VIDEO: Ed Rose Has Played In 121 National Titles, Seven World Championships
By Charles Parker // March 24, 2017
SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME
ABOVE VIDEO: As a player and manager, Ed Rose has earned more than 55 All-World nominations and has played in 121 national titles and seven world championships.
ED ROSE – 2015 INDUCTEE
• Seven World Championships
• Member of the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame
FLORIDA AIR ACADEMY GRAD
Whenever the talk turns to Space Coast softball, Ed Rose’s name pops up as quick as a fly ball.
In fact, many people think Ed Rose is Space Coast softball, for the Melbourne resident has been unwavering in his passion for the game and its potential to help youth.
Rose grew up in Southern New Jersey, but his heart definitely belongs to the Space Coast. He can thank his mom for that, because she enrolled the then 15-year-old Rose in Florida Air Academy, from where he graduated in 1965.
“Florida Air Academy changed my life,” said the Melbourne resident.
“The school made a huge difference. That was 50 years ago. I never left the area.”
Rose is now betting that Florida Air Academy will also change the lives of the two Dominican Republic teens he and his wife, Cheryl, are sponsoring at the Melbourne prep school.
Florida Air Academy even helped Rose land the love of his life, for he met Cheryl at a school dance and married her six months after his high school graduation. The couple have three children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Although the athletic Rose – who lettered in football, basketball and baseball while at FAA – had been offered college scholarships for baseball and football, he opted to instead go into the corporate world.
“I was offered $10,000 a year with North American Rockwell at the Cape,” he said.
“That was a lot of money back then.”
His working career led him to a position as corporate training manager at Harris Corporation, responsible for developing leadership training programs around the country.
He earned his bachelor’s degree by attending night school, graduating with honors in organizational management from Warner Southern College.
At 18 and working full time, he picked a sport for off-hours entertainment: softball. He hasn’t stopped playing in five decades.
A master at the art of hitting, Rose was inducted into the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame in 1999. In fact, he even wrote the book on hitting, for Rose’s “The Three T’s of Hitting” helps batters hone their skills.
POISED TO BE FILM STAR
As a player and manager, he has earned more than 55 All-World nominations and has played in 121 national titles and seven world championships.
As a member of the Hollis-Rose Appraisals, Rose now stands poised to become a film star, for the story of Rose and team members Audie Hollis, Jack Aronson and Roger Tabor has evolved into “Extra Innings,” a sports documentary that chronicles senior softball players at the top of the game.
Hollis-Rose Appraisals, an all-star senior team of players from throughout the Sunshine State, is considered the country’s primo team in the 60-and-up age bracket.
As executive director of the Florida Senior Sports Association, Rose has orchestrated the group’s “Feeding the Dream” program, which has donated more than 8,000 pieces of sports equipment to impoverished children of the Dominican Republic.
The group also built a well for a small mountain village in the country and provided scholarships for two boys to attend Florida Air Academy.
Rose has given generously out of his own pocket to help make the scholarships possible and he and Cheryl have opened their home and heart to the two teens, who live with them while attending FAA.
Rose credits Cheryl, who is currently battling cancer, for his ultimate success in life on and off the softball field.
“You really don’t play this game without the support of your wife,” he said.
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THE 2017 SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME Banquet and Induction Ceremony will take place at the Cocoa Beach Country Club on Friday, May 12.
FOR INFORMATION ABOUT the 2017 SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME Induction, call 321-615-8111 or e-mail Contact@SpaceCoastDaily.com
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