Moyer first woman selected to HOF

Donna Moyer has the distinct honor of becoming the first woman to be inducted into the Sheboygan County Baseball Hall of Fame.

Donna was born in Sheboygan and has always been a sports fan, participating in softball, bowling and golf and excelling in tennis where she won a county championship. She became involved in baseball when her soon-to-be husband, Denny, started playing for the Kingsbury Brewers baseball team.

She was active in Recreation Department baseball where she coached both of her sons’ teams.

After raising her three children, Dave, Tim and Debbie, she started working in the library at Wilson School where she served as the building’s tech support person. After working there for 30 years she retired in 2009. In 1994 she was named the Sheboygan Area School District’s Educational Assistant of the Year.

She was an active volunteer in her children’s schools and their PTAs, an active AFS volunteer, opening her home to an exchange student; an active volunteer in her church where she has served on the parish council, liturgy committee, does secretarial work, sings in two choirs and works at special events. She has also served on numerous community and Board of Education committees.

But it is baseball volunteering that has become a way of life for her.

It all started when son Dave came home one day and said, “If you don’t coach, mom, we won’t be able to have a team.” So she coached. A couple years later she coached son Tim’s team too. Both wound up as Sheboygan A’s players, with Dave enjoying success as a coach himself, serving as a graduate assistant at Eastern Kentucky University before leading Sheboygan North High School, Lakeland College and then the Sheboygan A’s.

Soon she was helping with the A’s grass roots efforts to try to get baseball back in the high schools by organizing parents’ petitions and young players to march in parades.

All while she was doing behind the scenes work for the Sheboygan A’s.

It wasn’t long though, that more than behind the scenes help was needed and once again Donna stepped forward.

For years she has been chairing the two most demanding Sheboygan Athletic Club committees, concessions and bingo.

As chair of the concessions committee, her responsibilities include scheduling workers (and filling in when they don’t show), ordering, stocking, working her shifts, and never-ending job of cleaning the stand.

As chair of the bingo committee, her responsibilities include scheduling workers, working herself,, filing state reports, and dealing with state inspectors and auditors.

For her baseball efforts, she was recognized in 1997 by the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association as the USA Baseball Woman of the Year for Wisconsin. It was also in 1997 that she received the Sheboygan Athletic Club’s Golden A Award which goes to the club member who has shown exceptional dedication and service to the club.

In honor of the 50th season of the Sheboygan Athletic Club and Sheboygan A’s Baseball, she and her husband received a citation from the Wisconsin State Legislature for their contributions to help promote baseball in Sheboygan. They also received a proclamation from the City of Sheboygan honoring them for their volunteer service to the baseball program.

And on May 15 she will become the first woman to enter the Sheboygan County Baseball Hall of Fame.

Story by: The Sheboygan Press
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