Michele Smith is two-time Olympic gold medalist for the U.S. National Softball Team, an ESPN softball commentator, and will be inducted into the American Softball Association Hall of Fame in 2006. A 13-year veteran of the Japan Pro Softball League, she is a sports celebrity in Japan, having pitched her team, the Toyota Shokki, to six league championships and won 6 MVP awards. In 2005 she served as the U.S. player representative to the International Softball Federation delegation to lobby the International Olympic Committee to reinstate Olympic softball. Michele organizes and runs softball clinics worldwide, including coaching clinics in cooperation with Little League. Michele has long-running endorsement contracts with leading manufacturers such as Worth (bats and gloves), Musco (field lighting) and JUGS (pitching machines), as well as a line of instructional DVDs.
