After umpiring amateur softball for nearly three decades, Dowagiac’s Randy Melvin is headed to the Hall of Fame.

Melvin was notified earlier this fall that the Michigan Amateur Softball Association (MASA) will induct him into its Hall of Fame Jan. 21 in Midland.

Melvin is one of two umpires being inducted and part of the Class of 2012, which will have nine members.

Also being inducted with Melvin are umpire Kevin Renno of Port Huron, players Paul Dyer Sr. (Grand Ledge) and James Vetter (Muskegon), managers Greg Shea (Saline) and Jim Wallace (Midland), as well as meritorious service honorees Bill Elbers (Reese) and Alan Rodammer (Frankenmuth).

Keith Frank of East Tawas will be inducted as a commissioner.

The induction ceremony will take place at The H Hotel in Midland.

“It was a little bit of a surprise,” Melvin said. “It’s usually something that happens after your retired. Some of the criteria is working at least three national tournaments and I was fortunate enough to work seven.”

Melvin umpired 27 years after registering with MASA in 1976. In 1978 he was named District 1 Umpire in Chief for slow-pitch softball.

Melvin credits some of his success in umpiring to the fact that he also played softball during many of those years.

“It helped me with being able to handle players and being able to communicate better with guys by being a player and knowing what those guys were looking for.”

Among his most memorable moments were a pair of trips to Florida. One of those trips was to work the Men’s Super, which is the highest level of slow-pitch softball. At that level the players are being paid by bat companies to compete.

“Games took like two hours and the scores would be 40-30,” Melvin said. “They played in a minor league stadium. Most of those guys were 6-foot-4, 250-pounds. I know two of those guys hit home runs to straightaway center field that were over 400-feet. That’s a long ways in slow-pitch softball.”

Another highlight was another tournament he worked in Florida, which was aired a month later by ESPN.

“They had a neat thing about a guy who played on a team from Minnesota,” Melvin said. “He had lost his leg in the war and played on an artificial leg. He was a pretty impressive outfielder.”

Melvin not only worked national tournaments, but state tournaments of all levels, including MM35-Ovear and Men’s Class D. He became of member of the National Indicator Fraternity in 1995 and was certified by the International Softball Federation in 1998, which is the highest personal honor an umpire can achieve.

Melvin credits Jim Wolford of Buchanan, Gary Evans of Lansing and John Cooper for helping him over the years. Wolford was the person who nominated Melvin for the award.

“There were several people who wrote letters of recommendation on my behalf,” Melvin said. “Lanny Fisher out of Buchanan wrote a letter and it was quite emotional. It talked about when he first started playing how he played against me and then when he started umpiring that being a player and an umpire really helped you down the road because you could work those two things out together.”

Melvin said he enjoyed his years of umpiring and has “a lot of good memories.”