Popular Mt. Prospect ump dies during game
A popular umpire for youth softball was being mourned Monday after collapsing Friday evening from a heart attack while umpiring a game in Des Plaines.
Vincent Weidner, 56, of Mount Prospect, collapsed on the baseball diamond on Marshall Drive during a fastpitch travel softball game for 16-year-old girls.
"He had just called the coaches together to explain the rules when he collapsed," his sister, Valerie Gaylord of Arlington Heights, said Monday.
Des Plaines paramedics reportedly arrived within three minutes, and they worked to revive him for nearly an hour, Gaylord added, but they weren't successful.
"The heroics on the field were unbelievable," Gaylord said.
He was taken to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, where he was pronounced dead of a heart attack about 6:15 p.m., officials from the Cook County medical examiner's office said.
Bob Ancona, who programs youth and adult softball leagues for the Mount Prospect Park District, said plans were underway to honor Mr. Weidner's memory, possibly at the girls' all-star game on Friday at the Majewski Metro Athletic Complex.
Mr. Weidner had coached his own children in baseball, softball and basketball through park district programs, and turned to officiating five years ago, once his youngest daughter, Sheri, began playing softball in high school.
"He was not only a great umpire, but he would instruct the kids during the game," Ancona says. "The kids all knew him and liked him, and so did the coaches."
Beyond Mount Prospect, Mr. Weidner officiated basketball for games in the River Trails and Northbrook park districts, as well as for the Arlington Heights Youth Athletic Association.
Softball took him to youth and adult games, in Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Barrington, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Northbrook, Palatine, Prospect Heights and Rolling Meadows.
"I think his greatest attribute was that he always had a good attitude," says Jeff Schwarz of Arlington Heights, who assigned many of the games Mr. Weidner officiated. "He always wanted to be there." Mr. Weidner was certified to officiate basketball and softball games for the Illinois High School Association, but he rarely found the time.
Instead, he made it a priority to watch his daughter play, first at Prospect, and last spring at Concordia University in Wisconsin, where she was a star freshman pitcher.
His son, Tim, had been a state qualifying swimmer at Prospect before graduating in 1998, and Mr. Weidner attended every meet.
Mr. Weidner, a native of Elgin who had worked for 30 years in human resources for a Chicago utility, in recent years also was a bus driver for Mount Prospect School District 57 and an instructor at Northwest Suburban Driving School.
Besides his sister, Mr. Weidner is survived by his wife, Jeanne, as well as his children, Tim (Janae) of Yorkville and Sheri of Mount Prospect, two more sisters, Victoria Hodor-Freeman and Vivian (Tony) Wozniak, and his mother, Elsie.
Visitation will take place from 4-9 p.m. Tuesday at Friedrich's Funeral Home, 320 W. Central Road, before an 11 a.m. funeral on Wednesday at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1624 E. Euclid Ave., both in Mount Prospect.
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="http://www.legacy.com/dailyherald/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=129084158">Full obituary <span class="date">[06/29/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>