is a high school official in the Coastal Mountain Conference Officials Association.
