Jerry Cudney was a member of the Cheney Studs Pee-Wee Hockey team that won a championship in 1950-51. The Cheney Studs were part of a larger Pee Wee organization that was sponsored by sports enthusiast and philanthropist Ben Cheney. Cheney himself was an avid baseball fan but came from a low-income family and couldn’t afford his own baseball gear. Cheney grew up to sponsor numerous teams, of both sexes, and by his death in 1971 it was estimated Cheney had helped more than 5,000 youth had been sponsored by the Cheney Lumber Company, which was founded by Cheney in 1936.
