Women of
the Halls of Fame
Softball Umpire
Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona
Year Inducted: 2004
Position: Umpire
Since 1974, Emily Alexander has been a fast pitch softball umpire and more importantly an Amateur Softball Association (ASA) registered umpire. In 1975, she became a National Federation of State High Schools certified fast pitch umpire, and finally in 1981, she became an International Softball Federation certified fast pitch umpire.
Her experience ranges from ASA women's and men's major national championships to the NCAA college world series to some several state and divisional high school championships to international play. Some of Alexander's most notable umpiring experiences include the NCAA Division I College World Series in 1983, 1984, 1993, 1994, 1999, and 2000. Internationally, she has umpired National Team Tryouts in 1979, 1995, and 1997. She was one of the umpires at the Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Olympic Festival in 1990 and 1995.
Alexander has received numerous accolades for her job as an umpire. In 1995 and 2000, she earned the NFIOA: Arizona Softball: Official of the Year. 1993 brought her the John McGonigle Memorial Award for Umpire Excellence, and in 1994, she received the ASA Region 13 Award for Umpire Excellence. Alexander's greatest honors came in 2003 and 2004 when she was inducted into the Arizona Softball Hall of Fame and when she became the first woman umpire inducted into the ASA Softball Hall of Fame.
Besides umpiring, she has many administrative qualities as she has been the Metro Phoenix ASA Deputy Umpire-in-Chief from 1981 to 1993. From 1994 to 2001, she was the Metro Phoenix ASA Umpire-in-Chief. Alexander was also the Umpire-in-Chief for the NCAA Division I World Series from 1995 to 1998. She has also spent time as an instuctor at the ASA National Umpire School, the Metro Pheonix Umpire School, and for four ASA/Collegiate Fast Pitch Umpire Training Camps.
Among the rest of her accomplishments she was the founder and leader of a local fast pitch umpire association in Arizona known as the Cactus Umpires. She developed a website that has become a useful tool for many umpires, and continues to be today. Alexander is a very accomplished female umpire, though if you ask her, it's not really a job to her because she loves it so much.