Lloyd Blanusa
Softball, Fastpitch-Mens (2005)
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Hall of Fame Inductees
Softball (fastpitch) (1986)
Cy Greenlaw Old-Times Salute Award
(2022)
Perhaps the first thing you should know about Lloyd Blanusa is that Hall of Fame pitcher Pat Kelly considers Blanusa the greatest fastpitch softball pitcher of all time in Pierce County. That could tell you everything you need to know. But there’s much more to his story.
Born Sept. 13, 1928 near Buckley, Blanusa was a three-sport star at Buckley High School (now White River). He earned all-conference honors in football, basketball, and baseball as a senior. Recruited to play football at College of Puget Sound, he instead joined the basketball team for two years. More importantly, though, he joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity and started playing intramural fastpitch softball.
After taking over as the team’s pitcher and leading the squad to a perfect record, Blanusa began his Tacoma playing career with Red Spot Electric. One year later, Tacoma’s top team – the Irwin Jones Dodgers – picked him up, and they went all the way to the state tournament semifinals. That began a run that qualified the team for nationals each of the next two years, although they only went one year, and featured Blanusa no-hitting Boise in the regional final in 1953.
A career move to the South Kitsap School District shifted Blanusa to a team in Bremerton for the next several years before returning to teach at his alma mater in 1957. The next seven years saw time with numerous Tacoma squads and quite the assortment of memorable games, but his teams could never quite make it back to nationals.
Quick side note for perhaps the most memorable of those games – up 1-0 in the final inning of a game against Richland, Blanusa was called in from the bullpen as the closer when a missed call turned the final out of the game into the tying runner on first. The next batter powered one out of the park to turn the 1-0 lead into a 2-1 deficit. In the bottom of the inning, two quick outs set up a last chance, and Blanusa had the opportunity to go from goat to hero after the previous batter worked a walk. Unfortunately, it was not to be, as Blanusa popped out to second base. But the umpire called it back on an illegal pitch, giving Blanusa another chance. He took advantage of it – in his own words, “Next pitch, right in my wheelhouse (I didn’t have a wheelhouse) and wow, it went way over the right field fence for a walk-off home run. My most memorable at bat in 22 years of playing softball.”
His desire to return to that top level took Blanusa to the Doghouse Restaurant team in Seattle in 1965. They made it all the way to the metro finals but fell 2-1 in 11 innings. However, the powerhouse Federal Old Line team picked him up, and he won two games at regionals enroute to the championship and a berth at nationals in Florida.
Overall, Blanusa totaled 22 years pitching in his fastpitch career, with 17 in Tacoma, three in Seattle, and two in Bremerton. His teams played in 11 Northwest Regional Tournaments and two national tournaments, and he is a member of the Northwest Hall of Fame and the Kitsap Hall of Fame.
But do you really think the greatest fastpitch pitcher in local history would only have career highlights on the diamond? Of course not. Blanusa took the head basketball coaching position at White River High School in 1972, and the following year he led the squad to the Class A State Championship. And he continues to put his athletic talents to use on golf courses around the area.