Conroy timed his exit from Bandits

To those of us on the outside, the timing may seem a bit ironic.

To Bill Conroy, it's nothing short of perfect.

No wonder he can't stop smiling these days.

A few weeks ago, he beamed with pride as he drove home from Wisconsin with a championship trophy buckled into the passenger seat next to him.

But there was more to his blissful happiness than that. Much more.

The owner of the Bandits, Chicago's professional softball team that beat the Washington Glory in Kimberly, Wis. on Aug. 24 to capture its first National Pro Fastpitch title, had just become the former owner of the Bandits.

Conroy couldn't have been more thrilled.

He was going out on top, and he was getting a big chunk of his life back - all at once.

"I was ecstatic," said Conroy, who started the Bandits in 2005. "I don't know if I've ever been happier - with the exception of getting married (to wife Thora) and having our kids."

That's right. After working and scraping and fighting to bring a professional softball team to Chicago - and then riding the highs and lows to maintain it - Conroy was gleefully ready to call it quits.

This as things were just getting good. This in the wake of his team's first championship. This in the year before his team would finally see its marquee player - Jennie Finch - available for an entire season, instead of just for the few days here and there that didn't happen to conflict with her obligations with the U.S. national softball team.

Since softball won't be an Olympic sport in 2012, the iconic Finch will be all Bandit next summer for the first time ever.

It should be a boon to the team.

And yet, ironically, Conroy won't be around to revel in it. He also won't be around to revel in being the defending champion.

Wait a second. And he's happy about all this?

"I had a difficult time making this decision, for a number of reasons," said Conroy, who gifted his shares (50.2 percent) of the team to his former partner, Bill Sokolis. "But when I did make it, and after I told everyone that day, I smiled all 3 hours home from Wisconsin. Very few people can leave sports on top. I feel really good about what we've accomplished, but I'm looking forward to moving on.

"If you're going to do something like this, you have to have the passion and I had that for a while. But I was just starting to be torn in too many different directions."

In one corner was his youth softball franchise - the Beverly Bandits, the program that made him a softball guru in the first place. It still needed his attention - as a coach, as an organizer and as a promoter who has been dedicated for years to helping his older players earn college scholarships.

That program, which is still his first love, was taking a hit as Conroy's obligations with the pro team grew.

In the other corner were his kids, 20-month-old Aubree and 6-year-old Trey, who is now heavily involved in his own sports.

They were also seeing less of dad.

Conroy, a self-made success story who helped create Hi-Tech Solutions, a multimillion-dollar technical consulting firm, lives in Orland Park. When the Bandits moved from Lisle to Elgin last year, he found that his days were being even more stretched with a long commute.

"I knew that when I was in Kimberly, Wis. and I'm wondering what's going on with Trey in his flag football game as opposed to what's going on with the championship, that I had to be where my heart is," Conroy said. "I don't have a bad memory of my time with the Bandits, and I think I did exactly what I set out to do, which was to build something that would last. If I had to do it all over again, that part of it, I would.

"But at some point, you have to look at your priorities. I turn 47 next month and I want to be able to spend some time with my kids, especially now that my son is involved in anything and everything."

Conroy was right. His timing really couldn't be more perfect.

pbabcock@dailyherald.com