Horsey the Nun

Catherine Horstman was born in Minster, Ohio which is a farming community with a strong German and Catholic background. She was raised with seven siblings. Katie's family had cows and chickens on their farm. As a farm girl in a small town in those days, there were no organized sports for girls. She learned how to play baseball in the pastures with her five brothers. She heard that Philip Wrigley was starting a professional women's league, calling it the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). At the end of her sophomore year of high school, 16-year-old Katie went to the tryouts in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was a tough competition, with hundreds of girls trying for the same positions. Katie was selected and then escorted home by a chaperone to get permission from her parents to join the team. She got her uniform and equipment, and began playing for the Fort Wayne Daisies in 1951. In 1960, she joined a convent and became a Franciscan Nun. She taught physical education at Sacred Heart High School in Mokena, Illinois. She went on to get her master's degree after leaving the convent in 1965. Catherine Horstman became the first nun in the United States to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education from DePaul University. Back in her hometown of Minister Katie helped establish the first female track and cross-country team. They now have 24 state female champs. She has nominated to seven Hall of Fame (including the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York).