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George Khoury Association of Baseball Leagues, or Khoury League, is a non-profit organization located in St. Louis, Missouri whose sole purpose is to develop the youth of America through the organization of Tee Ball, Baseball, and Softball Leagues. Khoury League is currently the longest operating youth baseball league in the United States, being founded in 1934 and incorporated in 1936. Throughout its history, it has organized baseball and softball leagues throughout the United States and in several foreign countries. Organized Khoury Leagues are now active in many states and several foreign countries. Khoury League is currently run by an all-volunteer Board of Governors from its headquarters in St. Louis, MO. Local leagues are free to structure themselves in a way that can best serve their community, and requires them to follow few restrictions. Khoury League offers programs from ages four and up in a structure that allows kids to move up in a progressive format with balls, field dimensions, etc. == History == The Khoury League was founded by George M. Khoury in 1934 from the encouragement of his wife Dorothy Khoury. She complained that their children George Gilbert (DOB 7-30-23), Robert LeRoy (DOB 10-29-24), and Alvin Frederick (DOB 6-3-26) played on a team called the “Warriors” in an unorganized sandlot format and many of the kids they played against were much older. As George G. Khoury Sr. later recalls in his book, ''Brothers, Bombshells, and Baseball'', “Dad knew many people, was a salesman and an organizer.() He knew how to get things done, thus one evening he decided to form his own league and the Sixteenth Ward Baseball League, with George Khoury as the sponsor, was started in St. Louis. MO.〔Khoury, George (2003). ''Brothers, Bombshells, and Baseball''. Hardback Publishers. p. 20-21. ISBN 978-0-9744237-1-5.〕” In 1936, with the help of his friend and local attorney Maury Karner, they decided to truly organize the league, and change the name to George Khoury Association of Baseball Leagues, Inc. The first league games were played on Mother’s Day in St. Louis's Forest Park in honor of his wife who encouraged George to organize the league, and bore the brunt of raising his three boys. George was adamant that every kid be allowed to play regardless of skill level, and adopted the motto, "The Khoury League Is Interested In The Child That Nobody Else Wants.〔(George Khoury Association of Baseball Leagues Official Rulebook ). (PDF). Khoury League. 2011.〕" The Program expanded rapidly after World War II, first to the areas adjacent to St. Louis, then to Illinois, Kentucky, Florida and other states.〔 An important addition to the program came in 1958 when the first organized youth girls softball league in the nation was included. Some Khoury Leagues, in addition to baseball and softball, also include soccer, basketball, bowling and other sports.〔 Khoury League prides itself on being the first national organization with an organized youth sports program for boys 7–15 years old divided into four age groups, and the first with baseball diamonds and baseballs reduced in size for each of the above age groups. The Khoury League was the first to introduce a total of 7 age classifications: Atom, Bantam, Midget, Juvenile, Junior, Intermediate and Senior. The Khoury League was also the first to pioneer post-season playoffs for all teams with others of equal standing in their respective Divisions with classes: A,B,C, and D. Finally, the Khoury League was the first with an “ALL STAR” game in a major league park (Sportsman Park, Home of the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns) for the Atom, Bantam, Midget and Juvenile Divisions. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「George Khoury Association of Baseball Leagues」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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