Flashback Friday: Video of 1993 IAL All-Star Game weekend

Flashback Friday is taking a break this week from Scott Veatch’s Vault.  Why?  Something fantastic just fell into my lap that I couldn’t resist sharing it and it definitely fits the Flashback Friday bill. 

My friend Tedd Mallasch (a former manager of the Illowa APBA League and former writer of this blog) posted this video on YouTube.  The video, taken mostly by me, was recorded twenty years ago at the 1993 Illowa APBA League All-Star Game.  I had almost forgotten I had recorded this but when I watched the video, it all came back to me. 

Yes, it’s grainy, sometimes out of focus, not to mention shaky but boy, it brought back memories.  The 1993 IAL All-Star Game weekend took place at my apartment that my wife and I lived at the time.  This was when I was working as a caretaker at a church and lived in the upstairs apartment.  Needless to say, jokes were made that if any manager needed divine intervention, I could show them the way to the church sanctuary. 

There is so much history to this video.  There’s even footage of our league’s managers using APBA for DOS which had just been released.  For a year or so, the IAL allowed computer APBA if both managers agreed.  At the 1:00 and 11:17 mark in the video, you can see footage of our managers almost futile attempt playing APBA for DOS. 

Manager Chuck Lucas is quite the ham in this video and really makes this production worth watching.  At the 3:00 mark, he announces the Chicago Division lineup card by card.  He can also be seen humorously questioning his division manager’s judgment at the 8:35 mark. 

Yes, that’s me on the right at the 10:10 mark.  “Let’s go team!”  Someone else must have taken over the camera duties for a while.  Nice hair, huh? 

The division managers for the 1993 All-Star Game were Rob Taylor for Chicago Division (writing his secret strategies down on the paper plate) and Tom Reisdorph for the Iowa Division.  I couldn’t even tell you who won the All-Star Game and quite honestly, I don’t care.  I just see eight guys having the time of their lives. 

A very poignant moment is seeing the father-son duo of Mike and Marcus Bunch playing late-night APBA side-by-side at the 13:26 mark.  Marcus must have been around 12 years old at the time and was assisting Mike with his team.  He was a bit of smart aleck back then (see his antics at the 7:25 mark).  He’s turned out just fine, by the way.  He’s been a full-fledged member of our league for years and his team just won 102 games this past season.

I have no idea how Tedd got a hold of this video but this is an important part of our league history.  I appreciate that we get to see it after all these years. 

Thanks, Tedd!