BCBUA History 1974-2012


On Friday, December 5 of 2008, Richard Christie, Howard Chapman, Don Hass and Gordon Hanly traveled to Victoria to meet with Doug Hudlin, Bill Murphy and Chuck Blaikie. The purpose of the meeting was to try to verify and record some of the past history of the BCBUA which has unfortunately been lost over the years. Specifically we were trying to piece together the chronology of presidents from when the association was formed up to the present. As minutes have been lost and misplaced over the years, we felt this was an important task to accomplish while the people with the knowledge, those who were there from the start, were still alive and lucid. In the mix of 7 people who attended, 2 joined the association shortly after it was formed in the fall of 1974, and 5 of them were original participants. Of these 7 people, the average age is 64, and they represent 293 years of umpiring experience.

The first planning meeting was held at the Newton Inn in Surrey. At that time there was nothing around it but empty fields. Baseball BC helped to organize the meeting, and George Connelly chaired the meeting. Those present were Howard Chapman, Doug Hudlin, Chuck Blaikie, Bill Murphy, Richard Christie, Leo Burns Jamie Mould, Ed Janzten and Al Lewis. The first official meeting of the newly formed BC Baseball Umpires Association (BCBUA) was held in January of 1975 (Ed notes: the association was actually formed in November of 1974). Doug Hudlin was elected as the first president, and Howard Chapman was appointed by Baseball BC to be the supervisor of officials for the province. The original membership fees were set at $5.00, and the clinic cost was $7.50 per person. The $5.00 was our
operating money and the $7.50 went to Baseball BC. We used to average about 500 people attending clinics every year, and our membership was about 150-200. In 1981 we arranged with the then president of Baseball BC, Al Elliott, to combine the clinic and membership fees into one, with the total cost being $10. Yes, a lot has changed over the years. The first BC Summer Games were held in Penticton in 1977.

The following list shows the presidents each year since our inception. The term of office was originally set at one year. In 1992 it was changed to a 2 year term. The election for president was held each year at the AGM the previous year (usually in November).

1975 Doug Hudlin

1987 Ken McIntoch

1999 Bill Murphy

1976 Doug Hudlin

1988 Howard Chapman

2000 Scottie Scott

1977 Doug Hudlin

1989 Len Enns

2001 Scottie Scott

1978 Doug Hudlin

1990 Jerry Tregaskis

2002 Chuck Blaikie

1979 Garnie Strahl

1991 Jerry Tregaskis

2003 Chuck Blaikie

1980 Garnie Strahl

1992 Bill Murphy

2004 John Berry

1981 Richard Christie

1993 Bill Murphy

2005 John Berry

1982 Richard Christie

1994 Bill Murphy

2006 John Berry

1983 Richard Christie

1995 Bill Murphy

2007 John Berry

1984 Richard Christie

1996 Bill Murphy

2008 John Berry

1985 Richard Christie

1997 Bill Murphy

2009 John Berry

1986 Richard Christie

1998 Bill Murphy

2010 John Berry

 

 

2011 John Berry

 

 

2012 John Berry

 

 

2013 John Berry

* Please note that Len Enns was re-elected for a second term at the AGM in the fall of 1989. A month later he resigned and Jerry Tregaskis served as acting president for the remainder of the term (1990).