H I S T O R Y
"The Early Years"
Origins:
A major league softball team in Waukegan was a long-time dream of Scott Wilson, a longtime fan of the game, whose legwork and lobbying started after the city leagues expanded in 1997. "I used to wonder why we couldn't have our own team, " Wilson once recalled. "When I went to see the commissioner of softball in Waukegan after the 1997 expansion, he told me that before we could have a franchise team we'd have to find a sponsor. But there was no hope of the Park District helping us put together a franchise team without a sponsor. " Undaunted, Wilson kept the lines of communication open, and on September 25th, 1998, he presented Waukegan Park District a formal bid for a franchise at the owners meeting in the luxurious Belvidere Reaction Center.
Wilson emerged from that session with pledges of support from all sorts of influential teams.
A year of labor by Wilson and his colleagues reached fruition on March 29th, 1999 when the commissioner and the head of the expansion committee, emerged from a meeting of team owners and announced that Scott Wilson's new team had been accepted as members for the 2000 season.
With the midnight hour approaching and the franchise in danger of turning into a pumpkin, the desperate Scott Wilson approached his former baseball guru Jerry Vasquez "Don't worry, " Vasquez told him. "The money will be there before the deadline. " Vasquez was a man of his word and the newly founded team survived, with Vasquez at the helm and his close friend Robert Jablonski, the two structure the rest of the financial backers, ensuring the solvency of the franchise.
With the midnight hour approaching and the franchise in danger of turning into a pumpkin, the desperate Scott Wilson approached his former baseball guru Jerry Vasquez "Don't worry, " Vasquez told him. "The money will be there before the deadline. " Vasquez was a man of his word and the newly founded team survived, with Vasquez at the helm and his close friend Robert Jablonski, the two structure the rest of the financial backers, ensuring the solvency of the franchise.
The initial deposit of $300 of the $620 franchise fee had been met by the team deadline. But with less than a week to go before the final league deadline, the franchise was still without a sponsor.
Vasquez sent one of his executives - a long-time baseball friend, named Travis Platt to discuss matters with the players and prepare a report on the problems the franchise was having.
A year of labor by Wilson and his colleagues reached fruition on March 29th, 1999 when the commissioner and the head of the expansion committee, emerged from a meeting of team owners and announced that Scott Wilson's team had been accepted as members for the 2000 season.
October 11th, 1999 Travis Platt was ready to attend an owners meeting with the sad news that the franchise might have to be shifted because the team couldn't come up with a sponsor to play for. "Just as I was about to leave, Robert Jablonski and Torre Gardner (two prominent Waukegan sports athletics) suggested we look at the old Rebels baseball game films," recalled Platt. "I believe we liked what we saw.
That saved it, team is christened, but I would say the team came within a half-hour of losing the franchise." Not only did the franchise remain, so did Travis Platt, as the general manager. In week long discussions and after several to many hours of deliberation and arguing about to what to name the new squad, guys started to get frustrated and irritated and left the meeting one by one. Travis Platt stood up and started to walk away, then suddenly stop and turned around and shouted ‘name us whatever’ as he walk out the door.
Vasquez put up the remaining money to maintain the franchise, as long as Scott Wilson would agree to come on board as the team's President and Chief Executive Officer. After naming Travis Platt the team first GM and Scott Wilson as its honorary president one seemingly feasible task still remain, what would the team be called?
May 10th 2000, Vasquez walks into the Park District administration building to register for the upcoming season. The Park District admit had ask Mr. Vasquez to what was the team nickname for scheduling purposes. After a few seconds pause, Mr. Vasquez responded with – "name us whatever".
On the following week of the season debut the new squad receive there Thursday night softball schedule. To which their surprise, they saw how their team name was listed on the schedule. – WHAT? Softball
Loving their new nickname, the guys decided to wear their baseball jerseys ‘Rebels’ due to the fact that they love their baseball jerseys.