Layton Dodge

Layton Dodge Loved His Home Town, Sports

By Cecilia Nasmith Dec 10, 2013 Northumberland Today

Layton Dodge's chair at Sommerville's is empty.
Dave Sommerville, owner of the downtown Cobourg sporting goods store, has been reflecting on what to do with it since hearing of Dodge's passing on Sunday.

Since his retirement as Cobourg's premier sports reporter, Dodge has been a regular in the store, taking the chair Sommerville's father Clarke used to occupy. It started out as a chance to enlist the Sommervilles' help in identifying the rafts of old sports photos he was giving away, and evolved into one of his favourite places just to hang out and visit with people.

Sommerville was one of those legions of Cobourg kids who grew up looking forward to the Wednesday paper because of Dodge.

"We ran home, grabbed the paper and opened it to the sports page to see if our name was there," he recalled.
Born March 14, 1937 to parents William and Kathleen, Layton Dodge grew up in Cobourg and attended Cobourg District Collegiate Institute (currently CDCI West) when it was the only high school in town. He went directly from high school to working for the Cobourg Sentinel Star, a precursor of Northumberland Today, his friend Rosie Bateman said.

By virtue of his life-long attachment to his home town, Bateman added, he always had a story to share — such as the fact that Col. Gordon King, after whom the library is named, was his Latin teacher.

Retired councilor Bob Spooner first encountered Dodge as a reader. He had been involved in sports reporting himself before he and his wife began looking to move to Cobourg in 1970. They picked up a copy of what was then the weekly Cobourg paper and, turning to the sports page, Spooner recalled, thinking, "Whoever is writing this is really doing the community a service."

Little kids hitting a home run, young goalies making a save, minor athletes who might never rate a mention in a bigger paper had their names there in print, Spooner said. "I thought, 'I have to meet this guy, because he writes so honestly and his information is really accurate.'"

That winter, Spooner got his chance when he began coaching minor hockey. They became instant friends, he reported.
Doing play-by-play hockey coverage for the local radio station in 1972, Spooner often met up with Dodge. Together, they broke down the barrier between print and electronic media when Dodge began doing occasional guest commentary.

"The public liked his analysis, his accuracy, his honesty. He never had a bias if he liked a coach or a player from the other team," Spooner said.

Longtime close friend Rod Baker remembers Dodge's support of the Cobourg Cougars Junior A hockey group, as well as for the young people in town. He remembers how much Dodge contributed to his own three children's lives when they were growing up in Cobourg through his work at the home-town newspaper.

"I think he was one of the best sports writers in this area and could have gone further. But he was very happy in Cobourg," Baker said.

"Layton was probably the biggest promoter of a lot of good athletes in Cobourg, but he would always find a way to get the average athlete — the kid who would never get noticed — to get his name in the paper if they had a good hockey game or made a good catch playing ball. He made the average athlete important. He had an uncanny way of doing that," Sommerville said.

He was also impressed with the range of sports his friend covered.
"If it was out there, he covered it," Sommerville stated.

Dodge would even hold off on his summer holidays so as not to miss covering the giant annual ball tournament in Grafton, where he would help with the announcing or do whatever else they needed.
"The only way you knew Layton was on vacation is, there was no sports in the paper. He would still be at all the games, but no sports in the paper.

"Cobourg has been so fortunate to have someone who cared so passionately about the town, so passionately about the youth of the town, and he showed it in many different forms," Sommerville said.

A modest individual, Dodge made substantial donations to organizations but also made the quieter substantial donations — paying for the high school wrestling tournament, for example, or even making significant contributions to the university and college educations of young people in need.

"He did so many things for so many people behind the scenes, the stories could be endless," Sommerville said.
A few years before Dodge was forced to retire earlier than he perhaps would have liked for health reasons, the editor combed old newspapers for a compilation of his best work for a book that was titled Spotlight On Sports.

A later publisher, Darren Murphy, found that Dodge remained deeply involved in the newspaper regardless.
“He would stop by regularly with some kind of a news tip or just to say hello to everyone," said Murphy, who is now publisher and regional advertising director of Eastern Ontario for Sun Media.

"He had a way of brightening up the entire building when he entered, and his contributions to the Cobourg sports community will never be forgotten.”

Cobourg Mayor Gil Brocanier said Dodge was an icon in the town.
"For so many years, he gave so much to so many people," Brocanier said.
"It's incredible, the work he did and the way he made so many young people growing up in Cobourg playing all sports feel important. He made it his mission to give almost every athlete — regardless of the level they were playing in — he made every effort to give them their 15 minutes of fame by mentioning them or something they had done in a particular game.

"It's a terrible loss to the sports community, and the community as a whole," the mayor stated.
"What really makes me happy is that he lived long enough to see the new sports complex," Spooner said.

As council's parks and recreation head during the project, he recalls how thrilled Dodge was with news of the facility and how he supported it with a donation that paid for the press box.

The Layton Dodge Press Box is the second town amenity that bears his name. Spooner recalls sitting down with the parks and recreation advisory committee prior to the opening of Legion Fields in July 1996 to name the three diamonds.

"The first name that cropped up for one of the diamonds was Layton Dodge," Spooner said.

In the end, the vote was unanimous to name the diamonds after Dodge, Clarke Sommerville and Jack Bevan.
Dodge will be missed very much, Bateman said. "I know how devoted he was to the youth of the town, and sport and the community. I think his legacy is that he inspired the youth of our town to be the best they could be in sports, and in life in general," she stated.

From seeing his friend spend so many pleasant days in that special chair in his store, Sommerville would characterize Dodge as the voice of reason.

"He could always find some middle ground and come up with a logical and reasonable solution. It's something I saw a lot of times that I found fascinating. He would sit back and watch it all and, in a heartbeat, come up with the right answer," he said.

Fairness extended to his sports coverage, which would occasionally single out a visiting player from a big city like Toronto. If a friend or relative sent a clipping to the young player, Sommerville said he would get a call to ask for 15 more copies, because that player would never get that kind of recognition in a bigger community.

And when a local player deserved a wake-up call or a slap on the wrist for any reason, Sommerville added, Dodge could deliver it in such a way that the player would remain on friendly terms with him afterwards.

"I think that gift was born out of his love for the community," he said.
In the end, he said, Dodge earned a singular honour — being known by a single name.

"In Cobourg, everybody knows Layton. It doesn't matter if you're 12 or 100, everybody knows Layton as Layton — or, in our case, Scoop. Nobody asks about Layton Dodge. It's Layton or Scoop. I think, over the course of time, with everything he's done for this community, he has gained that kind of recognition," Sommerville said.

"He deeply loved his mother and his family. He deeply loved Cobourg — the sports community and Cobourg in general.
"His legacy will live on and on and on, not only as a sports writer and member of the community, but also as a human being. There are not many people like Layton."

At Dodge's request, there will be a private graveside service at Cobourg Union Cemetery. A funeral service will be held in Trinity United Church Thursday at 1 p.m., and a celebration of his life will be held at the Cobourg Community Centre at a later date.

Reviewed August 2020

July 1973 – July 2012
The institution known as the Grafton Annual Ball Tournament started as a result of Paul McIntosh retiring the tournament he hosted in Cold Springs. Ann and Dick Raymond met with Pat & Jack Kernaghan in the spring of 1973 and a fastball tournament became the topic of discussion. With no local tournament, a good facility and avid fastball fans why couldn’t we host a tournament.

With this in mind we approached the local arena and park board for support. They did not feel that this would be a financial success and so declined our offer. Still feeling we had a good idea Ann and Dick would take on the financial responsibility for the first tournament.

The intention of this tournament was to attract local teams and their families to our facility. We were interested in promoting our community and facility. The last weekend in July 1973 saw 12 men’s teams compete, between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon, on two diamonds (now known as Diamond # 1 & # 3) for a nominal prize of $100.00. Over the years the main tournament prize was “Bragging Rights”.

The first tournament was deemed to be a success so why not add a ladies’ division. The 1974 event hosted 18 teams including 7 ladies’ teams.
In 1975 the tournament was rained out and the final 4 games were played on the following Sunday afternoon. (The only time in the history of the tournament that this happened.)

By 1976 the tournament had grown to 34 teams, therefore, a third ball diamond was added to the park. That diamond is now known as Diamond # 2 to the north of the arena. This area had been used by the soccer players, however, in the previous years the game of soccer had been moved to new facilities in Colborne.

In 1976 the tournament introduced a “Dance” event on the Saturday night. This event turned into a social time for participants to visit and reminisce. Many of those years saw over 1,000 people converge on the floor of the arena. In those years the alcohol would be served from the north east corner of the facility and the beer would be served from the north west corner. A multitude of cases of various brands of beer would be cooled in a reefer outside the building. For many years Don Hare and the Wicklow Warriors Ball team would be responsible for managing the liquor sales. The dances continued until 1991.

The tournament by 1980, had grown to 48 teams. It was going to be almost impossible to host all the games in Grafton so that year a number of games were played in the Baltimore Ball park. We like to support other facilities in our area, however, one of the objectives was to support our own facility so Diamond # 4 was built in the north east corner of the property.

During the life of the tournament many people stayed at local camp grounds, hotels and motels, purchased sporting goods in Cobourg, and ate in the local restaurants. The list of services offered goes on and on.

A multitude of local businesses supported this tournament through program advertising and team awards. There are thousands of ball tournament hats and tee shirts being worn in Southern Ontario. In 1981 Labatt’s Brewery came on board. In 1982 the Labatt’s Skydiving Team dropped onto Diamond # 1 at noon on Saturday. In 1983 the Labatt’s Hot Air Balloon took spectators for a ride to see the park from new heights. We enjoyed their sponsorship for many years.

As the years went by the tournament continued to grow and in 1984 boasted the largest number of participants with 32 men’s and 20 ladies’ teams playing 96 games on 5 diamonds starting on Thursday evening and concluding Sunday night. The new Diamond # 5 was created in the south west corner of the property.

The tournament was now known as one of the largest fastball tournaments in Southern Ontario in what was deemed to be one of the best facilities. Over these years the Raymond’s and the Kernaghan’s had followed Marty Kernaghan’s softball career to various facilities in both Canada and the USA. When attending other ball fields Jack and Dick would always be checking out the facility to see if they had something we could add to ours. Jack always wanted dugouts on diamond # 1. Never happened. After years of operating a canteen out of makeshift buildings we did get an appropriate outdoor facility. Numerous players were amazed to see such a facility in a small community. This was a ”Compliment” to everyone who had been involved over the years.

By 1990, Marty Kernaghan, a well-known Grafton Softball player, was touted as one of the best fastball players in the world. He was playing ball for Penn Corp based in Sioux City, Iowa. The team was going to be in Ontario during the time of the Grafton Tournament and we arranged for that team to compete against a team of “Select” players coached by Bill Elliott. Much to the amazement of the hundreds of spectators in the park on Friday July 20th Bill Elliott’s Select Team defeated Penn Corp by a score of 5–4.

In 1992 Marty Kernaghan and the Penn Corp team were invited back to Grafton to challenge Elliott Bros. Cleaners one more time. This time Penn Corp defeated Elliott Bros. Cleaners 5–2.

Things did not always go as planned: very rarely did we finish at the advertised time, many games were re-scheduled due to rain and maybe you played in Centreton in the wee hours on a Sunday morning in order to get everything back on track. Ball players understand that ball diamonds do not come with a roof – you play in all sorts of weather conditions.

As mentioned previously, with the increased interest in the tournament the facility grew to accommodate the event. Diamonds were added. Temporary snow fencing was replaced with permanent fencing. Lights on diamond # 1 were upgraded. A score keeping facility was built. Over the years an electronic scoreboard was erected on diamond # 1 and the field known as diamond #2 got lights. The cost of all of these upgrades was paid for from tournament profit and volunteer help. We now had a premier facility in the hamlet of Grafton. Layton Dodge while sports editor for the Cobourg Star (Northumberland Today and then no daily newspaper) used the quote “On the third weekend in July all roads lead to Grafton”.

The tournament exceeded our original expectations and over the years numerous people came on board to look after the diamonds, collect money at the gate, score keep, help at the bar and canteen facilities and manage the administration during the event. When you joined this team you signed on for life. Over the years we had to say goodbye to a number of faithful volunteers and supporters.

At the first tournament Jim Spiers volunteered as the chief umpire. During those first few years many local umpires volunteered their support. As the tournament grew and at least 10 umpires were needed for every hour of tournament this responsibility was turned over to the local association.

As stated previously Layton Dodge was the sports editor at the Cobourg Star when the tournament started. Layton always took holidays in July and still continued to promote and report the event by Wednesday of the following week. The local coverage was never the same after Layton’s retirement. He took great pride in showcasing all local athletes. He was a scorekeeper/announcer in each of the 40 years of the tournament.

With the turn of the century we were experiencing a decline in fastball participation by both men and women. The local leagues were forced to fold and players had to travel outside the area in order to continue enjoying the game. With the decline in interest it was becoming extremely difficult to host an event that would attract both players and spectators.

In the spring of 2012, it was decided that 40 years was a great run. The volunteers were aging but did not want to quit so we made a difficult but necessary decision. As word spread that this would be the final tournament many ballplayers contacted friends and made up teams so that they could say that they played in the Last Grafton Tournament. One person played in the first and last tournament. A total of 16 mens’ teams and 6 ladies’ teams competed in 2012.

At the final tournament only Jack Kernaghan, Ann & Dick Raymond and Layton Dodge could say that they had been involved for every event. However, Tanya Stittle (Raymond) and Tara Raymond had been at every tournament since the day of their birth. At first they had no choice but then they caught the fever and along with the rest of us have many wonderful memories.

Submitted By Ann & Dick Raymond

Updated August 2020