Passing of Hall of Famer Jay Bob Bickford

Blair Setford • July 27, 2022

Bickford was 1980 MVP & Top Pitcher

The ISC is saddened to hear of the passing of Hall of Famer Jay Bob Bickford.


Jay Bob pitched from 1962 to 1987 for some of Arizona’s finest teams. He played on 13 Arizona State Championship Teams and was voted to the ASA All- American Team in 1971. He was named to the ISC All-World Team in 1977 and 1980 and was named as the ISC Most Outstanding Pitcher as well as the Most Valuable Player in the 1980 World Tournament pitching for Phoenix, AZ 7th Avenue Auto Parts  He was also the Arizona State Travel League MVP in both 1977 and 1980. He was inducted into the Arizona Softball Hall of Fame in 2000.


Jay Bob was one of the most dominating fastpitch softball pitchers in Arizona history. He played for a number of years on the premier teams in the state and nation, including the Turquoise Kings from 1974-1978. During those years the Kings won five ISC Travel League championships and placed second at the ISC World Tournament in 1974. After the Kings, he played for the 7th Avenue Auto Parts, again finishing second in 1980.


We extend our condolences to the Bickford family.

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The ISC is setting the entry fee for the World Tournament and Legends Championship at $750 US starting in 2026, with the differential from the previous charge of $600 dedicated to streaming to ensure coverage of every game. “This was not a decision that we made lightly to raise the entry fee,” said ISC President Chris Santos. “We want to ensure that every game played at the ISC World Tournament is streamed and we are putting every dollar of the fee increase into our streaming operation.” “Our plan is to work with our streaming partner Softball Premier TV to have full multi-camera coverage, including commentary, on two diamonds and cover the third and fourth diamonds with a single camera that is connected to GameChanger so fans will have the informative score ribbon,” said ISC VP Communications Blair Setford. “Streaming is one of the best tools that we have to get our great game in front of a broader audience and we need to take every available step to continue to grow our ISC brand of fastpitch,” said Santos. Businesses and other potential sponsors who would consider an ad on the ISC Network streaming program should contact Blair Setford through the ISC Website Contact Us page. In 2025, there were over 225,000 views on the Softball Premier and ISC Fastpitch YouTube pages just from the ISC World Tournament games.