Take me (back) out to the ballgame

Abbey Nutter, The Lebanon Democrat, Tenn.
Updated ·2 min read

Dec. 13—Bucky Ford had a long and successful career in professional softball, and some of his fondest memories come from touring on a team that included pop music star Michael Bolton.

Ford was recently inducted into the Tennessee Softball Hall of Fame during a ceremony held in Lebanon, and he was inducted by Lebanon Mayor Rick Bell. He began his career in softball while he attended Belmont University in the late 1970s and played until 2000.

Towards the end of his career, Ford became a part of a team formed by Bolton, and he traveled around the country playing alongside the pop star and the Bolton Bombers.

"A good friend of mine got involved in playing with Michael Bolton," Ford said. "At that time, Michael Bolton had a passion for playing softball, so he put together a collection of guys from around the country, and I started playing with him."

The Bolton Bombers played a collection of charity and benefit games in connection with the star's singing tour.

"I was blessed to be able to do that," Ford said. "We played a lot of celebrities (events), and it was a good experience. I can't even tell you how many states we played in and we even played up in Canada."

Ford described Bolton as kind and professional during the time that he played alongside him.

"He was very nice to everyone that was involved," Ford said. "It was a neat time. We had a tight-knit little group and were fortunate enough to travel. He took very good care of us and our families."

Ford, who is now a Nashville resident after having previously lived in Lebanon for 10 years, said that his induction into the hall of fame meant a lot to him.

"I was excited to hear about it," Ford said. "It's been a long time since I've played any softball, so I started having a lot of flashbacks of all of the good times and a lot of the games and guys that I used to play with and against and a lot of memories of road trips and big games. I've been going down memory lane quite a bit."

Ford began his softball career in 1978 on a Nashville-based team, Ray Griff. He went on to play for Cunningham Kelly, Le-Al-Co, Cameron Park, Datom-Argus, and Chip's/Folk Jordan/Sports World over his 20-plus years in softball.

Ford also formed a Class-A team called Chem-Clean alongside Bell. Later renamed Datom-Argus, the team was based out of Lebanon.

"We played in a national qualifier over in Virginia," Ford said. "We played with some of the top-rated teams in the country that weekend, and we won the whole tournament."