Year Inducted – 1988

Due to his love of the game of baseball, one that he never got to play himself as a youth, Joe began sponsoring teams to give the young players at that time the chance to play baseball that had eluded him. Even though he was accused at times of taking food off the family table to back the ball team, Joe went into sponsoring in top hat style. He put the first team on the field in 1955 with the 1985 Hall of Famer Dutch Waters as the manager. In 1958 the legendary Joe Winkler took over the reins and helped develop the Zoff squad into a tough contending team, not only in the City League, but Statewide and in the National tournaments as well. A very unselfish man, Joe Zofchak left an indelible mark on many players in the late fifties. When economic reasons finally forced the end of sponsoring, many of Joe’s players went on to form the nucleus of the champion Tramonte Black Label teams that dominated play in the sixties. His players still remember and they were all saddened when he passed away at the young age of 64 in 1977.