You may not expect to see UCLA Healthcare personnel, including doctors, nurses, administrators, directors, assistants and others all together with bats and gloves in hand, getting sweaty and having a good time. But that’s what happens every Friday night from April to August, at Rancho Park in West Los Angeles.

Since 1976, David Bruckner, ScD, chief of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, has been enthusiastically leading and organizing the UCLA Softball Organization, established in 1972. With the help of Kevin Clark, administrative analyst for the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center, and other softball enthusiasts, Dr. Bruckner has turned Friday night softball into a UCLA Healthcare tradition.

The softball organization consists of eight minor and eight major league teams, with an average of 13 players on each team. Suited in her uniform, Lori Rico, UCLA Healthcare marketing coordinator, looks forward to Friday nights when people from different departments and various levels of employee rank and athletic skill come together to play ball.

David Bruckner, ScD, holding the championship trophy while the team, the Pathogens, look on.

What keeps the UCLA Softball Organization such a success after more than 30 years of play? The unanimous answer, in unison: Dr. Bruckner, camaraderie, friendship and an equal playing field. Though games are competitive, “win, lose or draw, everyone has fun and everyone gets to play,” explains Peter Guzy, MD, clinical professor of cardiology. The on-field friendships gained from playing softball extend to off the field. Players celebrate (or bemoan their loss) at post-game gatherings at each other’s homes or at local eateries and stay in touch off-season.

The league does more than just play ball. It is also instrumental in developing teamwork off the field with other departments to promote UCLA’s Blood and Toy Drive each year. By donating their time and services to promote the blood drive, league members helped the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center make hundreds of donation appointments year round. In collaboration with the Facilities and the Staff Assembly departments, the league has been able to collect over $35,000 worth of toys for the UCLA Child Life/ Child Development Services by distributing over 60 barrels throughout campus for toy donations.

“It’s about networking, working together with the people you meet on and off the field, and learning to make it about the ‘other people’ you can help,” states Mr. Clark, who looks forward to carrying on the softball league legacy of fun, teamwork and community involvement.

If you would like to join in the fun and camaraderie and help our community, new teammates are always welcome! Please contact Kevin Clark at 310-825-2044 or email him at kclark@mednet.ucla.edu for more information.