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Welcome to our guests! (Wait just a moment as our pictures upload.)

The U.S. Exporters began as a coed team in the summer of 1980 in the District of Columbia's Department of Recreation and Parks (DCDRP) coed league. The original team, called the "Free Traders" (left), consisted primarily of U.S. Department of Commerce employees. In 1989, the "Free Traders" merged with another Commerce Department team, the "U. S.EX-Sporters" (right), adopted a more politically correct name, came up with the basic design and color of our traditional uniform (center), and has continued to play softball in the Washington D.C. area since that time.

(BTW, the coed team won the DCDRP version of the Washington D.C. coed softball championship in 1991 and 1992, and won the U.S. Congressional League version of the city championship in 1993. We are the first, and only, team to have won both of the major versions of Washington D.C.'s coed softball championships, and we did it in consecutive years. We're rather proud of that...)

See Also: The Early Years (1985-1993)

The men's team was formed in 1991 and played its games in both the District of Columbia and Arlington County, Virginia. Since 1994, the men's team has played exclusively in Arlington. The team's accomplishments include regular season first place finishes in the Spring 1993, Spring 1995, Fall 1996, Fall 1998, Spring 2001, Fall 2002, Fall 2003, Fall 2004, Spring 2005, Spring 2008, Spring 2012, and the Fall 2012 seasons. The U.S. Exporters won the Spring 2004, Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2011, and Spring 2013 Post-Season Tournaments, and also won the Fall 2003 and Fall 2005 Men’s Post-Season Playoffs Tournaments.

In 1997, some of the older players on the U.S. Exporters squad organized their first Masters division (35 years and older) team. After a hiatus in 1998, the Masters team was revived in the Spring 1999 and Spring 2000 seasons.

The Masters division was dissolved by Arlington County just before the Spring 2001 season, so a brand new "C" division team was quickly formed to absorb as many of the excluded Masters players (as well as younger recruits) as possible. In honor of the original 1980 team, the new "C" division team was officially named the Free Traders. The team's accomplishments included a first place finish in the Fall 2002 season.

The Free Traders separated from the U.S. Exporters family after the Spring 2005 season, establishing itself as an independent team and changing its name to "Stars & Stripes."

IN MEMORIAM

On April 3, 1996, we received the shocking news that Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's aircraft had crashed in Europe, killing all aboard. To add to our horror, we soon learned that our teammate and friend, Duane Christian, was also aboard the plane as Secretary Brown's personal security officer. We honor Duane's memory, and invite our guests to remember him when you visit our site.

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