Since 1991, local baseball legend Dave Hall has been running Willie’s Sport Shop in downtown Centralia, selling gloves, bats and other sports accessories.
His tenure as owner is now officially coming to an end.
His retirement was announced when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch during the Centralia Little League’s opening ceremony on March 28.
And though none of his own children were interested in taking the reins of Willie’s Sports Shop, Hall — who grew up hitting rocks with broom handles in Onalaska on his way to eventually playing for one of the Cincinnati Reds’ Minor League affiliate teams — is handing them off to a fellow Onalaskan who also loves baseball — Brady Stanley.
“I’ve known him since he was this big. I’m one of the few people who call him Oscar,” Hall said of Stanley. “Because I walked into his dad’s store and I said something about his son, and his dad goes, ‘I came home the other day and he said, ‘my name’s Oscar. Not real.’ So I’ve just been calling him Oscar ever since. I watched him grow up, watched him play sports in high school, and now I’m passing off the business (to him).”
The Chronicle visited Willie’s Sport Shop on Tuesday, April 7, to meet Stanley and find out what Hall has planned for retirement after 35 years of running Willie’s.
“When (Stanley) expressed interest in it, he came to me and he said, ‘Hey, you need a screen printer, how about if I come and work for you as a screen printer and eventually buy the business? I’ll learn some stuff,’” Hall said. “And I said, ‘That’s a great idea.’”
Over the past two years, Hall has taught Stanley how to run Willie’s. What started as a handshake deal two years ago has now culminated in the successful sale of the business to Stanley, which became official as of Jan. 1. Originally, Willie’s Sport Shop was opened in downtown Centralia in 1952 by Willie Slinker.
“And then Dan Smith and Tony Arredondo, and they brought in Bill Luond. In ‘91, I bought Dan out. Tony Arredondo had already stepped out, and the business was buying him out. So it was Bill Luond and I for over 20 years, and I couldn’t have asked for a better partner,” Hall said.
Hall has been the sole owner since Luond retired 15 years ago, and now he is preparing to finally take it easy himself. He has no major plans for retirement yet, aside from spending more time with his wife, Nancy, getting out for some hunting, and watching his grandchildren play baseball.
“It’s going to be nice not having to work Saturdays and Sundays,” Hall added.
Hall reflected on his own time playing baseball as well, and though he would go on to play in the Minor Leagues for several years, his favorite time playing professionally was the time he actually played abroad in Italy. However, he almost never went in the first place.
“I was playing for the Reds, and had a pretty good year playing for Tampa in the Florida State League. So that winter, I was thinking of moving up, AA hopefully, and I got a call from this guy in Italy,” Hall said. “He goes, ‘We want you to come over here and play baseball.’ I said I was already playing for the Reds, and he goes, ‘No you’re not.’”
Not wanting to burn bridges, Hall asked the Italian to call him back the next day as he reached out to the Reds organization to find out if they planned on keeping him on their minor league rosters. They confirmed what the Italian had told Hall, opting instead to bring up a player named Chris Sabo.
“Even though I hit .290 in the Florida State League, and Sabo hit .260 in the Midwest League, they wanted to bring him up, so I was done. The guy from Italy called me back the next day and I said, ‘Yep, I’m in,’” Hall said.
He played for the Nettuno Baseball Club, which was originally founded in Nettuno, Italy, in 1946 as after U.S. soldiers fighting in Italy during World War II introduced the sport to the locals they helped liberate. During his own time there, Hall lived in the nearby town of Anzio, which is one of the beaches where American forces initially landed during Italy’s WWII liberation campaign.
“It’s really a cool place, because they really like Americans there. There’s a big American cemetery there too,” Hall said. “But being out of the country for that long, playing baseball, I missed the United States big time.”
Prior to his time playing professionally, Hall played a year for Gonzaga and helped the team make the NCAA College World Series — where the team finished ninth overall after losing in the regional round to the University of Arizona team anchored by Terry Francona that would go on to win the national title that year. Francona is currently the manager of the Cincinnati Reds.
Before Gonzaga, Hall starred on the Lower Columbia College Red Devils team, where he helped the Red Devils secure a pair of back-to-back second place finishes and was named the MVP of Northwest Athletic Conference’s 1979 championship tournament despite the team losing. During that tournament, he set records for the most hits, 16, and homeruns, five, during 29 at bats.
As of 2019 when Hall was enshrined in the Lower Columbia College Hall of Fame, only his homerun record had been beaten some 40 years later.
As a rowdy high schooler hitting rocks with a broom handle, Hall was already making headlines, as he did in the June 16, 1977, edition of The Chronicle, which featured a story about Hall as he was in Toppenish preparing to play in a state high school all-star series in Yakima after he had been a .495 batter that season.
"I've done it since I was 8 years old,” Hall said of his affection for hitting rocks (in 1977). "I get a broom handle and hit until I break it. This one tonight didn't last long. It was pretty old.”
Prior to getting ready in Toppenish, the “infielder-outfielder-pitcher scored 18 runs and drove in 38 while leading the Onalaska Loggers to a state 'A' quarterfinal berth. In South Central League play, he pillaged opposing hurlers for a .551 average.”
Not only did Hall have big baseball ambitions even as a teenager, but he also had big family ambitions, or at least may have been joking about them.
“I'll get married and have 12 kids,” said Hall in a voice that only might have been edged with humor (in 1977). "I might as well have a whole baseball team."
Though Stanley’s baseball career wasn’t as long as Hall’s, he still made headlines in The Chronicle, including on April 29, 2011, after a double-header the Loggers played against the Hoquiam Grizzlies — where the Loggers won both games, including a 10-inning nail-biter during the first game.
“Cody Bruton hit a two-out RBI single to tie the game at 1-1 in the seventh inning, and Steven Nedved drove in Brady Stanley — who led off the 10th inning with a triple — for what turned out to be the game-winning run,” The Chronicle reported.
Stanley also played basketball for the Loggers. He helped the team win back-to-back A1 division state championships in 2010 and 2011.
Though the majority of the stock at Willie’s Sport Shop is geared toward baseball and softball, gear for other sports is available, including spare tires for bicycles. Stanley told The Chronicle he intends on running the business the same way Hall did, going by the motto, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Willie’s Sport Shop still offers screen printing services for custom clothing, and the Willie’s Sports Shop Home Run Club is always accepting new members.
To become a member, one simply has to hit a home run during a local youth or high school baseball or softball game, and they receive a special Home Run Club shirt along with getting to pose next to the Babe Ruth statue on display inside Willie’s, owned by Lorwell Cruickshank.
Neither Stanley nor Hall knew the total number of Willie’s Sport Shop Home Run Club members.
Hall thanked the many loyal customers who continue to frequent Willie’s even in this modern age, especially with so many small locally-owned shops like Willie’s going out of business over the past few decades due to big box retailers and online shopping.
“Willie’s Sport Shop is a community sporting goods store. Bill Luond and I used to come and open the door and close the door at night, but the community is what made it work, what made it happen,” Hall said. “If they don’t come here, if they just shop on Amazon or whatever, Willie’s Sport Shop is not going to be here. They’ve kept it going this long. That’s because of the community, not the people who own it. The community, it’s their store. We just open the door and close it.”
Hall also thanked Madison King, and his daughter, Anna Martin, both of whom worked alongside him at Willie’s for years.
“Good people who made Willie’s a great place,” he added. “... It’s been a good run. I never have dreaded coming to work. Every day is a holiday at Willie’s Sport Shop. It’s a great place to work.”
He said Willie’s has been actively involved with the community, sponsoring local little league teams, and will continue to do so.
“If you look in the archives of The Chronicle, you’ll see a picture of a kid throwing a pitch, and Mount St. Helens in the background going poof. The sign that’s right there says Willie’s Sport Shop, and that was in 1980,” Hall said.
To learn more about Hall’s baseball career, read The Chronicle’s previous features on him at https://tinyurl.com/5x8akuka and https://tinyurl.com/595dwekc.
Willie’s Sport Shop is located at 113 W. Main St. in downtown Centralia. It is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information, visit the business’s website at https://williessportsshop.com/ or follow it on Facebook at https://tinyurl.com/bdhjyvfc.
