By: Joyce A. Pyzik

Far away from the elaborate set of an ESPN update desk, far away from a corporate named stadium in a large city, without the use of Dan Patrick, John Miller or Joe Morgan, without the use of the latest technological innovations available, on a miniscule budget; the ISC made history.

In the small mid-western town of Fargo, ND, in a converted baseball stadium, Jack William Stadium, using ISC Commissioners and local television equipment, the 2004 Men’s Fastpitch World Championship Game was televised live, and streamed live via the internet : locally, nationally, and internationally. This historic first was a dream come true for those who brought it to fruition, as well as, all true die-hard fastpitch fans the world around, who could not attend in person.

Therefore in the category of Streaming and Broadcasting representing the ISC, The Fastpitch Fans Choice Award goes to……….Dave Blackburn. Now Mr. Blackburn will not get to wear a tuxedo, or walk down the red carpet, while adoring fans scream and snap pictures, or have a representative of E! Entertainment Television critique his look and ask him whom he is wearing; nor will he take that famous walk up to a microphone to be handed a shiny silver or gold trophy, with a tiny piece of paper in hand reminding him to thank the many people involved in his and the ISC’s success. Following however, the ISC would like to pay tribute to this Commissioner, fan, and player for his many contributions to the game, most especially the historic live broadcast of the 2004 World Championship Game to fans around the world.

To properly pay tribute we must fill one in on his journey leading up to this wonderful accomplishment. Dave is a native of Calumet City, a suburb of Chicago, and like many of those involved in the game, he learned to walk, talk, and most importantly play ball along side his dad at the ball field. Dave was exposed to the game by his dad, Ernie Blackburn, who himself pitched for 42 years, in the Indiana and Chicago ASA programs. The elder Mr. Blackburn was inducted into the Indiana ASA Hall of Fame, in 1987, after throwing 99 No-Hit games.

From the beginning, Dave was a pitcher. He began throwing underhand at the age of ten. His official softball career started at the age of 16, when he threw his first game just across the state line from his hometown of “Cal City”, in Hammond, Indiana. He continued playing softball through his college years. Just two days after graduating in 1982 from the University of Illinois, in Champaign-Urbana, with a degree in industrial engineering, he moved to Southern California. That move was at the invitation of the 1981 ISC World Champion Camarillo Kings sponsor, Dr. A. Dewayne Jones.

Dave attributes much of what he knows about winning on the diamond, came from his Camarillo teammates. He speaks highly of the Kings pitching coach, Jackie Newman. Dave says, “Jackie was the most gifted pitching coach that I have ever come across. He really helped me a lot in learning how to pitch.”

Since the move to California, Dave has lived in and around the Los Angeles area for nearly 22+years. The first ten years saw him hold a variety of engineering positions. However in 1992, he decided it was time for a career change; and a highly imaginative and interesting one it would be.

Since 1992, Dave has been self-employed. His company, “Virtual Ventures”, is primarily involved with deploying 3D character animation production solutions to his clients. His client base is in the following areas: video games, feature films, visual effects, television animation, theme park attractions, forensics, and finally, internet animation. Movie goers will appreciate his work on two of the most popular films of 2004, Martin Scorsese’s , “The Aviator” and Robert Zemeckis’, “The Polar Express” (the latter of which the writer had the privilege to see with her ten year old son, and both of us were in awe of the animation – Great Work Dave!)

Despite all his professional accomplishments, his passion and interest in fastpitch has never waned. As with many of us, he got that life long, incurable disease, which at times has made us do things that has prompted people to ask; are you nuts?. It is known as “fastpitch fever” (possibly transmitted by one of those killer mosquitoes of legendary status that appear at many Midwest tournaments). Since his move to California he has continued to pitch. He has pitched in hundreds of weeknight games throughout the years, as well as, throwing in numerous weekend travel leagues, dozens upon dozens of Invitational Tournaments, and of course post season games at the ISC, ASA, and NAFA Championship Tournaments. Because of his Jewish heritage, Dave will attend the 17th World Maccabiah Games in Israel this July. It marks the tenth time he has made this special team over the past 20 years. He estimates therefore, he has probably thrown 1500 ballgames over the last 29 years. Besides playing, he has an insatiable desire to enhance, promote, and rejuvenate the game of fastpitch.

Dave has held numerous positions or has contributed in varying ways to the game. For the last seven years he has been Tournament Director, for the “Annual Best of the West” fastpitch tournament. This particular tournament is the longest continuous men’s fastpitch tournament still running in the western US. It has been held in Southern California at the end of July for the last 14 summers. He also served as the ISC Area Commissioner for California for two years.

In 2000, Dave’s personal and professional passions, talents, and visions collided all to the benefit of the ISC, the game of fastpitch, and every fan suffering with that same incurable fever. The collision sparked the proposal he made at the Board of Directors meeting at the 2000 ISC World Tournament, in St. Joseph’s, MO. At his first ever Board of Directors meeting, he stood up and boldly suggested that the organization consider using the internet, as an inexpensive, global, live broadcast medium. Dave explains, “All of the Board of Directors looked at me like I was crazy, but none of them knew enough to argue with me, or dissuade me from continuing to develop the concept.” With that he never looked back and moved full steam ahead with discussions and planning.

Dave immediately contacted www.sportsjuice.com to utilize their streaming media services and had them in place for the 2001 World Tournament, in Eau Claire, WI. He explains, “Cobbling together this streaming system for the ISC has been an incredible challenge and trying to get the World Championship game on live TV was even more challenging.”

However, Dave was up to the challenge; and ISC Executive Director, Ken Hackmeister, and the ISC Executive Committee, had the great vision to see what Dave could potentially accomplish and created the new position of Commissioner-At-Large for Streaming. With Dave’s prompting and Ken’s blessing, Broadcasting was added to the title because Dave knew streaming was just the steppingstone for future TV and Internet Video Broadcast initiatives for the ISC.

The hopes, dreams, and visions continued to develop, not in fancy boardrooms in Hollywood, or directorial and production offices in NYC, but via e-mail and telephone conversations. Without great fanfare or a fancy press conference, it was quietly announced, probably on Al’s Fastball List and on the official ISC Website that the 2004 World Championship Game would be televised live the world over.

Why was 2004 different from earlier attempts in the 80’s and early 90’s to televise the game? Primarily because one man’s passion for a game, his technological knowledge, and his innovative ideas, allowed him to envision a strategy to utilize the production services and personnel of a local broadcast network in Fargo, ND. This eliminated the need to import an outside production crew and the enormous expense that would have entailed. One estimate quoted, by experts in the TV Sports Marketing and Broadcast business, was that it would cost about $250,000 to televise the game. By using WDAY in Fargo, the game was televised for less than $20,000. Also saving money was the use of ISC personnel as the on air talent, which only made sense since the announcers were familiar with the nuances of the ISC World Tournament, its history, as well as, the participating teams and players.

On game day the live broadcast appeared on ABC-TV, in a prime time broadcast throughout the Dakotas, and to a million cable TV subscribers in Manitoba, Canada. WDAY also up-linked a live video feed from the broadcast truck, to the TV satellite IA-6. The up-link made the ISC World Championship game freely available for viewing to the informal network of satellite dishes found in thousands of sports bars throughout the US and Canada. Finally, the Championship Game telecast was delivered live worldwide via streaming video, by providing the TV feed to the ISC’s existing internet audio network, whose audience has grown over the last four years. With this breakthrough, any fastpitch fan throughout the world with access to a broadband internet connection was able to view a low fidelity video version of the game live, on their computer.

Now you may wonder what this historic accomplishment means for the ISC’s chances of getting tied in with a network for future telecasts. Dave explains that for the ISC to receive a multi-year TV broadcast commitment from a National or Regional Cable Network, the ISC would need a major sponsor to commit to purchase the two hours of broadcast time, for each year of the contract. Dave’s hopes at this time, for just such a sponsor, are dim. It would require finding as Dave calls them, “an angel investor”, who would be willing to commit about $200,000 per year. “Not that this is impossible, just highly unlikely,” Dave says.

Remember, Dave was able to pull off the live broadcast on a budget of $20,000. However, this reminds us that he and those involved were able to stretch way beyond what that amount should have actually acquired them! “While it was a great success and very much worth it,” he adds, “the ISC cannot afford to reach into its own funds on an annual basis to fund this initiative.” When asked if the ISC has anyone available within the organization with the expertise for selling TV advertising, he honestly answers, “No, not right now.” He adds however, “We are going to try and identify and work with a small TV Sports Marketing Agency, who would take on the selling of the ISC and World Tournament Championship Game to potential TV sponsors.” The hope right now is to secure at least the $20,000, if not more, to make this an annual event. Should a network affiliation be secured, this would allow Dave to focus on making the actual production as good as possible, by freeing him up from the responsibility of trying to find funding and broadcast outlets to air the game. He explains, “Live game production and broadcasting is the most desirable mode of delivery for the fans. However, it is the most demanding to produce since there is no room for error.”

You may be shaking your head right now, as I am, wondering how such things as celebrity poker, extreme dodge ball, or the X Games, etc, etc,…can be seen on a regular basis on major cable network channels. Yet, this awesome, fast paced, intricate game, played by exceptional athletes isn’t aired on either national or regional cable channels. Dave simply states, “Those televised programs mentioned have organizations or individuals who can foot the bill to purchase the national air time.”

As for future endeavors in television broadcasting, the ISC would like to at least continue to duplicate what they delivered in Fargo. Dave and the ISC will remain steadfast in exploring all options and consider all new possibilities, in order to continue the precedent set in 2004. Because he has been a pioneer in this area for the ISC, and has found the work and his efforts to be both challenging and rewarding, there is no doubt he will do all that is humanly possible to make the live broadcast of the World Championship Game an annual tradition.

Unfortunately, because so much of the budget was spent on the telecast of the Championship Game, apologies to Dave who hails from the Los Angeles area where awards ceremonies are a dime a dozen. There will be no wearing of the tuxedo, no fancy award ceremony, no red carpet, no screaming fans asking for autographs, no shiny trophy or speech in front of your peers. However, for your time, talent, vision, and unending passion to this most special of sports, the ISC, me, and all the true die-hard, fever stricken fastpitch fans the world over say - THANK YOU! From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for your persistence, perseverance, and tireless efforts, in the face of adversity and seemingly insurmountable odds to get this great game televised live for the first time around the world. We wish you well as you continue your efforts; your example has hopefully energized us all to possibly come up with ideas and innovations of our own, and to participate in continuing to move the game of fastpitch towards a resurgence and rebirth.

P.S. Dave did have a thank you speech prepared, just in case, and I got a sneak peak at his cheat sheet. His many thanks go to and in no special order of importance:

Former Executive Director – Milt Stark, for naming him as ISC Area Commissioner for California
Al Ruegsegger and AIS Uniforms – Founding Sponsor of the ISC Streaming initiative in 2001
WDAY- General Manager, Mark Prather
WDAY – Director of Operations, Susan Eider
WDAY – Game Producer, Stacey Anderson
WDAY – Technical Director, Dave Wie
Jeremy Spear, Steve Schucker, and Mike Groves, for their work on the 5 minute ISC Promotional Highlight Video a few years ago
Kyle Beane, who produced a very effective PowerPoint Slide Show to help present the ISC World Championship Game to potential TV sponsors, production companies, and broadcast networks
Tournament Director in Fargo – Paul Lybeck
ISC Play-By-Play Specialist, Ron Chambers
ISC Canadian VP and Game Analyst, Ferdi Nelissen
The Roving Sideline Reporter – Dave “Crazy” LeBlanc
ISC West Coast Travel Commissioner, Todd McCabe, who stepped in at the last moment as producer of the video web cast
Former ISC All-World Pitcher, Scott Plangger, who helped test and troubleshoot the live video stream from` his home in Illinois
Jim Flanagan and Al Doran who both promoted the TV broadcast on their web-sites
Jim Flanagan and ISC II Commissioner, Blair Stetford who helped deliver live streaming audio coverage of games from the ISC II Tournament
ISC Statistician, Gary Baughman, for providing the broadcast booth with up to date Championship Game line-ups and player statistics
And Finally
ISC Executive Director, Ken Hackmeister, for his vision and belief that this endeavor could become reality.