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Now moved out to Morinville, Alberta, recently inducted member into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame Kelvin Colliar should be settled back into his new home after a very eventful week wrapped up his legendary Saskatchewan baseball resume.
Colliar returned home one week ago to take in the end of the North Saskatchewan River Baseball League championship series as commissioner, and then also accept his aforementioned nomination to the baseball hall of fame located in North Battleford.
"The week was really good," he started, "My wife and I came back on Tuesday night and stopped in Standard Hill for Game 2, with the potential of handing a trophy out. Of course we went on to Wilkie the next night for Game 3, presented the trophy there, and we got a real nice night as both Troy Sack and I were there to present the trophy. We were presented with a plaque of our own (from the league) to thank us for our work as commissioners over the years."
After Wednesday's conclusion of another great season of senior ball, Colliar was able to relax for a few short days before his enshrinement. Receiving recognition from both Baseball Sask and his own league regarding the past couple of decades, it's tough to say which one means more.
(See Colliar's fellow inductees into the Hall of Fame/Facebook)
Thankfully he won't have to choose a material award, as being inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in front of his father (who is also a member) is all Colliar could have asked for.
"My dad is already a member of the Hall of Fame, he was inducted in 1990. He is 92 years old, and had a chance to come to the induction, which was really nice to have him there. Special night."
He is clearly well respected around the province, and well known by many of the NSRBL's longest serving players. Recent league champion in Wilkie's Rob Cey has had Colliar as a commissioner the entire time he's been in the senior league and is wishing him well in the future.
"I know he was very loyal before that as well. He's such an even tempered guy, and kind of our voice of reason," said Cey, who was doing his best to recall the past 20 or so years of senior ball. He definitely expects next year to feel different with Colliar out of the picture.
"There is definitely going to be a bit of a hole missing with him gone. We appreciate all of the work he has done, and he really has made our league one of the strongest rural leagues in the province, so he should be very proud of that too."
Colliar is also known as having a decent playing career along with being a formidable umpire for local teams to hire. As a longtime league commissioner though he is most remembered; now ready to move on and see where things go from his new home in Alberta.
"Troy and I will be passing the baton to Lorne Nielsen (out of Wilkie) and Regan L'Heureux (out of Unity). (They both) have a tremendous knowledge of baseball as a player, umpire, organizer, coach. We are really excited about having those two guys looking after things, and we know the league is in good hands."
Perhaps the northern league is turning a little more West Central with the addition of more local members as organizers, as Rob Cey also made a comment on the future of the league when talking about the outgoing commissioner.
"It will be interesting to see what happens. Whether a team like Meadow Lake or Mervin, even Lloyd is kind of dwindling a little bit, so it could be shifting a bit more to the West Central kind of area," he said.
Even though travel can tend to be an issue you wouldn't think the northern teams would want to be left out, as there are tons of options with a league full of competitive fire.
"We could even make two divisions or something. See what happens."
To end things off, Kelvin Colliar wasn't the only one with local connections as part of the most recent induction class. Jack Scott, inducted out of Fairmont Hot Springs, BC, was a longtime PA announcer for the Eston Ramblers. Colliar didn't know about Scott beforehand, but detailed a little bit about what he learned about the West Central microphone man.
"Jack Scott, from what I understand was the voice of the Eston Ramblers. He was their PA announcer through the years, spent 42 years from what I can remember. His health isn't great so he had another fellow come and collect the award for him."
Congrats to Colliar and Scott on their inductions, and with great baseball to follow every year out of West Central, they likely won't be the last inductees into the hall from the region.
