Charlie Booker, Sr.

A graduate of Birdsboro High School (now Daniel Boone) in 1950 and a veteran of the Korean War, was an outstanding athlete in basketball and softball for more than three decades. He played on numerous championship Berks County softball teams, including Ed’s Sports Tavern, St. Marco’s, Blandon, Bethel AME Church, Rock’s Hotel, Temple Hotel, and Denny’s Café, and enjoyed an exceptional ten-year career with the Rising Sun Hotel team from 1962 to 1972. Reading Times sports editor Doc Silva once estimated that Booker won 352 games as a pitcher in Berks sandlot softball. He led various leagues as the top hitter in six different seasons, excelled as an outfielder, and played on three Pennsylvania State Championship softball teams. In 1964, he pitched a one-hit shutout against the national champions from Clearwater, Florida, in Reading, and he became a pacesetter in Berks County for minority athletes in the world of fast-pitch softball.

Deceased