When God presented Adam and Eve with the first ball and bat in the Garden of Eden, Butch Thunder Hawk should have been there.

Thunder Hawk, a tribal arts instructor at United Tribes, has played stick-and-ball sports in virtually every form over the years. He's gone from amateur baseball to fastpitch softball to slowpitch softball to 50-plus softball to 60-plus softball.

He doesn't regret a second of it."Iplay because I love the game," Thunder Hawk said Saturday after a 60-plus game in the McQuade Softball Tournament in Mandan. "I loved baseball and fastpitch. … Idon't play as hard now as I used to. It's more for fun."

That may be so, but it didn't look like Thunder Hawk was involved in a mere social event Saturday morning. As a pickup player he helped Mandan Maring & Williams eke out a 15-14 nine-inning victory over Fargo Tharaldson Enterprises.

"There's still a lot of competition out here. You have fun but you give it your all," he said. "Iknow a lot of the guys I play against and that gives me a little edge to be at my best. You grit your teeth and go for it."

He noted Tharaldson's teams have been so strong for so long that Saturday's victory tasted especially sweet.

"It's kind of fun to finally win one against them," he said. "… I always pump up when we're playing a good team and they're a good team."

Thunder Hawk is a virtual walking history book of south central North Dakota baseball and softball in the post-World War II era.

He recalls his father, Wally, pitching for the Mandan Trainers and BismarckEagles amateur baseball teams in the late 1940s and into the 1950s.

In his late teens, Thunder Hawk played baseball for his father's team. He was a defensive back on the football team during his college years at DickinsonState, but he also found time for fastpitch softball.

After college, he coached and taught at Solen. Thunder Hawk moved to California to attend art school in Oakland in 1971 and returned to teach at United Tribes in 1973. All along the way he was able to continue playing fastpitch. Upon his return to Bismarck, Thunder Hawk played with the Front Page and Elbow Room fastpitch teams. After a couple of summers of playing both, he moved to slowpitch 16 years ago. He said the transition from baseball to fastpitch was easier than the move from fastpitch to slowpitch.

"The timing (at the plate) in fastpitch and slowpitch is two different things. … It took me two, three, maybe four years to adjust to slowpitch," he said. "I was frustrated many times. I was just too quick with everything."

Thunder Hawk now has a smooth left-handed stroke to go along with consistent infield play. He's always been an infielder and in recent years has become primarily a second baseman.

"My forte is defense," he said.

Thunder Hawk spent the past two summers in Boston doing American indian art work for the Peabody Museum at Harvard University.

He didn't leave softball behind, hooking up with a modified fastpitch league in Boston.

Following Saturday morning's two wins over Mandan Capital City Construction and Tharaldson's, Thunder Hawk joined his regular team, the North Dakota IndianGaming Association for afternoon and evening 50-plus tournament games.

Sixty-plus and 50-plus divisions play similar rules. Only wood bats are allowed, sliding is prohibited, baserunning rules are modified for safety reasons and there are liberal courtesy running rules. The 60-plus division is making its McQuade debut this summer with three teams.

Still, it's competitive softball, and Thunder Hawk has no intention of walking away from the sport anytime soon. Two surgeries and three arthroscopic procedures on his knees have robbed him of his speed, but he says he can still play.

"I've got another 10 years," he said. "I always try to keep pretty much in shape, especially the legs. You've got to have the legs. It's an incentive to keep healthy and I love meeting people.That's the big thing. I've made some great friends in softball and this tournament attests to that."

Indeed, Thunder Hawk was unable to walk far in any direction without encountering a greeting. "Hey Butch, how you doing?"

If the McQuade tournament ever needs a mayor, Thunder Hawk is the man.