Donald Emmett Porter, known as Don Porter, passed away on Sunday, June 7th, at the age of 90.

Porter devoted his long life to softball and has been a leader for our world. He was the President of the ASA (Amateur Softball Association) for 34 years, the President of the ISF (International Softball Federation) for 26 years and, in 2013, played a key role on the birth to the WBSC (World Baseball Softball Confederation), result of the merger of the ISF and the IBAF, International Baseball Federation. Porter was the co-president of the WBSC for two years.

Porter tirelessly fought for softball's inclusion in the Olympic Games and succeeded when softball was first elected to be part of the Olympic program for the Atlanta 1996 Olympics. This story and many more are narrated in his book “Inclusion/Exclusion: Softball’s Olympic Odyssey".

"Don Porter did so much for our sport," ESF President Gabriel Waage says "we are losing a very charismatic person, great friend and unflagging supporter of softball"

In 2017, Porter said, “you never know what the future holds but I do hope to be there in Tokyo for the softball, it would be wonderful to see it again in the Olympics in person”.
Unfortunately, he passed away before he could see another dream come true.

Thank you, Don, for everything you have done for our sport.
Rest In Peace.

/ Photo courtesy of WBSC
Elda Ghilardi