It won’t be long before the leather will be popping, the bats will be cracking, and our Ponoka and district minor ball, slow pitch, and fastball teams will be out warming up for another exciting season. My tattered old ball glove and cleats have been retired now for about 25 years, but when this time of the season rolls around, I love to share the favourite memories of many years of chasing around our dusty town and county diamonds with a whole bunch of good friends and true characters.
Baseball was always popular for decades in and around Ponoka and districts, but it was in the 1950’s and sixties that the new generations also took on the exciting diamond sport of fastball. Many of us started out playing on local teams such as the Leland Lords, Baptists, Kinsmen, Moose, Morningside, Crestomere, Esso Colts, Elks, and on and on, and there was also a large number of ladies, mixed, and junior clubs, as well as a huge minor baseball and softball spring/summer program. The area was a hot-bed of keen competition, with town and district diamonds packed with league games and practises on the weekdays and tournaments on the weekends in front of hundreds of avid fans.
Remember the Ponoka Royals?
Jack (Jake) McMillen started playing baseball with the Ponoka Stampeders’ men’s team at the age of 15 in 1945. Along the way, this very energetic and sports minded gentleman coached Little League baseball, a ladies’ fastball team, ran a successful cement construction business, and he and his wife raised a family of three rambunctious girls. In 1972, McMillen formed the Ponoka Royals Fastball Club, who, under the sponsorship of Roy Rogers and Stelmack of the Royal Hotel, began playing in the very active town and district league.
In 1973, the Royals joined the Lacombe and District Mens’ Fastball League and challenged teams that included the Blackfalds Red Sox, Lincoln, Lacombe Jets-Apaches-Braves, Alix Aces, Bentley, and Crestomere, and were later joined by the Ponoka Rancher Inn Raiders and Pirates. A few years later, the Royals entered into the prestigious Red Deer Fastball League, which featured the Arlington and Elks teams from Red Deer and a club out of Olds. Jack, who is a 60-year lifetime member of the Ponoka Fish and Game, also coached the Raiders after the Royals folded in 1986, and now at the age of 82, can now proudly share all the trophies and mementos while fondly looking back on over six decades as a player, coach, sponsor, promoter, and mentor to so many. Jake still enjoys expressing his hobby skills with his magnificent Taxidermy projects, as well as rooms full of exquisite wooden models that he has meticulously produced in his workshop and all depict our rugged Alberta lifestyles and heritage. Following his retirement from baseball and fastball, Jack donated the Royals pitching machine to the Ponoka Minor Ball program.
Yours truly, who was not a very good player but could run like a deer, was thrilled to have had the amazing opportunity of playing with those Ponoka Royals and Raiders teams for over 30 years. The biggest thrill was just being a part of the great team spirit, heading out on the tournament trail throughout the province, sharing a few beers, helping to organize lots of local tournaments, and playing here at home in front of the greatest fans in Alberta. Over the years many of our local baseball and fastball players also carried on the grand old tradition of the dusty game by becoming coaches, umpires, sponsors, fans, and parents of ambitious new young players.
Some of the players who dawned the blue then later yellow uniforms of the Ponoka Royals Fastball Club included: Glen Long, Bob Reddick, Marcel Comeau, Dave Joyes, Jack and Gord Surbey, Matson Johns, Larry Mickey, Ron Wolansky, Larry Saunders, Cliff Rost, Doug Hart, Bruce Hinkley, Don and Gord Banco, Rick Wyrozub, Bruce McMillan, Keith Baiers, Kirk Sheppard, Rich Bowie, Don Brennan, Larry Goodwin, and Randy Dool. Of course, I have forgotten some player’s names, so forgive me, because after all, that action occurred over 40 years ago, but please allow me to share some of the great memories.
● Glen Long began pitching at the age of 12 as a part of an active fastball family from Blackfalds. He went on to play the great game for over 45 years, many in Ponoka, where he once went head-to-head with Dick Bird in a local tournament game against Stony Plain that went 21 innings before the Royals won 2-1.
● The Royals always took part in what was classified as the “world’s largest annual” fastball tournament, which attracted 48 teams to Mannville, Alberta. There are now very few fastball leagues left in the Province, but the mixed participation sport of ‘slow-pitch’ is now going strong.
● Ponoka was so well supported in their baseball and fastball programs during the roaring 50’s and 60’s that they were able to host many Provincial playoffs, as well as bring in celebrity teams such as: Jack and the Jesters, the Queen and her maids, The King and his Court (Eddie Feigner), and the always hilarious Donkey Ball.
● The Ponoka Royals are hoping to hold a casual team reunion this summer on Saturday and Sunday-August 16th and 17th at the old ‘stomping grounds.’ Former players and partners who would like to attend are urged to contact Mike Rainone at 403-341-5750 or Glen Long at 403-885-5284, and please pass the word around.
In the meantime all levels and age groups of minor ball, fastball, and slow-pitch are urged to enjoy another great season of fun-competition on our Ponoka and district diamonds, where coaches, umpires, volunteers, and lots of spectators are always welcome to join in on the action.