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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of Bernard F. "Bernie" Gerl of Joliet, who
4passed away on November 7, 2020; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Bernie Gerl was born in Joliet on October 12,
61926; he attended St. Joseph Grade School; he graduated from
7Joliet Township High School in 1944; he served in the U.S. Army
8Air Forces in the post-war Pacific Theater, where he rose to
9the rank of sergeant and served as an athletic instructor and
10baseball player; he toured the Pacific while entertaining the
11troops in the Goodwill Games against other service teams and
12traveling squads of the Major League ballplayers; he was
13honorably discharged in 1946; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Bernie Gerl was signed out of high school by the
15St. Louis Cardinals in 1944 and began his baseball career
16immediately in Salisbury, Maryland, until his military service
17interrupted his career for the next two years; upon his return
18stateside, he was assigned by the Cardinals to Lynchburg,
19Virginia in 1947; he was assigned to the Duluth Dukes, the
20Cardinals Class C team, in 1948; he was named a Northern League
21All-Star; a few weeks later, he was with the Dukes when they
22were involved in one of the worst accidents in U.S. team sports
23history; their bus was hit head-on by a dry ice truck just

 

 

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1north of St. Paul, which resulted in an explosion that killed
2six people; he suffered critical injuries, including severe
3internal and external burns; he unsuccessfully attempted to
4resume his baseball career in Houston, Texas and Montgomery,
5Alabama in 1950; he returned to Joliet, where he took a job at
6the prison and opened a bar; during a fishing trip, he stopped
7by the ballpark in Duluth and was asked by the Dukes' manager
8to help the team for the rest of the season in 1952; he
9accepted and spent the rest of the year as a catcher in Duluth;
10he returned to Duluth in 1953; he retired from baseball and
11returned to Joliet to raise his family at the age of 27; and
 
12    WHEREAS, In 1955, Bernie Gerl began his nearly 40-year
13career with the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Chicago at the
14local bottling plant, now the site of the Crest Hill Village
15Hall; during his tenure, he managed nearly every Coca-Cola
16bottling plant in Chicago, from Niles to Markham; he retired as
17vice president in 1993; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Bernie Gerl maintained an active schedule after
19retirement; he golfed several times a week; he served as a
20commissioner on the Joliet Park District Board and was
21appointed to the Joliet Plan Commission; he was a member of the
22Moose Lodge and a longtime member of the Old Timers Baseball
23Association of Will County, where he held several executive
24positions; he donated his time by restringing baseball gloves

 

 

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1free of charge in Joliet from 1965 to about 2010; he enjoyed
2yearly visits to see his son and family in Minnesota; he was a
3yearly visitor to the still-operating Wade Stadium in Duluth
4until 2015, where the current team, the Duluth Huskies, named a
5night in his honor, and fans were given a Bernie Gerl
6bobblehead doll; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Bernie Gerl was known as one of the first
8professional catchers to wear eyeglasses and as a power hitting
9lefty with a rocket for an arm who batted clean-up for the
10Duluth Dukes; he will be remembered as a perfect example of a
11life well lived; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Bernie Gerl was preceded in death by his parents,
13Andrew and Mary Rose (Terlep) Gerl; his siblings, Marie (Gib)
14Bauer, Andy (Betty) Gerl, Don (LaVerne) Gerl, and Jim (Mary)
15Gerl; his parents-in-law, Frank and Julia (Matichak) Tomac; and
16his brother-in-law, Frank (Delores) Tomac; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Bernie Gerl is survived by his wife of 71 years,
18Bernadine (Tomac) Gerl; his children, Bill (Patt) Gerl, Diane
19(Jim) Blackburn, and Chuck (Cindi) Gerl; his nine
20grandchildren, Bill (Dana) Gerl, Erin (Chad) Adamson, Meaghan
21Gerl, Lauren (Tim) Morris, Kevin (Sarah) Blackburn, Ryan
22Blackburn, Ben Gerl, Cate Gerl, and Adam Gerl: his nine
23great-grandchildren, Jake, Reece, Tate, Katelyn, Maddie,

 

 

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1Blake, Luke, Emily, and Casey; his numerous nieces and nephews;
2and his loyal friends, Harlow Lockwood, Jim Greenan, Ray
3McShane, Lou Clavenna, and Tom Dedin; therefore, be it
 
4    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL
5ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
6Bernard F. "Bernie" Gerl and extend our sincere condolences to
7his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
8further
 
9    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
10presented to the family of Bernie Gerl as an expression of our
11deepest sympathy.