Konfire has power, speed. And charity

Mike Konheim went 5 for 5, including a towering homer, and two doubles in the Bucco’s recent loss to first-place Purple. The two-baggers would have been singles for ordinary mortals, but Konheim, one of the fastest runners in the Culver City Senior Softball, routinely gets the extra base on balls corralled in the outfield.

What makes this even more extraordinary is that Konheim, who sports the nickname “Konfire” on the back of his Bucco jersey for his blazing speed and searing home runs, has been dealing with Parkinson’s disease the past year.

“So far so good. It was an early diagnosis. The doctor said I probably had it for a while, but like I don’t know what that means,” he said.

Early stages of Parkinson’s generally have few or subtle symptom, according to medical literature.

Konheim has signed up for a double-blind trial at UCLA to test new medication, which means neither the participants nor the researchers know who is receiving the active treatment and who is receiving a placebo.

“Hopefully, I get the medication because if you don’t it’s kind of worthless for those two years (of the trial). But at the end of the trial, if you didn’t get the medication, they give it to you for three years. It’s supposed to slow it down.”

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Konheim has played in recreational softball leagues for decade, including in a synagogue league where pitchers used a fast-pitch windmill windup but had to put a bit of arc on the ball.

“There’s like fast pitch and slow-pitch softball and this is sort of in between. I was also playing slow pitch at the same time.” It didn’t make him a better hitter. “It didn’t work,” he said.

Konheim, with his fireplug build, also played roller-blade hockey at the roller-plex in the Simi Valley, a forechecking blueliner who played the role of enforcer. “Yeah, I got the penalties and stuff like that,” he remarked.

Konheim, now 60, joined the LA City senior league in the Valley only to see it shut down almost immediately when the Covid pandemic struck in 2020. “So, we played pickup games and actually wore masks on the field to comply with regulations.”

Konheim, who grew up in Beverley Hills went across the country to enroll in American University in Washington D.C. During his time there, he interned for Republican Senator Warren Rudman of Michigan, who was then the Vice Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition during the 1987 Iran-Contra hearings.

Following graduation, he worked as a stockbroker and dabbled in real estate before becoming the co-owner of three Great Earth vitamin franchises in the LA area. He finished his career working for the family real-estate business developing properties in Malibu.

Since retirement, he’s been volunteering for several non-profits, including the West Valley Food Pantry, which recently spotlighted him in its newsletter. “Michael has been a rockstar at the West Valley Food Pantry, committing to at least two at least two shifts every week for the past six years!”

He has also volunteered at a Jewish food pantry in the Valley and a non-profit called Mr. Holland’s Opus that provides musical instruments to underprivileged kid in various music programs. (It’s named after a 1995 film of that name, starring Richard Dreyfus, who plays a struggling high school music teacher.)

Konheim, who is married with a son and daughter, said that like many of us, he enjoys senior softball for the friendship it provides in retirement. “I enjoy playing, but number one I like the camaraderie. We go out for lunch sometimes after the games or go listen to music somewhere and stuff like that.”

Sounds like Mike “Konfire” Konheim is living his best life even with that pesky Parkinson’s diagnosis.