Len Kolakowski, legendary Erie baseball and softball player, faced Satchel and the King

Len Kolakowski never reached the major leagues but played with or against some of the best baseball players of the 20th century.

They included Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Satchel Paige and Pee Wee Reese — all of them members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Kolakowski even batted against the most famous softball pitcher of all time, Eddie Feigner of the King and His Court.

"Dad's job for the Navy during World War II was overseeing a lumber yard at Pearl Harbor, but he ended up playing in a lot of those baseball games to entertain the troops before they went off to fight in the Pacific," said Kolakowski's son, Tim. "There were a lot of major leaguers in those games."

Kolakowski, who died May 3 at the age of 99, was a tremendous athlete, professional painter, passionate dancer and dedicated candy maker.

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Born in Erie in a family of 12 children, Kolakowski graduated from the former Technical Memorial High School and started working as a painter for the Erie School District. When World War II started, Kolakowski was drafted but didn't pass his physical.

"He felt bad about being classified 4-F," said Bill Hagan, Kolakowski's son-in-law. 4-F is a military classification that defined a draftee as unfit for military service for physical reasons. Hagan said that he didn't know the nature of Kolakowski's 4-F classification.

During the war, Kolakowski worked as a civilian for the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor and was recruited to play in the camp's high-profile baseball games.

"He knew a lot of those guys who were watching the games before getting sent off wouldn't be coming back. He said, 'This might be the last ballgame some of these guys will ever see. So we played out hearts out.'"

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Kolakowski returned home after the war and played minor league baseball. The lanky left-handed first baseman advanced to AAA — the highest level of the minor leagues — in 1946 when he played part of a season with the Toledo Mud Hens.

But that is when his professional baseball career ended. His future wife, Therese, was ready to get married and start a family.

"They had met before the war and he knew it was time to get going with their lives," Tim Kolakowski said. "But he kept playing baseball and, later, softball."

Kolakowski batted against Satchel Paige and the King

Kolakowski joined several barnstorming teams that traveled around the region, including one with former Negro League and Major League player Sam Jethroe, who had recently relocated to Erie. He batted against both legendary Negro League superstar Satchel Paige and former Major League star Paul "Daffy" Dean.

He also played for years in Erie's Glenwood Baseball League and on various local softball teams. Kolakowski once played against Feigner, who toured the country each year with his four-player "King and His Court" softball team.

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"I don't recall how Dad hit against Eddie when he came to Erie but I remember going to the game," said his daughter, Kathy Hagen. "It was exciting to see him play against famous people."

Baseball and softball weren't the only sports at which Kolakowski excelled. He won bowling tournaments with some of his brothers and, in his later years, was able to shoot lower than his age at Downing Golf Course.

'He was such a good dancer'

A year or so after Therese Kolakowski died in 1982, Kolakowski attended a church gathering for widowed people and soon discovered he was the only man in attendance.

"He was handsome, like (actor) Peter Lawford," said Grace Horton, who attended the meeting. "The nun running the meeting told him to give me a ride home. We got in the car and he said to sit closer because my window leaked."

Kolakowski later called Horton and asked for a date. They remained together until his death.

One of the couple's favorite activities was polka dancing. They danced at local clubs, including the Polish Falcons, and even went on trips that focused on dancing.

"We would go to any club that had music," Horton said as she looked at an old portrait of Kolakowski. "He was such a good dancer."

The couple also spent a lot of time together in their Millcreek Township kitchen, making sponge chocolate for friends and family.

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Going shopping with Kolakowski was always an adventure. Because of his job as a painter, his sports career — he was elected to the Metro Erie Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame — his memberships to several social clubs, his efforts as an Erie Times Old Newsie and his fondness for dancing, he got to know many people in town.

It made a quick trip to the store nearly impossible.

"Dad seemed to know everybody in Erie," Tim Kolakowski said. "We would always run into people he knew at the store. We were always late getting back home because he stopped to talk."

Almost made it to 100

Kolakowski remained active into his later years, golfing at Pebble Beach golf course in California for his 80th birthday.

Even when he was home with Horton, sitting in his favorite chair and watching the "How It's Made" documentary series, he was thinking about his longevity.

"I was going through some of Dad's things next to his chair and I found a ripped-out AARP Magazine article about how to live to 100," Kathy Hagen said. "So it was on his mind."

Kolakowski almost made it. He died less than three months before his 100th birthday, which would have been July 30.

"We are still going to have a party," Horton said. "We're going to get together and remember him."

Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie's Len Kolakowski, 99, batted vs. Satchel Paige and Eddie Feigner