Coach Henry Boutilier’s name is stitched into the fabric of the Glace Bay little league like the thread that holds a baseball together. Boutilier has won seven national championships in two little league age groups plus six second place finishes. If someone says Colonels in the world of Canadian little league, everyone knows where they’re from: Cameron Bowl in Glace Bay.

Boutilier started playing when he was nine. He went to a little league tryout with his twelve year old friend Gerry MacNeil and soon found himself on a team of mainly older boys. By the time he was twelve himself, he was a pitcher and was on the mound in St. Jerome, Quebec.

“I didn’t realize it at the time but we were only two wins away from going to the little league World Series if we had won that game,” recalls Boutilier. “We lost that one 2:1 in extra innings and I drove in our only run. It hit the top of the fence and bounced back in the field. If it was a homer we’d have won it. “It was after that game Boutilier started thinking that Glace Bay kids were as good as any other young ball players in the country.

“Glace Bay was a big town back then, 30,000 people. There were so many young ball players the town league was divided into two sections of six teams apiece,” says Boutilier. “During the playoffs they made two All-Star teams of the best players from each section who them had to play off against each other.”

“We played ball every day when we were kids,” Boutilier recalls fondly. “We made up games, played against the side of the barn. We were always hitting and throwing.” Boutilier became such a good pitcher that at the age of fourteen he was playing junior baseball with 19-21 year-olds. “I pitched against much older players and we won two junior titles in 1971 and 1975,” says Boutilier. “I didn’t realize how amazing it was to win at that age back then.”

“My dad, Henry, got that team going when I was 14” says Boutilier. “He was retired from coal mining then and wanted to rejuvenate junior ball back in Glace Bay.” Boutilier says he learned a lot about baseball from his dad as well as other players and coaches.

By the time Boutilier’s own playing days were over, he knew he had to give his time and knowledge back to the community. Boutilier says, “being a teacher gave me the summers off to get fully involved in coaching the little league teams.”

Being a dedicated coach involves commitment from the coaches as well as their spouses. “My wife was always okay with all the baseball because as she says, ‘I know where he is and he’ll be home at dark.’ That’s because our field had no lights.”

Boutilier won his first championship with the Glace Bay Colonels in 1987 in Trail, B.C. In 1988 the championship was held in Glace Bay at the natural amphitheatre Cameron bowl. Glace Bay played the Ottawa Pinecrests in the final game before an estimated crowd of over 15,000 people, likely the biggest draw for any sporting event in Nova Scotia history.

Some people slept out the night before to get good seats. Boutilier remembers people sitting on top of barns and up in trees to see the game. “The whole town closed down for two hours that day, so everyone could get to the game.” The Colonels won 2-1, claiming their second national championship.

Boutilier credits the Glace Bay teams’ successes to practicing a lot. “We don’t have a lot of games to actually play because of distances. So it was all practice. Sometimes six hours a day. Parents liked it also because they knew where the kids were.”

Boutilier says the house league teams were also very important. “The whole group of people helped out, coaches, parents gave up their time. It’s not just me that led to success. It was the whole group here. After winning in 1987 we broke the barrier and knew we could win and things started to get easier.”

Boutilier has many great memories of coaching but says 1994 was special because he co-coached with his brother Edison, and Edison’s two sons and another nephew played on that team. For the future, Boutilier hopes to see his grandson Noel Henry (now age five) play in the 2026 little league championships which Glace Bay is bidding to host. “It would be great to see him play at my favourite place, down at the Cameron Bowl.”

Bio Courtesy of Paul MacDougall