Cobourg Town League Softball

Clarke Harnden

Clarke Harnden

For over forty years Clarke Harnden was a mainstay of the Cobourg Community Hockey League!

A volunteer, a member of the executive, a tournament organizer, but to all of those who were lucky enough to know him he will always be remembered first and foremost as a coach. Clarke gave his time, his knowledge, and more often than not his patience, in teaching prospective young hockey players the fundamentals of the game. But perhaps more importantly, Clarke also passed along his passion and pure joy for the game to generations of young boys and girls in our community.

In addition to his time on the rink, Clarke also leant his coaching expertise in the summer on the diamond, coaching teams to the Tyke EOBA championship in 1970 and 1987. As a player he was a long-time fixture in the Cobourg Town League, winning a number of league batting championships as well as playing on the 1949 Dunham Aces championship team and as a member of the 1953 OASA Intermediate B Eastern Ontario Softball championship team. In 2000, Clarke began coaching in Baltimore with a dream to keep coaching until he coached his great-grandchildren … a dream that he fulfilled.

One of those countless youngsters who learned the game from Clarke was future three-time Stanley Cup Champion and longtime NHL coach Steve Smith; “Clarke truly made you feel better about yourself every time he crossed your path. I wish more people got to see just how special he was … he was the Pied Piper when he opened the doors to the old Cobourg Arena. I treasure my memories of his charismatic smile and inviting spirit that only a lifelong coach could give. His kindness, generosity, and selflessness were second to none. All these years later, I still try to emulate his patience, wisdom and knowledge with the players I am lucky enough to coach – passing on the true gift that he gave to everyone he met”.

 

 

Softball-Cobourg Town League 1962-2010

1974 COBOURG MEN'S TOWN LEAGUE SOFTBALL CHAMPS

          COBOURG TOWN LEAGUE
 

                   TABLE OF CONTENTS

   Career Batting Leaders  ……………………….    3

   Career Pitching Leaders ……………………….   6

   Town League Awards & Champions ………..  8


   Yearly Statistics & Reports
   2002 ……………………………………………….   13
   2003 ……………………………………………….   26
   2004 ……………………………………………….   42
   2005 ……………………………………………….   60
   2006 ……………………………………………….   64
   2007 ……………………………………………….   70
   2008 ……………………………………………….   74
   2009 ……………………………………………….   78
   2010 ……………………………………………….   86

 

                                                     Career Battings Statistics for Active Players 1  …….  90

                                                     Career Pitching Statistics for Active Players 2 .……. 171

                                                     All-Time Batting Statistics – All Players …………….. 188

                                                     All-Time Pitching Statistics – All Players     ………… 215

 

                                                          1 Includes all players Active in the last 5 years plus anyone with 500 Careers AB’s

                                                                    2 Includes all players Active in the last 5 years
 

    Download 223 Page PDF 1962-2010 CTL Stats & Awards

 

 

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ROBERT CLARKE SOMMERVILLE

ROBERT CLARKE SOMMERVILLE

Robert Clarke Sommerville was born in Toronto, on December 5, 1930. Playing hockey in his early life, he worked his way up to the Junior A ranks, spending 4 years as a goaltender for the Galt Black Hawks. The following two years were spent in the American Hockey League, playing with Philadelphia and Washington.

In 1952, Clarke purchased a small retail business in Cobourg that evolved into Sommerville’s Sporting Goods. Upon arrival, he got involved in the local sports community. He played for the Intermediate hockey team, joined the golf club, pitched in the Town Softball League and joined the executive of the Cobourg Church Hockey League. Quietly, and with a small group of other local sportminded men, a lacrosse league for kids was formed, which operated out of Cobourg’s Memorial Arena. In the mid 1960’s, Clarke, Dick Robinson, Jeff Rolph and Layton Dodge were instrumental in starting and funding a local Junior “B” hockey team, the Cobourg Cougars. Clarke was a Cobourg Cougars’ lifetime executive member. He served in many roles with the team, including General Manager. Clarke was also involved with minor softball.

In 1972, Clarke and his son David coached their “Sinclair  Mustangs” to an Ontario Softball Championship. The sporting goods store was a gathering spot for people to discuss current issues. Many important decisions about local sports were made around the store’s famous pop cooler. Clarke was proud and humbled to be involved in the successes of the Cobourg Cougars, the Cold Springs Cats and countless other local teams and organizations.

Throughout the decades, Sommerville’s Sporting Goods has been a staunch supporter of many sports and athletes in various ways behind the scenes. His support of athletes was truly profound.Clarke Sommerville was a good athlete but his true legacy is as a builder of sport. His contributions will have an everlasting impact on our community.

Softball-Fastpitch-Cold Springs Cats 1975-89

1989 Cats

By Ewart Timlin, Manager   Edited by Donna Cole

Pre-Cats (1973)
Where the h--- is Cold Springs? That was a common question people asked about our ball team in the 80's and 90's, especially when we traveled out of province. However, in the 60's and early 70's everyone usually played for their own team in Cobourg or Port Hope, or their village such as Bewdley, Harwood, Baltimore, Plainville, or Cold Springs. Therefore, everyone knew everyone else who played softball.

And there were several local leagues in which to participate, such as the Port Hope Town League, Cobourg Town League, Haldimand League, Cobourg Industrial League, and of course the Hamilton Township League. All the leagues were well organized and highly entertaining, as witnessed by the huge crowds at playoff time, when I've seen the parks in places such as Cold Springs and Plainville packed with exuberant fans.

The executive of each league controlled the player eligibility of each locale as well. For example, in the Hamilton Township League for several years, we were only allowed two imports. An import, at that time, might come all the way from Cobourg, Port Hope, or a different township.

After participating in the Hamilton Township League for a number of years, the team decided to go one step further and try OASA Championship play. We chose a few pickups from the Hamilton Township League in order to participate in the OASA Men's C playdowns, and we were fairly successful.

Even though the township league was great locally, we realized that in order to meet good playmanship every night, we should proceed to another league, perhaps the Peterborough City League. Nevertheless, there were several key questions about the change.

Another key query that has been asked is "How did the name Cats originate?" In the mid-seventies, Keith Ferguson, who followed our team as his brother Ivan played with us, was continually cheering us on by shouting, "Let's go Cats!" This title permeated throughout the years for Cold Springs.

Cats History (1975-2004)
Is this team competitive enough to enter our league? This was the question that the executive officers of the Peterborough City League asked Ross and I when we attended their inaugural meeting in the winter of '74-'75. We certainly proved that we were competitive enough because we finished in first place in the league that summer, and also won the OASA Intermediate C title on a bitter October weekend in Capreol. Thus, the Cats came into existence in 1975, but little did we know that we would continue in the great game of fastball for approximately the next 30 years.

The nucleus of the Cats in 1975 hailed from Cold Springs and other areas of Hamilton Township. It included John Maughan, Harold Lang, Ivan Ferguson, Jeff Timlin, Lorne Jamieson, Ewart Timlin, Lynn Thackeray, John Cane, Bill Cane, Don McDonald, Paul Hasson, Jim Bradford, Roger Cole, Ray Bickle and Allan Burnham. Doug Alderson and Craig Gray acted as coaches while Ivan West served as manager.

1976
In 1976 the Cats participated in a new league called the Eastern Ontario Fastball League. Along with Cold Springs it included teams from Belleville, Trenton, Picton, Brighton, Campbellford, Cobourg, and Peterborough. The Springs played well and earned a first-place finish. However, in league play-offs the team was defeated by Belleville Devolins. Nevertheless, we successfully defended our Intermediate C crown by defeating teams from Brighton, Campbellford, Elgin, Port Elgin, and finally Capreol.

1977
The Cats had a poor year participation-wise. We finished in fourth position in the E.O.F.L. and were knocked out of provincial play-downs by Campbellford.

1978
There was new hope and several new faces in our line-up in 1978. Additions to our roster included Mike Mclvor, Ed Ristan, Phil Krauter, Neil Francis, Marty Kernaghan, Bill Ryan, Roger Mcintosh and Terry Irwin. Jim Chase was our new coach replacing Bill Rollings, who acted in this capacity in 1976 and 1977. Ewart Timlin served as manager again. In the E.O.F.L. not only were we pennant winners but also play-off champions. In Intermediate B play-offs we conquered Braeside (near Pembroke) and Bradford. Nevertheless, in a close series, the Cats were eliminated by Port Elgin.

1979
This was our final year in the E.O.F. L. as the league folded that fall. New players included the following: Bill Elliott, Don Elliott, Roger Alexander, Rick Palmateer, Jim Flesch, Terry Lewis, and Barry Dawe. Jim Chase again acted as coach and Ewart Timlin as manager. Our fortunes seemed to rise this season and we finished in first place. Unfortunately, the Cats were defeated in league play-offs and Ontario play-downs by Picton who went on to become Ontario Champions.

1980
In 1980, we participated, for the first time, in the Oshawa City and District League. In order to strengthen our team for senior play-offs we added several new players. They included Don and Jim Burkitt, Stephen Mitts and Paul Goodfellow. The Oshawa City and District League included teams from Oshawa, Whitby, Stouffville, and of course, Cold Springs. We were successful in finishing in first place during the regular season but were eliminated in play-offs by the Oshawa Merchants.

In the Senior A Ontario Eliminations in London, twenty six teams competed for the Gold Medal. The Cats defeated Toronto Fred's Sports 2-0, Sault Ste. Marie 1-0, Sarnia Gils 3-2, Oshawa Motor Carriers 3-0, and in the final game, Sarnia Gils 3-0. Mike Mclvor was declared the Most Valuable Player when he hit three home runs during the tournament.

Roger Cole and Jim Burkitt shared the pitching duties. They had only two runs scored on them during the tournament and they were both unearned. In being declared the Sr. A Champions, the Cats earned the right to represent Ontario.in the Canadian National Softball Championship in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. To reinforce our roster, we added a powerful hitting pitcher - Steve Virag from London and brutal batter Phil Solomon from Oshawa.

In Saskatoon the Cats did themselves, their fans and Ontario proud. We finished with a 4-2 record in the national event. No team won more games in the preliminary round than Cold Springs. Six clubs had 3-1 credentials and the tie had to be broken by comparing the runs for and against differential. Winnipeg earned first place with a plus 9 and Cold Springs had a plus 5 for a fifth-place finish.

Cats were the only team in the entire tournament to beat the eventual Canadian Champions from Nova Scotia. They nipped the Elks, 2-1, in an extra inning on Friday in their final game of the preliminary round. The irony of the situation was it cost Cats to be the home team in this case. Two men were on base when Al Burnham cracked a double in the bottom of the eighth inning and both would have scored had the game not been over as soon as the first runner (Terry Lewis) crossed the plate with the winning run. If the Cats had been the visitors, both runs would have counted, elevating them into the top four in the standings. That would have qualified Cold Springs for the double knockout elimination round rather than the single knockout section.

It should also be noted that Cold Springs also beat the silver medal team in the preliminary round. The Cats faced the legendary Gene McWillie from Saskatoon All-0-Matics, representing Saskatchewan, and tagged him with the defeat.
In all the games played in the Nationals, the Springs finished No. I in defensive play. However, our hitting was suspect and we finished 8th in this category.

Cold Springs felt the loss of Paul Goodfellow early in the tournament when a base runner collided with him and cracked his ribs. Bill Elliott got a standing ovation from the crowd on his last trip to bat. What an amazing year!

1981
During 1981, we played for our last time in the Oshawa City and District League. Additions to our line-up included Dave Ruthowsky, Bryan Madge and Doug Christie. We attained the league pennant and play-off championship this year. In the Ontario Sr. B Play downs we were eliminated by the host club Sault Ste. Marie.

1982
In 1982 Cats took a major step and joined the Ontario Fastball League (OFL). In the league itself we did very well for a rookie team and finished in 3rd place. During playoff competition, the Cats eliminated Owen Sound (led by pitcher Brad Underwood) but in turn were defeated by Agincourt (pitcher Jim Cowdrey), who were the Ontario Sr. A Champions for 1982.

1983
Cats moved up to second spot in the OFL in a problem-plagued 1983 and pushed Agincourt to the very limit in playoffs to lose by a single run in the final game.

1984
In 1984, the Cold Springs Cats team folded and consequently several members - namely John Maughan, Ivan Ferguson, Gary Vowles, Harold Lang and I joined the Cobourg's Bruce and Rick's OASA Intermediate B squad (Other members such as Pete Harrison, Dave Ruthowsky, Paul Marineau, and Roger Cole joined Tex's Rangers as a Senior B squad). In the OASA Championship game Trenton defeated Bruce and Rick's with Jim Burkitt, another ex-Cat, the victorious pitcher.

1985
After a one-year hiatus in 1984, life was rekindled in 1985, when the Cold Springs Cats elected to return to the Oshawa City Softball League rather than return to the shaky Ontario Fastball League. Cats, who once upon a time belonged to the Oshawa group, participated in a league comprised of Oshawa Copperfields, Port Perry, Whitby, Durham Merchants, and Oshawa Juniors.

Playing for the Senior B Cats that year were Bill Elliott, Perry Bowles, Brian Condon, Roger Cole, Wayne Wells, Stephen Mitts, Gary Hope, Terry Bowles, Jeff Timlin, John Maughan, Mike Mclvor, Paul Marineau, Marvin Moore, Ray Bickle, John MacDonald and Peter Harrison.

In 1985 the Cats signed their second "King" when they acquired National Hockey League star Bernie Nicholls. Nicholls, who played for the Los Angeles Kings, added a great deal of flair and depth to the shortstop position. At Kemptville, during the Senior A Eliminations, I offered to pay Bernie for his hotel reservations, along with the other players. Bernie replied nonchalantly, "That's okay E.T.; I sleep in a pup tent."

1986, 1987
In 1986 and 1987 the Cats were mainly a tournament team. They were quite successful in winning the annual tournaments in Hastings and Port Perry. However, in 1986, in the Intermediate B Championship tournament in Mitchell and in the Intermediate A tournament in Norwich the following year, the club achieved limited success.

1988
The executive of our team decided to host the OASA Intermediate A Championship tournament in Baltimore in the summer of 1988. After a great deal of planning, the weekend tourney was blessed with super weather and fine fastball involving eight teams from North Bay to Caledonia. Nevertheless, the Cats finished with a 2 and 2 record, but acquired loads of great memories in off-the-field activities.

1989
The Cold Springs Cats, who started the eighties by dropping a bombshell in winning the Ontario Senior Elimination Tournament, finished the decade with another startling explosion in North Fredricksburgh in September, by claiming the 1989 OASA Men's B Championship title. Cats surprised everyone, including themselves, by scratching and clawing for all their worth to reel off four straight wins in the eight-team, double knockout tournament and become all-Ontario title holders.

En route to earning the area's first ever Men's B title, Cats blanked Wahnapotae 5-0 and nipped Petrolia Squire Tavern 4-3 in 10 innings on Saturday, shaded Kirkland Lake Federal Tavern 1-0 in two extra innings Sunday morning, and then climaxed the weekend with a 2-0 verdict over the same Kirkland Lake team in the afternoon final.

The Cats now claim to having won provincial crowns in three different categories in our history: Men's C in 1975 and '76, Senior A in 1980, and Men's B in 1989. Roger Cole, John Maughan, GM Ewart Timlin, and director Ross Timlin are the only four men to have been part of all four of these Ontario championships by Cold Springs.

Veteran pitcher Roger Cole, named the Most Valuable Player in the tournament, said that he'd never before played on a team where there were no dominant figures and where all of the players had pitched in to contribute something significant to the cause. ln his estimation, the Cats performed as well as they possibly could as a team to make the fantasy come true.

Updated August 2020

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1963 Clarke Sommerville softball jacket

Card Description

1963 Clarke Sommerville's red melton softball jacket with white trim- button front- R.H. sleeve crest "2"

Type Of Object
Vintage
1963
Accession Number
2020.001.013

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1965c Cobourg Men's 34" softball bat

Card Description

Cobourg Men's softball bat used in 1965 Men's League

Type Of Object
Vintage
1965 ca
Team or Principal Name
Sport Level
Accession Number
2017.005.010

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1965 Cobourg Men's Softball 33" bat

Card Description

1965 Cobourg Men's Softball bat

Type Of Object
Vintage
1965
Team or Principal Name
Sport Level
Accession Number
2017.005.009

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1966 wooden 33" Louisville Slugger bat

Card Description

This 33 in. wooden Louisville Slugger HB version was used in the Cobourg Men's League circa 1966. The transition to metal bats increased the distance a ball could be hit. The Victoria Park diamond could no longer safely be used

Type Of Object
Vintage
1965
Team or Principal Name
Sport Level
Accession Number
2017.005.008

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LAYTON DODGE

LAYTON DODGE

Layton Dodge was born in Cobourg on March 4, 1937, to parents, William and Kathleen. After high school, Layton joined the staff of the Cobourg Sentinel Star as sportswriter and publisher until his final column on October 8, 1996. In between, Layton covered most sports in Cobourg and the surrounding communities with love, diligence, integrity and honesty.

To say that the local sporting community was lucky to have him would be a gross understatement. Layton was the league and individual statistician for many local sporting groups including the Cobourg Community Hockey League, Legion Minor Softball, the Cobourg Mercantile Hockey League, the Cobourg Men's Softball League and the Cobourg Bowling League, to name just a few. Perhaps Layton's greatest quality was his understanding that sports meant as much to the house league player as it did to the all-star athlete.

To that end, Layton gave as much space on his sports pages to the house league games and players as he did to the rep teams and stars. He was the very best small-town sportswriter that you could ask for. Layton was recognized by many local organizations over the years for his outstanding contributions to their particular sport.

One of his proudest recognitions came from the Ontario Amateur Softball Association in 1987 when he was presented with the Frank Feaver Award as Ontario's “Mr. Softball”. Layton had a nickname that many of his friends and acquaintances used when referring to him. That name was “Scoop”. He never owned a car and rode his bicycle to almost all local sporting events.

He was never without his camera and notebook and always had a smile on his face and a positive remark to share. Simply put, “Layton was the BEST.

BILL O’NEIL

BILL O’NEIL

William (Bill) J. O’Neil was born in Oldcastle, Ontario, on December 28, 1924. As a youngster, Bill had a great love of sports and played both baseball and softball. He coached youth baseball for a number of years in the village of MacGregor, not far from his hometown. Bill started work with General Foods in Windsor, Ontario, at the age of 18. In 1963, he moved with the company to Cobourg, where he went on to make a significant impact in the athletic community. Bill coached the local General Foods sponsored team in the Cobourg Men’s Softball League from 1963 to 1970.

He coached Juvenile and Junior Ontario Amateur Softball Association (OASA) teams that also played in the Cobourg Men’s Softball League from 1971 to 1990. He was the coach of four OASA Juvenile “B” championship teams during the 1970’s. Over the years, Bill O’Neil received numerous honours and awards for his outstanding dedication to sports in the Town of Cobourg. In 1976, Bill was named Cobourg’s Sportsman of the Year. In 2002, he was saluted for serving 40 years as Treasurer and a volunteer with the Cobourg Men’s Softball League.

On November 17, 2004, the main building at Legion Fields was named “The Bill O’Neil Pavilion”. The Ontario Amateur Association recognized Bill by presenting him with the F.R. (Frank) Feaver trophy as Ontario’s “Mr. Softball”. During his coaching career, Bill was always the cool, calm and collected field manager. Over the years, he never abused an umpire or a player but would discuss and reason a solution to its conclusion. He respected the game and all those involved. Bill O’Neil was a unique individual.

He gave back far more to the sporting community than he ever took and was a true gentleman. Bill O’Neil was a great role model and an incredible asset to Cobourg and District’s athletic community.