Steeerike Three”, yelled the umpire. It was the final out of the 1987 Canadian Little League Championships in Trail, British Columbia. Fourteen kids leapt in the air. Two coaches grinned as broadly as humanly possible. It wasn’t local favourite Stewart Channel, B.C. that was leaping and grinning. It was Glace Bay Colonels, who travelled across the country for this event, undefeated, but lightly-regarded, who would represent Canada at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., a few days later. Glace Bay, a town with a strong baseball background, with dedicated coaches and parents who ensured their boys, ages 10-12, would have a league in which to play. In fact, Little League has been in Glace Bay since 1952, with 18 teams in the 1950s and still 12 teams in 1987. Glace Bay had just become the first Little League baseball team east of Montreal to win the national championship. “Our only loss all season was to Stewart Channel, B.C. in the round robin,” recalls manager Henry Boutilier, a teacher for 27 years and guidance counsellor at Morrison Junior High for the past three. Since 1987, he has led four more Glace Bay teams to the nationals, and won Canadians again in 2003. “We both were 3-0. We lost 8-2. But once the game was over, the kids went back to being kids. They headed for the hotel swimming pool. The adults had the problems,” he laughs. When the Colonels started practice in the late spring, they were confident, says Henry. “I knew we had a good group of players to select from our house league teams for the all-star team.” He challenged them. “We spent six hours a day on the field, between practicing and games.” The Colonels swept the Nova Scotia championship, besting Reserve and North Sydney. They ousted Lancaster, N.B. in two straight games for the Maritime title, then went 4-1 in the round robin at Canadians before beating host Trail 8-2 in the semi-final. The 5-1 championship win over Stewart Channel was highlighted by Geoff Oliver’s three-run home run in the top of the first inning and Craig Hickman’s two-run blast in the fourth. To Williamsport, Henry says, “we were on the bus 10 hours to Calgary, stayed four hours in a hotel, flew to Toronto and bused seven hours to Williamsport. When we came over the hill and saw the baseball complex, it was like a mini major league park. It was awesome, even for the adults.”

The Colonels lost 6-4 to Dominican Republic in their first game, after leading 4-3 in the fourth with the bases loaded and none out. But the Dominicans got a double play via home plate, escaped the inning, and went on to win. Glace Bay beat Dover, N.H. 6-4 in its second game, but their third, a consolation against Saudi Arabia, was rained out. “Our boys realized they could have done better, but our first goal was to win Canadians. Then we went to Williamsport to have fun and do our best.” A parade led the champs from the airport to the Glace Bay Miners Forum for a reception, plaques and mementos from the town and community groups.

“They were heroes for a while. It took a bit of time for them to get to ground level,” smiles Henry, still coaching, still loving it, and still building character in young men.

Members of the team were: Doug Aucoin, Henry Boutilier (manager), Earl Corbett, Kyle Currie, Cori DeJeet, Dana Estwick, Jeff Graham, Gerard Hanrahan, Craig Hickman, Bobby Hooper, David Jones, Geoff Oliver, Ernie Pyke (coach), Jody Routledge, Steven White, John Young.

Bio courtesy of Joel Jacobson