Legendary Baseball Organist Nancy Faust To Play At Blue Wahoos Weekend Games
One of baseball’s most famous entertainers, legendary Chicago White Sox former organist Nancy Faust, will be at Blue Wahoos Stadium this weekend, providing a unique nostalgic experience. Her trip to Pensacola became a surprise Father’s Day gift to Blue Wahoos owner Quint Studer, whose face lit up with a glow
One of baseball’s most famous entertainers, legendary Chicago White Sox former organist Nancy Faust, will be at Blue Wahoos Stadium this weekend, providing a unique nostalgic experience.
Her trip to Pensacola became a surprise Father’s Day gift to Blue Wahoos owner Quint Studer, whose face lit up with a glow Wednesday when watching a video at the stadium where the 75-year-old Faust informed him she was traveling to Pensacola to play. Studer grew up in the Chicago area following both the White Sox and Cubs teams and has marveled at Faust’s rare musical skills.
“I have not met him, but I have been reading about him, so I know he is a wonderful fella,” said Faust who retired in 2010 after playing for 41 consecutive years at White Sox games and becoming an institution in Chicago.
Through arrangements to locate a version of the renown Hammond B3 Musical Organ that Faust made famous during yesteryear, she will play at the Blue Wahoos games on Saturday night and Father’s Day Sunday to close out the team’s series against the Tennessee Smokies.
“I know you all (Blue Wahoos) had to jump through a lot of hoops and that’s just amazing,” Faust said, during an interview while she was grocery shopping in Chicago. “I am pinching myself that you have been so wonderful to me. I’m excited to be dusting off the keys and playing again for you.”
In so many ways, Faust was a pioneer before stadiums had video boards, computerized graphics and sound systems providing entertainment. She entertained as a renown organist, sitting among the fans, and leading the game experience.
As a Father’s Day gift, Studer’s wife, Rishy, wanted to see if Faust could travel to Pensacola and entertain at a Blue Wahoos game.
It all came together when Mike Fitzpatrick, the Blue Wahoos facilities manager, used a special connection with Faust to see if she could make a trip Father’s Day weekend to Pensacola.
Fitzpatrick, a Chicago native, along with his business partner, owned a famous bar in Chicago, the Cork and Kerry. In 2005 when the White Sox won the World Series, he arranged for Faust to play at the bar/restaurant the night of the White Sox clinching game.
“We were long time White Sox fans, season ticket holders and we thought it be great idea to get her in the bar to play and help celebrate the White Sox winning the World Series,” Fitzpatrick said. “We were able to get her in the bar and got an organ set up and she stayed the whole night.
“It was an unbelievable night and she still remembered it when I called her. She knew who I was and even said she had still had pictures from that night. She told me, ‘If you can get the organ, I will try and come down.’ So we started planning this before the season. The hardest part of all this was keeping a secret from a man (Studer) who knows everything going on in the community.”
The next challenge was finding a Hammond B3 Organ. Firtzpatrick learned Pensacola had an organ group and contacted the director, who put him in touch with Tommy Durant and the organ was tested at the stadium to make sure it would work.
“I told (group director) what we wanted to do and he was excited about the whole thing. So he helped me try and found someone with a Hammond B3 and Tommy came through,” Fitzpatrick said.
“I knew how much this would mean to Quint,” Fitzpatrick said. “He had sent me a video of Nancy Faust and said how he loved the old baseball games and talked about how much he loved Nancy playing the organ at White Sox games. So that hardest part was just getting the organ that I knew Nancy had to have in order to play here.”
Faust was hired in 1970 by baseball’s famed innovator, Bill Veeck, while he was the White Sox general manager. Faust quickly became a hit with White Sox fans and sports fans through the nation when learning of her entertaining skills as organist.
She quickly rose in fame as a pioneer woman playing an organ at Major League Baseball games. She became the first organist to include pop and rock themes. Her placement at the White Sox former Comiskey Park was among the fans, enabling them to request songs that she then played during the game.
“I didn’t know a lot about baseball, but the fans who surrounded me certainly did,” Faust said. “So, they gave me a lot of insight and suggestions for songs. All I needed was a suggestion and I could play it. And it was a good marriage between the fans and myself and I loved being outside with them.
“Bill Veeck was a cutting edge guy and he thought the organist should be visible and I benefitted from that,” she said. Uusally organists are tucked away someplace where people don’t know if it’s real or Memorex.”
Faust was the first to lead “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” preceding former White Sox, then Cubs iconic broadcaster Harry Caray, who then followed by singing his version of the song from the press box.
Faust also created the famed “Nah Na Nah, Hey, Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye” theme song that is played worldwide at sporting events. She is recognized with a display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. New York She was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of Eternals.
When the Miami Marlins franchise was formed and prior to their 1993 inaugural season, Faust was invited to attend the logo unveiling. She then was asked to play in the Marlins first game.
All these years later, Faust is hoping a first-time trip to Pensacola and this unique experience will resonate with Blue Wahoos fans.
“I wonder what the fans will think,” she said. “It could be quite a novelty for someone young, because I wouldn’t think they are familiar with organs. But since youngsters seem to jump from one thing to another, they may find it a novelty and amusing.
And hopefully evoke some great feelings with their fathers and their families on Father’s Day. Because the sound itself of an organ is kind of unique to baseball. They still use it for commercials.
“I like to think I created a dimension in entertainment that was unique to a ballpark. Back then, I like to feel that people went home entertained, win or lose, and that was part of a good time at the ballpark.”
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