LEWIS W. HAYES

Lewis W. Hays, a native of Butler, came to Washington in 1946 and served as sports editor of the former Washington Observer and Reporter until he resigned in 1953 to become the first full-time commissioner of Pony Baseball Inc., an organization of which he was one of the founders in 1951.

Hays succeeded the late comedian Joe E. Brown as president of Pony Baseball in 1965 and held that position until 1981. He is still active in the organization as chairman of the corporate affairs committee.

He also serves as chairman of the board of the United States Baseball Federation and of Baseball America Foundation and founded the Junior Olympics Super Series which matches champions of 15 and 16 year old baseball players representing five different leagues.

He is co-author with Pony Baseball president Roy Gillespie of Pony Tales & Diamond Dust, a documentary of the early years of the organization and contributes Landmarks, a weekly column to the Sunday Observer-Reporter. Hays is a graduate of Muskingum College and was sports editor of the Brownsville Telegraph for eight years before moving to Washington.