PLAYERS DIVISION
MANAGER DIVISION
EXECUTIVE DIVISION
UMPIRE DIVISION
SPONSOR DIVISION
MEDIA DIVISION
GOLD GLOVE HONOREES
HONORARY MEMBERS
ABOUT THE GHTBL HALL OF FAME
In 1982, Jack Repass founded the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League Hall of Fame. Repass was GHTBL Secretary, Sports Information Director for University of Hartford, and a former player. Efforts made by Repass acknowledged Greater Hartford’s best players and its many contributors since 1929. Pete Naktenis, a left-hander from Hartford who pitched for Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics, entered as the first GHTBL Hall of Fame inductee.
Perhaps the most decorated GHTBL Hall of Famer was player-manager, Gene Johnson. At the league’s 50th anniversary celebration he was bestowed with the Player of the Half Century Award. After seven years in the minor leagues, Johnson returned to the twilight league to win four batting titles and multiple championships. He served as a player or manager for an amazing total of 57 years.
To honor GHTBL Hall of Fame inductees, Jack Repass organized banquets often held at Valle’s Steak House in Hartford or Willie’s Steak House in Manchester. Dinner included live music, toasts, prayers, speeches and induction ceremonies. Inductees were handpicked by Repass. Afeter passing away on November 10, 2001, at 77, Repass was inducted to the GHTBL Hall of Fame. Hartford Courant sportswriter Bohdan Kolinsky wrote of Repass that, “The link to Hartford’s baseball past is gone now.”