Nancy Whittingham was a softball trailblazer on and off the diamond
The latest inductee into the SA Sport Hall of Fame, Nancy Whittingham, was involved in all aspects of the game.
When Zoe Delmenico is asked to describe her aunt, the late Nancy Whittingham, she barely hesitates before calling her “extremely quick-witted”, “generous” and “caring”.
Another word that springs to mind is “determined”.
Delmenico relates a story of Whittingham being the oldest person to have ever climbed atop the roof of Adelaide Oval at age 82.
“If you looked up determined in the dictionary, you’d definitely find Nancy’s name under it,” says Delmenico.
It was with this determination that Whittingham became an exceptional softballer – one of the best that South Australia has ever produced.
Throughout her softball career, Whittingham was involved in all aspects of the game, including as a player, a coach, an umpire and president of the South Australian Softball Association.
She represented South Australia on the state’s women’s softball team from 1957 to 1970 (except 1967), playing in the positions of catcher, shortstop and first base.
She also played for Australia in some 33 games and was vice-captain of the 1965 Women’s Softball World Championship team.
This month, Whittingham was inducted into the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame in recognition of her immense contribution to all elements of softball, adding the honour to her already extensive list of accolades.
A team photo of the winning 1965 Women’s Softball World Championship team. Whittingham is in the back row, fourth from the right. Photo: Supplied.
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Nancy Whittingham was born on July 25, 1935, and grew up in Renmark.
She excelled at sports from an early age, playing hockey, netball, tennis, squash and swimming while at school.
In the 1950s, Whittingham moved to the city to attend Adelaide Teachers College, where she played senior softball.
She joined the Sabres softball team (later known as Findon/Woodville) in 1956, playing in six premierships with them.
In 1957, Whittingham was selected as a member of the state team as player number 48, later becoming captain of the team.
A highlight of her softball career was, of course, being a member of the victorious 1965 Women’s Softball World Championship team.
The match saw Australia defeat the United States in Melbourne with a score of one run to zero.
Speaking in an interview with Softball Australia ahead of the 50th anniversary of the 1965 championship win in 2015, Whittngham described that day as “off the planet”.
“I’ve never been drunk, I don’t think, but I’m sure it must have been a drunk kind of induced euphoria that encompassed all of us,” she said.
Whittingham remembered seeing a ball soaring over her head and thinking, “Oh my God – well, I better go get it”.
“I took off and luckily the girl only made it to third base and that’s where she stayed,” she said.
“The excitement of course was when Eleanor crossed the plate. I’m not quite sure how she got to second, but I’m pretty sure that’s where she was and there was a wild pitch and Eleanor got to the plate.”
Apart from her love of physical activity, Whittingham said it was the friendships she made that she most valued about softball, including her best friends Julie McCarthy and Nancy Beale.
“A particular lass in Christchurch, with whom I was billeted one year when we were over there, her name happened to be Nancy, so, who else would she have picked to billet than another Nancy,” she said.
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“Nancy Beale and I have been friends for however long it’s been, I don’t know, not quite 50 but it could have been 49.”
Whittingham said she also developed a passion for seeing the world.
“Going to these tournaments, it gave me a love of travelling and seeing things and meeting people, so that’s why we keep trying to go overseas every other year,” she said.
Nancy Whittingham with her niece, Zoe Delmenico, and Pippa the dog, celebrating her 88th birthday. Delmenico says Whittingham loved dogs. Photo: Supplied
After retiring from the state team in 1970, Whittingham began involving herself in other aspects of the game, including as South Australia’s head coach from 1971 until 1985 (except in 1978, when she was studying for a Master of Science in Canada).
She also became a physical education lecturer at Adelaide Teachers College, specialising in kinesiology and sport psychology, and wrote a chapter of the book, Anthropometric Assessment Protocols.
Former Thunderbirds coach Jane Woodlands-Thompson, who Whittingham taught in the ‘80s, says she was a “great role model”.
“She was a wonderful role model, a very strong woman, super smart, a deep thinker and definitely a female leader,” she said.
“She expected very high standards of herself and others and I think that was probably my greatest learning from Nancy: that she set high standards and expected high standards of us as students, which made us good.”
Whittingham, who passed away in October 2024 at age 89, is remembered by her family and friends as someone they loved spending time with.
Zoe says that a few days before the funeral, she received an email from her son’s school during Mental Health Week about cultivating an attitude of kindness.
“It said one of the best ways to cultivate kindness is simply to wish for others to be happy and that’s what Nancy was like – she just wished for others to be happy,” she said.
“She was kind, positive and helpful, whether she’d known someone for one day, one year, 70 years or had just met them. She’d make them feel valued, special and loved – she was just that kind of person.”
Delmenico says she was overwhelmed when she found out her aunty was being inducted into the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame.
“To be honest, I just burst out crying because it was really emotional that she was being recognised,” says Delmenico.
“She was a very humble person, so she loved to celebrate other’s achievements probably more than her own.
“It was really bittersweet because when I found out, it was the start of the year, but she’d only passed a couple of months before. Obviously, you wish that she could have been here to accept it and know she was being inducted.”
Delmenico says Whittingham would have been happy, appreciative and honoured to see herself inducted into the group of South Australian sporting legends.
“It would have been extra special because she’s both such a proud South Australian and she would have loved that softball and South Australia are being recognised together,” she said.
Nancy Whittingham joined five other inductees as the newest members of the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame.
Nancy Whittingham with Kirsty Crouch (who she coached in the 1980s) and her best friend Julie McCarthy. Photo: Supplied.
