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GETTING TO KNOW
MEMPHIS & THE BCSA
MEMPHIS, TN — The 2025 NAGAAA Cup will take place in Memphis, Tennessee April 25-27 and the hometown queer softball community known as Bluff City Sports Association (BCSA) is ready for the approximately 45 teams and nearly 1,000 players, fans and organizers who will be participating.
But you might be wondering, how did a queer softball community pop up in Memphis, only the second largest city in a state that isn’t exactly known for lovingly embracing our community, and why is it hosting the NAGAAA Cup?
Well, to get to the answer, we went to the source, literally.
Chuck Saylor, NAGAAA Hall of Famer, is one of the OG co-founders of the BCSA, and like all good softball stories, he says it started in a bar.
“A bunch of us were at a Super Bowl party at The Pipeline (now “The Pumping Station”) and by the 4th quarter, we got bored with the blowout of a game and got started talking,” Saylor told me.
Initially the idea was to start a team of queer folks who would play in the city-run straight leagues. After a few weeks of “recruitment,” that included bar outreach, word-of-mouth, and impactful help from the local queer publication “The Triangle Journal,” Saylor said they had a practice with just under 20 people.
Only a few of those who showed up that first week knew that getting to third base was also a sports reference. The rest were pretty new to the sport, or any sport for that matter.
“It was like teaching a baby how to walk,” Saylor remembered fondly.
While it wasn’t for everyone, enough players stayed and others would join to make a team viable. So in mid-April 1993, when the Spring softball season for the City of Memphis was underway, they would have a new team, the Cruisers, to contend with.
“We wanted a name that gay people could identify but that would be a bit of a mystery to the straight people,” Saylor said.
The first few weeks of the season went fine, if lacking success. “We were having fun, but the games weren’t very close,” Saylor said.
That is, until midway through the season, all the stars aligned — bats and gloves came alive at the same time. The game ended with a Cruisers victory, 10-3, their first one as a team.
“You’d have thought we just won the world series,” Saylor recalled. “Most were celebrating by jumping and yelling and hugging each other like long-lost friends.”
That isn’t to say everything was peachy. It was still 1993, after all. Saylor said there were some not-so-nice comments every now and then, and they stung. But there was an angel who came to their aid.
Alinda Higgins was a Lesbian who had umpired softball games for the various leagues in Memphis for years. She was connected and respected. So when she got wind of the harassment that had been hurled at the Cruisers, she reached out to the head of the city’s Parks & Rec department. He then called every one of the managers in the league and said that their behavior was unacceptable and had to stop.
“It was great to know the city had our back,” Saylor said.
But 1993 would be the only year Cruisers would play in the straight leagues because one of the players heard of an entire gay league in Nashville.
After a few calls with Nashville’s then Commissioner, Harry Harrington, Saylor would take his team to the Music City to play in their first ever queer softball tournament, in September 1993. They had plenty of fun and made enough connections to create a symbiotic relationship.
Over the next couple of years, in 1994 and 1995, the team would travel to Nashville to play in their GSWS-qualifying season, and teams from Nashville would travel to Memphis.
After a few years of driving halfway across the state, Saylor said it was time to start a queer league just for Memphis.
Because of the support of The Triangle Journal, publishing frequent articles about the team and its travels, interest had grown and more teams wanted in.
In 1996, the Bluff City Sports Association was born.
The league would join the NAGAAA family in 1998.
This is the history that will soon be celebrated at the 2025 NAGAAA Cup. The memories of those first years will be visible in many of the event locations, so too will be the commitment made by the City of Memphis to the event.
First and foremost, the NAGAAA Cup is a softball tournament, one that brings the sports’ top athletes to compete from around North America.
For the event to be a success, it starts with the fields. Games will be played at USA Stadium (4351 Babe Howard Blvd) on the outskirts of Memphis, in Millington, TN. It’s a nine-field complex that was the former home of the US Olympic Team.
All nine fields boast turf infields and while three have grass outfields, six are turf. There will be no admission charge for those with NAGAAA Cup wristbands (available at check-in).
While you can’t bring in outside food or drinks, the concessions will be stocked with bottled water, soda, sports drinks, beer and seltzers.
And of course, each participant can bring in their own refillable water bottle, but only one per person.
The NAGAAA Cup events start on Friday night at The Pumping Station (1382 Poplar Ave, Memphis) with Player Check-In. Bring a photo ID and make sure to check-in (if you want to take the field the following day), and be sure pick up that participant wristband. Check-in will be available from 6 to 9 pm.
On Saturday games are slated to start early, but come Saturday night, players and fans are encouraged to visit the Pumping Station, DRUS Place (1474 Madison Ave, Memphis), or any of the must-sees in the city on a bluff, including the world-famous Beale Street.
On Sunday, the closing party will be held at Ghost River Brewery on South Main, which opens at 11 am. Awards ceremonies will start sometime after the last games have finished.
Brad McKinney, one of the main local organizers for the event, who also happens to be the BCSA Assistant Commissioner, is especially excited about Sunday’s event at Ghost River.
“It’s a great venue, with lots of indoor/outdoor space,” he said. And because it’s Memphis, “We’ll have live music for the closing party, which might be a NAGAAA Cup first.”
Said McKinney, “We’re trying to create an event where the players walk away thinking they’ve experienced something in Memphis that they’ve never experienced at a softball tournament before.”
Trophies will be somewhat of the traditional NAGAAA Cup theme, but with a decidedly Memphis flare. McKinney wouldn’t give more details but said they will be on display at Friday night’s opening party and check-in.
Also during the entire weekend, Ghost River Brewery will be offering drink specials at both locations (the brewery and their full bar on Beale street) to those with NAGAAA Cup wristbands.
For those arriving early, Memphis offers a ton of fun, interesting sites.
If you’re a gambler, across the Mississippi in Arkansas is the Southland Casino (1550 Ingram Blvd, West Memphis). While technically in another state, it’s just about 20 minutes away from the host hotel, the Downtown Doubletree (185 Union Ave, Memphis).
If live music is your thing, you’re in luck, because, well, Memphis.
Many of the bars along Beale Street you’ll find to be welcoming and affordable.
If you’re a trivia nerd or karaoke prodigy, then you’ll find those both happening at DRUS and The Pumping Station on Thursday, April 25. Visit their websites to find out more.
If you’re a history buff and want to know about the role Memphis played in the Civil Rights movement, consider including the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, and maybe even the National Civil Rights Museum in your itinerary.
As part of its exhibit, the museum includes the Lorraine Motel, a somber reminder of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Now, for those who are more than capable of finding Memphis on a map, you’ll notice it’s in Tennessee, which as a state hasn’t exactly been a bastion of queer acceptance, especially lately.
Ted Stepanoff, another Memphis-based NAGAAA Cup organizer (and McKinney’s husband) says Memphis might surprise you.
“Memphis is just different,” Stepanoff said emphatically. “This is the OG ‘Blue’ county in Tennessee, long before Nashville became purple-ish and way before Knoxville became, whatever Knoxville is.”
Memphis has a deep and rich history of being welcoming to people of all backgrounds and cultures.
Stepanoff and McKinney moved to Memphis during COVID. For McKinney it was a homecoming, but for Stepanoff, it was an adjustment from his home in Connecticut and his job in New York City. Even though it was a bit of culture shock, Stepanoff said he and McKinney have never had a problem being who they are, a married couple. “We’ve never had an issue here,” he said.
But it’s still Tennessee, and when state lawmakers started passing bills against drag performances, it was the drag queens of Memphis who led the way and fought back. “It’s the community here in Memphis that paved the way and created the blueprint on how to fight discriminatory legislation,” Stepanoff said.
“The NAGAAA Cup coming to Memphis is really important,” he added. “It’s important everyone who is coming understands that. We really appreciate everyone who is coming to support us.”