Elva (Waslyk) Barkwell
Athlete Category | Elva (Waslyk) Barkwell played for CUAC Blues from 1948 to 1955. The tiny North Ender won the Winnipeg Senior Girls League batting championship twice and was selected to the all-star team at third base for eight consecutive years. Considered to be one of the best all-around players in the province, she combined excellent defensive play and good speed with her outstanding hitting. In 1953, she captained CUAC to the provincial championship. |
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Dodie Barr
Athlete Category | Born in Starbuck, Barr was an outstanding southpaw pitcher who also played the outfield. As a teenager, she played for Winnipeg Ramblers in 1938 and 1939. While with the Regina Army and Navy Bombers from 1940-42, she pitched three no-hitters and helped the team win two Saskatchewan championships. In 1943, she began an eight-year career in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. The league rules called for underhand pitching for the first four years and Barr had a 20-8 record in 1945 and a fourth career no-hitter in 1946. |
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Cliff Bishop
Athlete Category | Cliff Bishop pitched for Manitoba in every Canadian Senior Men’s Fast Pitch Championship from 1976 to 1990. Since then he has represented the province at both the senior and masters levels. He was a member of Canada’s national team in 1979-80 and a highlight of his career came when the team won gold in the 1979 Pan Am Games. A strong batter who often was used as a designated hitter when he wasn’t pitching, Bishop rates with the best players produced in Manitoba over the past 30 years. He was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Softball Canada Hall of Fame in 2003 in recognition of his lengthy softball accomplishments. |
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Cam Bouchard
Athlete Category | When softball players and fans talk about the best power hitters produced in Manitoba, Cam Bouchard always is among the first mentioned. His career began as an 18-year-old shortstop and lasted 20 seasons. From 1958 to 1965, the second baseman starred for the Kiewel Seals/Manitoba Clothing team that won five Winnipeg senior A championships and finished second twice. In 1969, he was named to the Manitoba team that competed in the inaugural Canada Summer Games and he played for Manitoba Black Knights in the 1970 Canadian championship. Cam joins his wife Grace (2002 inductee with the 1965 CUAC Blues) and his late brother Leo (2003 inductee) in the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame. |
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Syd Church
Athlete Category | Syd Church began his softball career as a 16-year-old with Alexanders and played competitively for 31 years. At age 45, he was named to the Winnipeg senior league all-star team and when he retired in 1961, he still was rated as a top player. Considered by his peers to be the best third baseman in Winnipeg, he won city championships with Airports in 1942 and 1943 and Western Canadian championships with Globelites in 1944 and 1946. Church also played for Ray-O-Vacs, Legion 141, Northern Hotel, Willards, Foresters and Selkirk Aces and was the playing manager for Fort Garry Frontier when the team won the city senior A championship in 1960. Church passed away in 1988. |
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Ward Collyer
Athlete Category | Ward Collyer was born in Crandall, MB in 1924. He was an orthodox pitcher with blinding speed who played for several championship teams in Brandon and district in the late 1940s including the Canadian Order of Foresters, Anglo Canadian Oil, and Scorys Hairdressers. Collyer was selected to Brandon all-star teams many times during his career. In 1955, he pitched for the Brandon Army Navy and Air Force Veterans that represented Manitoba in the Western Canadian Championship. Collyer passed away in 1998. |
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Evelyn Halsall
Athlete Category | Evelyn Halsall played softball from 1942 to 1954. She starred in centre field for the senior girls champion St. Vital Tigerettes in 1949 and 1950 as well as championship teams in 1951, 1952 and 1954 after the team relocated to West Kildonan. She was named to the Greater Winnipeg Senior Girls League first all-star team in 1947, 1948, 1950, 1952 and 1953 and to the second team in 1949, 1951 and 1954. Outstanding defensively, Halsall was the Tigerettes clean-up hitter and frequently contended for the league batting title. |
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Joan Ingram
Athlete Category | The small community of Oakville is where Joan Ingram began a career in softball and curling that led to induction into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and placed her among the five finalists for Manitoba Female Athlete of the 20th Century. The teenager played a year of senior softball in Brandon before moving to Winnipeg to join CUAC Blues in the early 1950s. A perennial senior league all-star, she anchored the team at shortstop during a string of provincial championships from 1957 to 1973. An excellent hitter who had a good glove and a strong arm, Ingram also caught for Blues when needed. CUAC won the first Canadian senior women’s championship in 1965 and that championship team was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame in 2002. |
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Lou Lucki
Athlete Category | If you ask the players who played from the late 1930s through the early 1950s to name the top pitcher in the province during that period, Lou Lucki usually was the first man mentioned. A product of the North End diamonds, Lucki pitched for the 1938 Grey Goose and the 1950 and 1951 Northern Hotel provincial championship teams. In 1952, when Ukrainian Legion Branch 141 beat Edmonton in best-of-five series for the Western Canadian championship, Lucki won all three games for Legion including a 17-inning 2-0 victory in game two, a no-hitter in game four and a third shutout in the rubber game. Lucki’s arm also helped the team win the province and reach the Western final the following season. |
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Evelyn (Wawryshyn) Moroz
Athlete Category | Once upon a time when Winnipeg Tribune sports editor Tony Allan wanted to compare the ability of female softball players to male baseball players, he used shortstop Evelyn Wawryshyn of CUAC Blues to make his point. He said she could “play any kind of ball, and in any company . . . and if she had been born a boy . . . the stands would be filled with major league scouts.” Not long after, the scouts did find Wawryshyn, the Blues MVP when the team won the provincial championship in 1945. She left Winnipeg in 1946 for a six-season career in the All American Professional Girls Baseball League where she garnered all-star honours at second base three times. The Tyndall-born all-around athlete was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1992. |
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Brian Pallister
Athlete Category | Brian Pallister is a prime example of what hard work can accomplish. He didn’t make the Winnipeg junior Colonels as a pitcher in 1974 and had to settle for playing first base. But he persevered and by 1977 was pitching in the elite Western Major Fastball League for Brandon Merchants. He kept getting better and better and all-star honours followed with Selkirk in the Winnipeg Fastball League in 1979 and the senior Colonels of the WMFL in 1980. The following season he was named Softball Manitoba male player of the year when Portage Dodgers won the senior men’s provincial title. Pallister played for Manitoba in 13 Canadian championships and was named MVP in the 1988 senior men’s nationals where he had the lowest ERA, struck out 34 batters and chipped in at bat with six hits and five RBI. |
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Shawna (Hicks) Pearman
Athlete Category | Honours followed Shawna Hicks from the time she started playing community club softball in Winnipeg. The catcher was a leader on the Grant Park-Harrow team won provincial peewee, bantam, midget and junior championships. She played for Manitoba in the 1977 Canada Summer Games and was the tournament MVP when the province won its first Western Canadian midget title in 1978. Hicks earned a berth on the national senior women’s team in 1981, was the all-star catcher at the Canadian senior championship in 1982 as well as Manitoba player of the year, and topped it all in 1983 when she was member of Canada’s gold medal winning team at the Pan Am Games |
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Mike Rogers
Athlete Category | When you dig into the Winnipeg Free Press and Winnipeg Tribune archives and read the sports pages, it quickly becomes clear that Mike Rogers was one of the most talented players in the province during the 1940s and early 1950s. This was confirmed recently when several of his peers got together with Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame directors to talk about those “glory days.” A shortstop and third baseman, who pitched when necessary, Rogers played from 1940 to 1954 in Winnipeg and finished his career with a top team in Fargo, ND. He was on six Manitoba championship teams and won Western Canadian championships with Globelites in 1944 and 1946 and with Ukrainian Legion Branch 141 in 1952. |
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Claude Gagnon
All-Around Category | Claude Gagnon began coaching softball in a church league in 1948 and then moved to industrial and senior league competition. The greatest success of his 23-year softball coaching career came when his Kiewel Seals/Manitoba Clothing team won the Winnipeg Senior A League championship five times and finished second twice between 1958 and 1965. In 1969 he coached the Manitoba men’s team in the first Canada Summer Games and was the co-coach of the provincial junior girls team at the 1973 Canada Summer Games. Always interested in promoting the sport, he conducted clinics across the province, was a leader in bringing various leagues under the Softball Manitoba umbrella, and served as president of the provincial association in 1968-69. Gagnon, who passed away in 2001, will be inducted in the all-around category to acknowledge his overall contributions to softball in Manitoba. |
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Elaine Jones
All-Around Category | During her years in softball, Elaine Jones was involved with every aspect of the game and will be inducted in the all-around category in recognition of her dedication and contributions to the sport. As a player, she pitched for CPAC senior women for many years and was a member of the Manitoba team that competed in the first Canada Summer Games in 1969. As a coach, she led her junior women’s team to the Canadian championship twice. In 1973, she was involved with the formation and development of the province’s Western Canada Summer Games junior women’s team and served on the Games mission staff. At the executive level, she served on the Softball Manitoba executive, primarily as registrar and treasurer, for several years in 1970s when the association was growing rapidly. In 1981, Jones was named Softball Manitoba’s second honourary life member and she was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 as an all-around athlete for her accomplishments in curling and lawn bowling as well as softball. |
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Jim McKenzie
Coach/Manager Category | Jim or Jimmie as he usually was referred to in the newspapers was a coach or manager from 1934 to 1954. His first coaching job was with the intermediate girls team UCT Vics. He and manager Stew MacPherson had immediate success as the team won the league championship in 1934 and 1935. When the league folded after the 1935 season, Jimmie formed a new team, St. Boniface Athletics, and entered it in a new senior league. Under his leadership the team won championships in 1936, 1937, 1939, 1944, 1945 and 1948. The colourful field general had the second longest tenure as a coach/manager in women’s ball next to 2002 Hall of Fame inductee John Shaley of CUAC Blues. McKenzie married his star catcher Bea Hall, who was inducted as an athlete in 2002, and Jimmie’s St. Boniface teams from 1944-1948 were inducted in the team category in 2003. He passed away in 1981. |
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Harry Bueckert
Builder Category | Harry Bueckert had vision when it came to men’s softball. His Black Knights/K&A Knights teams won senior A provincial championships from 1970 to 1972. After playing in the Canadian championships, he knew the team needed to improve in order to beat the top teams in Canada. Better competition than Knights could find in Manitoba seemed to be the answer so when Alberta and Saskatchewan organizers wanted to form an inter-provincial league in 1973, Bueckert and partner Art Penner stepped to the plate and purchased a franchise. Called Colonels, the Winnipeg club won the first Western Major Fastball League championship under the leadership of president and manager Bueckert. Colonels operated from 1973 to 1980 and sponsored a junior Colonels team in the mid-1970s. Bueckert served a chairman of the WMFL board of directors in 1977 and 1978 and is a WMFL honourary life member. |
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Les Magnusson
Builder Category | Les Magnusson became involved in softball in 1965 while living in Selkirk. He served as president of the Interlake Fastball League and also took up umpiring. After moving to Steinbach in 1975, he continued to umpire and served as president of the Steinbach and District Umpires” Association for many years as well as on the board of the Hanover Fastball League. He joined the Softball Manitoba executive in 1985, served as president in 1987 and 1988, and presently sits on the board of governors. He was elected to the Softball Canada board in 1987 and served for 12 years during which time he supervised 12 Canadian championships. The long-time Mayor of Steinbach was named a honourary life member of Softball Manitoba in 1998 and inducted into the Softball Canada Hall of Fame as a Builder in 2003. |
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| 1949-1954 St.Vital/West Kildonan Tigerettes Senior Women Team Category | The St. Vital Tigerettes won the Winnipeg Senior Girls League championship in 1949 and 1950. After losing its home diamond in St. Vital, the team took its backstop and relocated to West Kildonan in 1951. Moving north didn’t bother the Tigerettes as the team won three more championships in 1951, 1952 and 1954. Manitoba has been blessed with outstanding senior women’s teams and the 1949-1954 Tigerettes most deservingly join the 1944-1948 St. Boniface Athletics and the 1965 CUAC Blues in the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame |
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| 1953-1957 Brandon Army, Navy and Air Force Vets Senior Men Team Category | The Brandon ANAF Vets senior men’s team had an outstanding record from 1953 through 1957. Vets started their championship run in 1953 by winning the Brandon and area championship and captured the Brandon and Manitoba titles the following season. In 1955, they repeated and went on to lose the Western senior championship to Saskatoon in a well-played final. In 1956, Vets again reached the Western final, but dropped the final game 4-3 to the powerful Calgary Detroit Bears. Vets also won the Brandon and Manitoba championships in 1957. |
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| 1959-1964 Kiewel Seals/Manitoba Clothing Senior Men Team Category | Claude Gagnon, who will be inducted in the all-around category in 2004, was the architect of the outstanding Kiewel Seals and Manitoba Clothing teams from this period. Gagnon recognized talent and most of the top players in the Winnipeg region wanted to play for his teams. Seals won the Winnipeg Senior A Fastball League championship in 1959 and the team won again in 1961and 1962 under the banner of Manitoba Clothing. Playing once again as Kiewel Seals, the team won its fourth title in six years in 1964. During this period, the Seals/Clothiers also travelled the tournament circuit in search of strong competition and won in Northern Ontario, Saskatchewan and North Dakota. |
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| 1994-1998 Petro-Canada Classics Master Men's Slo-Pitch Team Category | The members of the Petro-Canada Classics have the distinct honour of being the first slo-pitch players to be inducted into the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame. The team won the bronze medals when the Softball Canada Masters Men’s Championship was held in Winnipeg in 1994 and Classics earned bronze again in 1996 when the championship was held in Surrey, B.C. What Classics accomplished in 1998 epitomizes “team.” When some team members were unable to travel, Classics were forced to go to Amherst, N.S. to represent Manitoba in the first Softball Canada Masters 40+ Slo-Pitch Championship with the minimum ten players. Despite the handicap, Classics became the first Manitoba men’s team to win a Softball Canada national slo-pitch title and eight of the ten players were named to the all-star team. |
