BROOKFIELD – It wasn’t just the Brookfield Elks who won the 1980 Canadian Senior Men’s Fastball Championship; the whole community did.
And it became blatantly obvious to the players when they returned home from Saskatoon at 2 a.m. only to be carried on a hay wagon through the community for a victory parade for Brookfield’s 1,000 residents.
“It was a victory for a way of life,” said Mike Henderson, a second baseman with that fabled squad. “People were coming up to us and hugging us and thanking us and congratulating us. They were so happy for us and themselves and the program.
“We showed the rest of the country we could do it with hometown guys and no $5,000 players.”
That’s why the ripples from Aug. 31, 1980 can still be felt in the community, why a sign commemorating that date still hangs on the Elk Park scoreboard and why people in the community still talk about the team to this day, 30 years after it beat the Saskatoon All-O-Matics 4-3.
Those Elks were as much a homegrown team as could be. Just two of the 17 players on the roster were from outside Brookfield and even those two had strong community ties. The other 15, along with the coaching staff, had been groomed since youngsters through the community’s softball program, which dates back to the 1950s. They played the game all day every day as kids and continued to use every free moment to do so as age added responsibilities away from the field.
It not only showed in their skill level, with several players becoming Canadian standouts, but also in the way they approached the game.
“We always had each others’ backs through thick and thin,” Henderson said. “It spoke a lot to the all-for-one and one-for-all mentality.”
That mentality is still as evident as ever. Get a few of them together and they become kids again, joking and laughing.
Because they were ‘hometown boys’ that ‘one-for-all’ attitude extended through all of Brookfield. League games would cram 500 to 600 fans into Elk Park for some of the best ball around. Tournaments would see attendance hit the 3,000 mark. It was an event to attend an Elks game and when they won – which happened a lot – so did every person in the community. The community lived through its team.
“We were their embodiment,” Henderson said. “We had very loyal fans and they felt like part of the process.”
Although Brookfield was already a proud sports community thanks to athletes like Lyle Carter, Donald Ross and the Henderson and Matheson brothers, 1980 kicked that sense of community into high gear.
“I think it was a real upkick in our pride,” Henderson said. “It didn’t start in 1980 but it became a very important aspect of the community. People who weren’t interested in sports became interested.”
Teammate Steve Locke said the significance of the championship is reflected in how well the players remember the events of that week.
“When you think back and remember everything about it, that’s when you know it was something special,” he said.
The impact of the team’s win can still be felt throughout the community and you need look no further than the current Elks roster. It inspired most of today’s players to play the game. They wanted to be just like their heroes.
“Oh yeah,” said second baseman Chipper VanTassell. “We played ball every day and pretended to be those guys and pretended to win the gold medal.”
VanTassell was just four years old but still remembers the players returning home.
“I remember the excitement of everyone picking them up at the airport,” he said.
“There was quite a buzz in the village.”
VanTassell and his brother Brooks are two of the four current Elks who had relatives on the 1980 squad.
Their uncle was catcher Bobby Campbell, who is also an uncle to current team member Jack Roop. Josh McCallum’s father Herb was an outfielder in 1980.
VanTassell later became bat boy for the team from 1986 to 1991, while most of the gold-medal winning squad was still playing.
“I learned how to win from guys like Mike Henderson, Bobby Campbell and Robbie Cooke,” the 35-year-old said.
He must have. VanTassell went on to become an All-Canadian himself and is now a highly respected leader on the current Elks roster.
“Those guys were definitely my heroes,” VanTassell said. “All I wanted to do was play ball for the Elks.”
sports@trurodaily.com
