Gold Medal 1972,Canadian A Mens

Mack,Regier,Sakundiak,Ewanchuk,MacMillian,Bessey,Doc Bath , McWillie,Penrod and batboy Bent Jr Bent,Rumble,Woodkey,Reiser,W&T Bell ,E&L Billows,Friesen,Landers,Barker,Andersen
Iwas very shocked to hear of the sudden passing of Dan Secundiak,of heart attack,age 55,very sorry.The passing of coach Lioyd Reiser occured May 23rd/07,condolences to all freinds and family
Gold: The unlikely City,Weyburn,the Crocus City south of Regina,toiling in The Inter-City League
five teams from Regina,one from Moose Jaw,and Weyburn,population,nine thousand,
the competition was well balanced,well run League
the fans were great and well supported the league
it was not uncommon to see up to a thousand fans at times.
The agenda was to win Gold for Weyburn,a sincere desire ,a goal driven Community
After two years of great success,we decided to import one more pitcher.
That was hard on me,I was their Ace, yet we needed pitching help!
We went out and got the very best,Pete Landers,a big lefty,
what do I do,I could have left ,or,stay and learn to cope and be with My Team!
I knew what laid ahead,I had to take it up a notch,Pete and I hit it off, good friends,
he was here to help me and the fine base of players in the fold,he saw good!
Once the season started we split the first four games,starter four innings,reliever ,three,
the first four league games,Pete and I shared ,three perfect games and one one-hitter
what a start,I was relieved and my own confidence rose another notch or two!
This City gave me support,a career in Radio that I always wanted,huge respect for my contribution and many good friends!The Free Methodist Church, Pastor Childerhose,were especially kind to us!
This was 1972,the reigning World Champs,were the Richmond Hill Dynes from Ontario
The Canadian Championships were held in Edmonton,each province and the Yukon and Northwest Territories,fielded teams for the Gold.
We added pitcher Gene McWillie ,catcher Jim Penrod from Saskatoon to fill our lineup for the Championships!
After all was said and done,Weyburn Canadians Captured the Gold Medal,what a dream come true for a Neuanlage Mennonite boy!!!
Some papers headlines,were :Weyburn:600 miles north of Minnesota,Crocus Capital Wins ,Etc...
Jake and the Kid ,author Mr.W.O.Mitchell, a Weyburn native was used as well.
What a home coming at the Regina airport,hundreds of fans and Media.
After the win sank in, we had many banquets to attend ,special gifts from City and Province,inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall Of Fame,half-time guests at the Sask Roughriders vs BC Lions game on National TV. George Reed was our special friend through Molsons and he and Ron Lancaster came to many of our games.
Goodtimes,Good memories,Good people,thanks!!!!
FOOTNOTE:Special thanks to Jim Laing,owner of CFSL Radio,former Boston Bruins play by play voice for allowing me to have a great experience in Radio,play by play of some Red wing games,colour analyst,host my own shows and cover curling ,Thanks,James T. Our 88 year old Doc Bath proudly holds Canadian Cup!!!! Doc represented England in early Olympics as a runner!!!

Congratulations to the Red Wings On their RBC National Cup in JR.A Hockey,a great game,and yes,that is the same Dwight Macmillian ,the coach who was on Gold 72 as player!

Weyburn was a very deserving small city to win,it had a loyal fan base as I've never seen before ,the ball players were respected as heros and the whole city was a buzz when ball games where on ,for me it was the right thing to do and have always been proud of the City. The fans deserve it ,as they deserve the Red Wings and their championship years. in my time there,hockey and fastball were King!!!CFSL was a good training ground for my near 30 years in the media,thankyou Weyburn,and its fine people!
Whether you look for commercial services or community services, you will find both are well-established in Weyburn.

Canada's major banks are represented, as well as a major credit union, plus a solid professional sector made up of accounting, insurance, legal and medical services. Communications services include newspapers, radio and cable television.

An extensive, modern education system includes one of the Province's leading comprehensive high schools, and extends to a regional college with university-level programs as well as vocational training. The City provides a wide variety of sports and recreation facilities, including many with free access. There are libraries, galleries, art centers and museums, and one of the Province's newest urban park developments.

As the headquarters of the Sun Country Health Region, Weyburn maintains an extensive health care network, including a hospital and other specialized care facilities.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Weyburn has the solid economic and community foundation on which new opportunities are built.

WMFL: After the great 1972 season,a new league,western major Fastball was formed .
I played the year in Regina, for Kappy Kaplans ,Carlings
the experience was good,the flights,first class Pro ball,and the new players from all over the World
that competed,was a new and ,perhaps another level to remember,
Players from New Zealand,Australia and USA,all brought the best out, in all of us.(Landers,Frisen)
Teams were in Regina,Winnipeg,Saskatoon. Camrose,Red Deer ,Edmonton,Calgary,and Wetaskawin.
Affiliated leagues were in BC and NW United States and the Travel League from Ontairio.
Eventually the World Series of Fastball came from this in Camrose,lots of good ball and hype!
Truly the best was on display and for me ,only one year was great.

I played A ball in Saskatoon, for the Merchants,we won the provincial,and went to the National in Victoria,we lost the final to Ontario,1-0,you guessed it against Pete Landers,former Neuanlager, Neudorf hit a home run off of me to win it ,you can;t win'em all,,,some are rained out. Great ball was held by all.  

 4's Enough
This was a group of four College boys touring Canada in 1973,they came to Weyburn and were anxious to play the reigning Canadian Champs .We accommodated them with a Sunday Exhibition game ,that turned , ugly!!!These 4 Lads were very good athletes and it was a new type of a copycat to Feigner,anyway ,a very good crowd on hand for this and before the game as I was warming up they were taunting and teasing me that this was an easy take for them,we were all washed up and slow, out of condition team,our Pres had been the Sask amateur boxing champ 25 years earlier and he was getting really upset with this bs,so he went and discussed this with them ,shut the cakehole or we would call the game off!!!They agreed and soon it was time to playball!the first batter stepped in and started talking to me ,washed up ole farmer,what year did you win and so on,normally,I dont pay attention to this kind of riff raft,but these young bucks from California urked me the wrong,big time!He said he;d pound me out of the park and so on,first pitch ,high drop ,he missed,lucky you fat B====D,then I went after him and dusted him into the ground twice,he kept yippin and yappin so I let him have it ,I told him,this ones at your noggin ,get ready,oh,Im ready,dont you worry ,well I allowed about a foot aimed reared back and smoked him on the head!He was badly hurt and para medics were on hand and rushed him to Hospital,the others came after me with bats and the fight was on,Smokin Joe ,the boxer came and 1-2-3,the boys were out cold ,what a sight ,the fans didnt even want a refund ,they all cheered and said the cocky little boys deserved all of it and more,as ball players we all felt kinda bad,at this turn of ugliness,but ,hey,shit happens and this was the biggest bunch of crap I ever took part in!!we made sure the hurt fella would be ok and let it go ,as ,oh well!!
We also had some very good moments with barnstorming teams,like the California Cuties,Donkey Fastball and Jack and the Jesters,all were good entertainment and fond memories!Does time heal wounds,you bet it does,a footnote to 4s Enough,when we had the early 80s Tour to Mexico and Southern states,a miracle happened,not only did we lose Marty,we lost our catcher Doug Hildebrand, with a Broken leg in Lancaster,Edwards Air-Force base,California,in the stands were the 2 brothers who made up half of 4s Enough,one was the man I injured,----they both offered their services to us and joined the tour,just amazing!!! We then flew into LA Brian Pallistar,now MP in the Harper cabinet,fastball is a true people sport,thats all I have to say,and hope it recycles itself back to the good ole days!!!Thanks,thanks a lot!!!

After the Canadian Win and a year of WMFL pro ,Edna and I decided to take a year and have a spiritual cleansing and work at the Famous ,Mennonite Youth Farm in Rosthern,I was a farm labourer and Edna worked as a kitchen aid at the Nursing Home.It was so good for us ,to be closer to God,home and at peace.It was then that Larry Friesen,John Ens and Lairds Isaak boys formed the Rosthern FFc,to be in Saskatoon D division with plans to quickly move up to at least good B ball or A ball.We had many tryouts at RJC gym and had fine uniforms from Menno Friesen at the Worlds Largest General store,Famous Furniture City,a division of that store sponsered our team,names like Regehr,Regier,Enns,Ens,Friesen,Aebig,were all to mold this team to atop contender in ball for the Valley Area.Many years followed and many trophies and champioships were won by this idea,plant a seed and it will grow,I left the scene,but the team was in Larrys hands and he did a great honor to the team,sponsors,Towns and fot the fans!A truly Field of Dreams!!   

This is another one of thoses Dream things,plant a seed and watch it grow!!Charlie Johnson,Jim Wyatt and myself started the Cardianals to play in Medicine Hat League,Brooks ,at one time had a very good team,Highwaymen,had a good tournament,and that faded out,so we had some meetings and what responce,wow over 30 people at the inaugeral meeting,the Ball was rollin again in Brooks,had a young ,cocky bunch with a nice little chip on their shoulder,my kinda guys,playing with an edge !!!

Giles,Gray,Niznik,Breadner,Blowagarrd,Krebs,McKinnon,Reinhart,Wellwood,Wyatt,Friesen,Jonson,Jonson2,,and more !We finished in4th place the first year,in a 6team league ,not to bad,the home games drew fairly well and the ball came back !!!!

I had the privlege to be involved with Junior Mens team in Calgary as a coach for 2 years,The Thunder never did win the title but I enjoyed all of my experiences there,also I was with the Classics as a player in the 40 and over age group for 2 years as coach and pitcher,great time and no champs,however we were champs amongst ourselves!

If I count my school years of playing ball,I can say I played in the 40s,50s,60s,70,80,90,01,02,03,04,that is 6 decades plus 4 years I think its pretty good for a dream,hey????thanks toPhil Gregoire who let me play or coach to achieve this,thankyou, A ball,  Red has left the DIAMOND!!!  top                                                                                                                                      

This is the story of the "1967 Esso Shoot The Puck "promotion .sponsored by Esso and featuring my ball player teammate,Gary Peters of the Montreal Canadiens,Gary played left wing on a team loaded and he saw limited action and played more minor pro than NHL,until 1967,the year the NHL expanded and Gary was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers,and he was a happy camper!!!!The Esso promo had a semi-trailer,all glitzed with NHL and Esso logos,equipped with radar cameras or guns,a net,a special floor and 3 shooting distances for the various participants. The Esso people had arranged a tour of the province and that was Gary's summer job,a great gig!