A native of Syracuse, NY, Pendergast served as ASA president from 1976-1977. He moved to Bremerton, WA in 1944 and was named a district commissioner in 1947 and remained in that position until officially being named state commissioner in January of 1954. He had been acting commissioner since June of 1953. He was parks superintendent for the city of Bremerton, WA for 31 years until retiring in 1977 after being named in the fall of 1947. He worked for the Syracuse Municipal Park Department from 1934 through 1939.He was a member of the Central New York Umpires’ Association from 1936 until he left in 1944. He was a past president of the Washington State Recreation Association. He served as vice chairman of the National Softball Hall of Fame and ASA Headquarters Building Committee from 1964-1973. In 1978, he received the first Washington State Recreation and Park Society award for continuous and outstanding service to public recreation. Served as first chairman of the Pan American Games Softball Committee (1979). Pendergast died in a plane crash June 2, 1986 in a remote section of British Columbia. He was 72 years-old. He was born January 5, 1914 in Syracuse, NY.
