Next Level: A decade on, director Loren Dietz continues to grow Corky’s Early Bird

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It is a huge reunion of players, former players, umpires and fans. This is what makes Corky’s Early Bird one of the best events in the entire country. I look forward to seeing all the friends I have made over the past 30 years of playing softball. This is what it is all about for me. Everyone gets to have a great time, play a game that we all love, and we are proud that the proceeds of the event go towards a great cause.”

— Loren Dietz Tournament director, Corky’s Early Bird Men’s Softball Classic

Dietz. “In August, I start promoting the event again.”

Over the course of the fall and winter, Dietz estimated that on average he’ll spend roughly 500 hours planning for Corky’s Early Bird Men’s Softball Classic year to year.

“Although many vendors and teams are the same, every year their contracts are renewed,” he noted. “Although I have worked to streamline things over the years, the tournament continues to grow. When I took over the tournament, we had only 100 teams. This year we’ll have 204 teams.”

After wrapping up last year’s event through the month of May, Dietz explained that he started promoting this spring’s tournament as usual in August. On Sept. 1, he opened up the waiting list for any new teams wanting to join in on the action.

As early as October, Dietz explained that he’ll typically start talking to vendors and sponsors in order to try and secure them for the upcoming year’s event. Then, it’s not until December and January that he will work on getting teams from the previous year entered back into the system.

Although the tournament is not until the rst weekend in May, Dietz noted that Corky’s Early Bird Men’s Softball Classic typically submits all of its permit applications in January. This is also when the board of directors holds its annual meeting.

Three months out, organizers will also start recruiting umpires and trying to secure hotel sponsors. In February, waiting list teams nd out if they’ve made it in and all participants have to provide payment for their entry into the competition.

For competitors who help clean the up the elds and surrounding areas after games, the tournament can take care of their league entry fees. Dietz also helps sponsor local teams by paying their entry fee if they help out with the logistics of the event.

Finally, in the spring, it’s time for organizers to book entertainment groups and nalize the brackets — which Dietz said he typically does in April. Then, at the beginning of May, it’s tournament time. The director noted he’ll usually have around 50 volunteers helpers during the competition.

“The tournament pays the City of Owatonna, City of Waseca and City of Faribault for their parks and recreation grounds crews to help keep the elds in top shape,” added Dietz. “They do a great job in all weather conditions.” Continued on next page

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During the 2019 Corky’s Early Bird Tournament, Carl Pegnatori (left) from Monsta Athletics out of California presented Loren Dietz with a commemorative bat featuring the tournament’s logo. Dietz, now in his 11th year as tournament director, has been planning for this spring’s annual competition since August. (Press le photo)

A decade on, director Loren Dietz continues to grow Corky’s Early Bird Next level :

By BRIDGET KRANZ bkranz@owatonna.com

At the end of next month, hundreds of teams will gather in southern Minnesota for the 41st annual Corky’s Early Bird Men’s Softball Classic. Always falling on the rst weekend in May, tournament director Loren Dietz sees the “early” competition as the start to another softball season.

“I had played softball in Owatonna for 25 years, and looked forward to playing in the Corky’s Early Bird tournament every year,” said Dietz. “[It] signaled the start of the new softball season, and was always a great way to see old friends. “

For 11 years now, Dietz has been helping orchestrate the kick-off, taking over from the competition’s founder — retired Parks and Recreation Director James Ebeling, better known as “Corky,” who started the tournament back in 1979. Although this year’s competition doesn’t start until April 30, Dietz noted that he’s been getting ready for the annual, multi-day event since last August — giving him only June and July as a break from his role as not only tournament director, but also events coordinator and president of the board of directors.

Members of The Cutthroats, an Owatonna team, watch from the dugout during the 2016 Corky’s Early Bird Men’s Softball Classic. Dietz said he tries to help subsidize tournament entry fees for local competitors who are able to help out with the event. (Press le photo)

For more than 60 years, the Owatonna Foundation has awarded grants totaling over $11.9 million for projects that touch every aspect of our lives in the following categories: • Community - People, Parks, Places • Arts

- Musical,Visual, Cultural the Owatonna Foundati has dedF than 60

• Recreation

- Sports, Leisure, Family fun • Education

- Literary, Scienti‘c, Historic For more than 61 years, the Owatonna Foundation has awarded grants totalling over $12 million for projects that touch every aspect of our lives in the following categories:

Over 40 years in the making Although last year’s event brought in 200 teams and this year’s has a record-number 204 signed up, Corky’s Early Bird Men’s Softball Classic started small. While Dietz took over running the event over a decade back, it was rst started in 1979 by Ebeling, a parks and recreation director for the City of Owatonna who was also known as “Corky.” Initially, it was a 16-team slow-pitch tournament held in Owatonna and inspired by a similar event Ebeling had attended in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was only 20 years old at the time. Since its beginning, the annual tournament has grown to bring in hundreds on hundreds of players from across the United States. While in the beginning, Ebeling has said that scheduling could be difcult, as the classic’s quality and reputation grew, more and more requests came in from teams across the nation hoping to enter the competition. Ebeling told the People’s Press in 2016 that he even began getting requests from umpires to come into town and work the tournament. “It was good training for their umpiring in state and national tournaments,” he explained. Last year, the roughly 200 groups who competed in Corky’s Early Bird Men’s Softball Classic came from as far away as 13 different states. In its 40th year, it brought over 1,000 individual players to elds not only in Owatonna, but in Faribault and Waseca, as well. Speaking in an interview before last year’s event, Dietz noted that the locally-based classic is the largest softball tournament in Minnesota and the fth-largest in the world. Although Ebeling has noted that things really took off for the tournament after its 25th anniversary, in a 2017 interview he added, “Loren has taken it to the next level.” Weathering a few storms When asked why he agreed to step up and help run the annual event, Dietz noted that he’d been playing in it for years, and had strong connections to a lot of the people involved. “It is a huge reunion of players, former players, umpires and fans,” Dietz explained while getting ready for his fourth tournament as director back in 2013. “This is what makes Corky’s Early Bird one of the best events in the entire country. I look forward to seeing all the friends I have made over the past 30 years of playing softball. This is what it is all about for me. Everyone gets to have a great time, play a game that we all love, and we are proud that the proceeds of the event go towards a great cause.” It was that same year — the event’s 34th iteration — that organizers had to push Corky’s Early Bird Men’s Softball Classic back a weekend when a May snowstorm dumped over a foot of snow on Steele County. That’s right. More than a foot of snow. In May. With the tournament then postponed and then falling on the same weekend as the shing opener, Mother’s Day and the Owatonna High School prom, only 66 teams ended up being able to make the rescheduled competition. However Dietz and his team successfully rescheduled with the vendors involved — working around unseasonable weather conditions to keep the ball rolling on the annual tournament. Recognized for a decade of service After 10 successful years as director, Dietz was recognized with a service appreciation award presented just after last spring’s tournament by the Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism. On the same night, Dietz was also presented with a custom bat from Monsta Athletics. Based in Calimesa, California, the group has been sending a team to represent the company at Corky’s Early Bird Men’s Softball Classic since 2015. In presenting the award, owner Carl Pegnatori noted that both the tournament and Dietz had always welcomed the out-of-town teams with open arms — making the southern California group feel at home even in the cold North. With so many visitors to the region, tournament time always has a ripple effect on both local businesses and nonprots. According to a report from a May 2019 edition of the People’s Press, the weekendlong event has typically brought in roughly $300,000 a year to Owatonna-area businesses over the years that it’s been in operation. In 2019, the tournament also donated over $50,000 to local charities — including the We All Play Inclusive Playground and Miracle Field project, the Owatonna Park and Recreation Youth Scholarship Fund and the Relight the Park project. It takes a village Although Dietz helps head up the tournament, he had an entire team to thank after last year’s event. With last year marking

After a decade of helping run Corky’s Early Bird, Dietz was presented with an award from the Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism. The weekend-long event brings with it a signicant amount of revenue for local businesses, as teams from across the United States venture in for the tournament. Pictured left to right are Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism President Brad Meier, Tournament Director Loren Dietz, James “Corky” Ebeling, Doug Meier and Owatonna Mayor Tom Kuntz. (Press le photo)

He also thanked both groups in Owatonna and Faribault, noting off the bat that he had hundreds of people to show his appreciation to. Many of those on his list were the crews working concessions at each event, including the volunteer grillers who spend their tournament weekends feeding players and attendees. Also among the names was Dietz’s assistant director, Ebeling.

“Thank you to the core Owatonna crew!” Dietz wrote, “Brad Tiedeken (UIC), Doug & Cherie Meier (Concessions), Owatonna Girls Fastpitch (Concessions), Mark Cunningham and the KC Hall crew, Owatonna Park and Recreation Grounds Crew, Dietz family (Sales), Jeff “Barnsey” Barnes (Honorary Captain), Corky Ebeling (Assistant Director), and all the Volunteer Grillers!!

“Thank you all! I couldn’t have done it without you all!” he added.