Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 21, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba September another Hamiota headed to Hall Robertson Doubley deserving by Kirk Penton the Brandon Sun when hurtling into Hamiota on Highway a sign that reads Hamiota baseball capital of greets every carved into that sign is a larger Hanife Hamiota baseball a Case can surely be made that the player is Al Robertson Man instrumental in helping Hamiota build its Robertson is baseball in the baseball capital of he has been involved in the sport in Hamiota and As far away As Colombia since he was a after 50 years of being a baseball general organizer you name Hes done it Robertson is headed tothe Manitoba sports Hall of but this is no Ordinary on 15 in Robertson and five pin Bowler Dylis Turner will become Only the fourth and fifth peo ple Ever in the Halls 18year history to be inducted As both an athlete and a builder of also joining Robertson in the Mani Toba sports Hall of Fame will be Lindsay Gauld Cross coun try skiing Reggie Leach hockey Merlene Netter Field Golf Gordon Rowland football Jim Ursel Curling and the 193738 Boniface seals hockey posthumously being inducted Are Arthur Chipman football Hugh Gustafson hockey and John Sherratt Stewart hockey i was really the 57year old Robertson said a week after a Winnipeg press conference which announced his in Robertson seemed More excited about whom he was joining in the Hall than he was about his own three other Hami tans already Grace the Glennis and Gladwyn Scott and Frank Mckinnon Are already in so its quite an an Honor to slide in beside its kind of Nice to get in with those if it we rent for Mckin Robertson might not have been Able to have the career of which Hamiota baseball dreams Are Robertson replaced Mckinnon As principal of Hamiota collegiate in 1964 and baseball in the town of 800 was never the Robertson did it As both an ath Lete and an the list is As Long As a 1960s Al Robertson Home As an he played minor Ball and hockey in Hamiota during the 1950s and then attended Brandon where he starred with the Brandon College Caps hockey in his senior he won the Jim Casey award for varsity hockey ath Lete of the he played intermediate baseball in Souris and then with the Hamiota red sox in the Manitoba senior baseball league from 1961 to during that he led the red sox Hall of Fame credentials athlete 1950s four minor baseball Provin Cial titles 195862 Brandon College Caps hockey team 196175 Hamiota red sox baseball team three league titles National baseball team member 1970 Manitoba baseball team Mem Ber builder 196168 Hamiota red sox presi Dent 197071 Canadian federation Amateur baseball director 197071 Manitoba baseball association president 197273 Western Canada baseball association director 197281 Hamiota red sox manager 1973 Canada summer team Manitoba coach 198284 Manitoba senior baseball league president to three straight championships Between 1962 and but baseball took Robertson much further than Belmont or he suited up with Canadas National baseball team in the 1967 pan Ameri can games in Winnipeg and then again in 1971 when the Panama games were held in Robertsons Canadian squad Cap tured fourth place that As a matter of we Coul Dve finished Robertson in the ninth inning against Colum where the tournament was being they hit a ground Rule double that bounced Over the Fence and it was ruled a three run Homer and we lost by one it was Tough communicating with the Umpire because he was Only speaking Spanish at that we heard him talking English but when we were arguing with he could Only speak after his playing Days were Robertson continued his baseball career from the dugout As or he spent 1970 and 1971 As director of the Canadian federation of Amateur baseball and then spent the next two Summers As Boss of the Western Canada baseball Robertson be kept off the Bruce Sun Yellowhead intermediate baseball league president 198388 Hamiota huskies hockey team president 1984 present Manitoba baseball Hall of Fame director 1984 present Westman sport association director 1985 Canada summer team Manitoba manager 198589 Hamiota red sox manager 1994 Canadian youth baseball team Manitoba pm honors 1962 Brandon colleges Jim Casey award 1967 Mabl batting Champion 1985 Manitoba baseball association coach of the year 1985 baseball Canada coach of the year 1985 Brandon Sun Krug Crawford award 1988 Manitoba baseball association lifetime membership he was a team Manitoba coach at the 1973 Canada summer games in and later managed Manitoba entry at the 1985 summer where his team finished Sec Robertson said the 85 summer games is one of his most memorable baseball that summer earned Robertson the Brandon Sun Krug Crawford sportsman of the year award for but the most memorable moment for Robertson didst happen some where in nor did it occur Halfway across the it happened in his Hometown of he coached a group of minor base Ball players in the late 1970s and Early 1980s that included his two Randy and the team won four consecutive provincial championships during that and it is what Robertson is most proud of to this it was really Robert son i would say that we didst have the most talented team but they were just so the kids and the that they never missed practices and they All got along so i think it was really proof that you dont have to have the most Tal ent to be a successful another of Robertsons proudest and most memorable baseball memo Ries is the 1988 Hamiota red sox team that he managed to an Mabl the 1990s have been relatively quiet for who retired after 33 years As Hamiota collegiate principal in june his most recent baseball involvement was Sun tile photos the changing face ofal including a candid photo above of the Hamiota sportsman shortly after being named sportsman of the year by the Brandon Sun in out for a skate Lauren Flynn left Andrei Gislason work on their pairs Rou Tine during a figure skating seminar with olympic coach Diane Agle at the Optimist Arena on with Manitoba youth baseball team in when he served As the teams general the manager of that team was his who currently plays for the Birtle Blue jays in the Yellowhead baseball league and is a scout for the Toronto Blue Robertson said it was always a family affair when it came to base Ball or any other sport that his or four children were involved they were certainly part of the whole and sometimes we got a Little testy with one Robert son Al and Lornas four children were blessed with a positive work ethic that took them far in the sporting daughter Kim was a Provin Cial Allstar in basketball in her Junior year of High son Randy earned an Mcaa division i hockey scholarship in son Jeff landed a Mcaa division 1 baseball scholarship in and Daugh Ter Kerry played five seasons with the Brandon University bobcats women basketball they we rent the most talented kids in the world but they had the work ethic in them and they knew How to work and How to Robertson there Are Many people who went along for the ride with but the most important person was who has coached the Hamiota collegiate women basketball team since i could not have done what i did without everything she Robert son she was the one who did All the and organizing of transportation and organizing of i think its the biggest Honor Ive Ever achieved and i have my family to thank for others whom Robertson considers invaluable influences on his sporting career include Stan Gerry Mike Ron ram and the entire town of Robertson said he will be thinking of them on these Robertson continues to be an athlete and a he curls in the Winter and golfs and fishes in the the building part of his life he and Good Friend Charlie Bell enjoy construct ing anything made of ices Stevenson becomes driving Force in goal crease by Ray Turshansky Edmonton journal Edmonton by summer he drives Caterpillar tractors and races a 1973 Chevelle Stock car that six years older than he it looks older than said Garnet by Winter he stops snapshots and the 18yearold goalie for the who Edmonton ice said theres no com Parison Between struggling with a steering wheel barrelling into a Cor Ner and facing a sniper intent on making you look they both create adrenaline but its a different i play a More Lidback style in but there in a Stock car its All in hockey i concentrate a lot he shares the Stock car operation with his brother racing at Swift current every second they made this past its a lot of fixin and a lot of but once youre out its All Worth played defence for four who teams in four i got started playing goal because i didst have a Good situation with red Deer last and i wanted to turn a new Page As far As hockey was Garnet Stevenson he needed somebody to shoot Garnet i was the Guinea they Are the Only children of Alan and Lois who farm and run an oilfield construction business at a town of people 110 Kilometres Southwest of Swift Garnet started driving caterpillars at and played three games with the who red Deer rebels at before playing midget aaa in North last year he started out with red Deer but left the team in mid Anu Ary after getting into Only eight i didst have a Good situation with red Deer last and i wanted to turn a new Page As far As hockey was he was suspended by the then played Junior hockey in finishing fifth in the National but ice coach Dave Siciliano talked to the red Deer goal ending coach about and his rights were traded to Edmonton for a Bantam draft pick last when i was first i didst know what they had for then they acquired Rob and i looked at it and figured my chances of making the club would be pretty acquiring who figures to be one of the ices top four defence left last years 1 goalie Tim Winters As the Odd 20yearold because of what this team has been there a really Good Bunch of said a Happy Lucky Type of Sciliano says he will rotate Steven son and Bryce Wandler the first four league before the ice has an eight Day then hell evaluate the ;