LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The National Fastpitch Coaches Association is pleased to announce retired Western Illinois University head coach and NFCA Hall of Famer Kathy Veroni as the 2025 recipient of the Association’s Humanitarian Award. Veroni is being recognized for decades of dedication and contributions to the development of softball as well as the charitable and volunteer work within her community of Macomb, Ill.
A member of four Halls of Fame – NFCA, Illinois State University, Western Illinois University and Illinois ASA – Veroni led the Western Illinois softball program from 1971 to 2005. She steered the Westerwinds to 869 victories, 11 conference titles, five AIAW national tournaments and three NCAA tournaments. To this day, she is a supporter and contributor for the Western Illinois softball stadium and WIU Golf Course and Learning Center.
Her contributions to the sport extend beyond Western Illinois. She served the NFCA in many capacities – President, Past President and committees – worked area youth and coaches clinics, mentored NFCA member coaches and served as the Hall of Fame banquet emcee.
Additionally, Veroni organized and coached the Macomb Magic for seven years (1979-1985). Veroni’s hard work paid off as the team hosted over 150 home games, providing the city of Macomb, Ill. with high-caliber softball during the summer and the team an opportunity to play, hosting numerous family night and youth clinics. The team developed talent, capturing four Illinois and five Midwest championships, competed in five Nationals and two Olympic Sports Festivals, receiving the “key to the city” from the mayor of Macomb in 1983.
Not only is Veroni a Hall of Fame coach, she is a Master Gardener (20) years, talented woodworker and a tireless volunteer, applying these attributes to her years of service to her community. For the past eight years, Veroni has been a member of the GIFT (Growing Illinois Food Together) garden, located within a public park and provides beauty to the community. GIFT’s 10-member team maintains a vegetable garden that supplies food pantries with over 2,000 pounds of food annually. Veroni put her woodworking skills on display as she also designed and built a garden shed for the equipment, funded and built a gazebo for an outdoor classroom and with help, built 25 raised beds.
Within the garden, there is the Exhibition Flower Gardens, an outdoor education space for the community in which Veroni provides local and regional speakers to present information on a variety of horticultural topics as part of the Roots and Shoots program. It teaches young children about gardening in the summer months, along with Gardner’s Day, a University of Illinois Extension sponsored event. She visits classrooms, is an educator at the University of Illinois extension, volunteers at the 4H fair, refurbished gardens within the county and assists in present wrapping for the Project Santa initiative.
Not only does Veroni use her woodworking skills within GIFT, she teaches all age groups the craft. She donates various wood items to local charities for fundraisers and fosters other local talent in the craft. On top of that, Veroni selflessly supplies all of the equipment, materials and education for the production towards the donation or gift.
An elected Macomb Park District Commissioner, Veroni is also a member of VIBE (Volunteers Interested in Betterment of Everyone) and the McDonough District Hospital Golden Apple Society. Over her nine years with VIBE, she has helped the group raise $800,000 for nonprofit organizations, from a Backpack Program to providing a hospital comfort room, while Golden Apple Society developed and funded the Women’s Center.
The NFCA’s Humanitarian Award recognizes a member coach who has selflessly dedicated time toward the long-term betterment of the community and/or engaged in charitable activities in the service of others. Veroni will be honored in front of her peers on Dec. 13 during the NFCA Awards Brunch at the 2025 NFCA Convention in Las Vegas.
Past winners include:
2024: Beth Torina, Louisiana State University
2023: Dan Grantz, Lafayette High School (KY)
2022: Janae Shirley, East Texas Baptist University
2021: Kent Chambers, Bob Jones High School (AL)
2019: Joelle Della Volpe, Immaculate Conception High School (NJ)
2018: Melissa McElain, University of San Diego
2017: Mark Larriba, Flower Mound High School (TX)
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) is the professional organization for fastpitch softball coaches. Known for its extensive awards and scholarships program, the NFCA also educates and supports softball coaches on a variety of different levels: from NFCA podcasts to a comprehensive drills database, to in-person events and a National Convention.
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