The Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has announced the selection of the Woodard family of Colgate, to be inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday, August 19, in Battleford.
The Woodard family started playing baseball in Saskatchewan in the early 1900’s when they emigrated from Appleton, Minn., to the Weyburn area in 1903. Brothers Vince, Dee, Leo Sr. and Basil Sr., played for Weyburn at that time. In 1907 the Woodards re-homesteaded in the Colgate area and so all brothers, Vince, Dee, Leo Sr. and Basil Sr. played for Colgate until the mid 1930’s.
Dee had a family of nine boys and five girls. Vince had four boys and four girls. Both families shared the same farmyard.
In the 1940’s both Vince and Dee’s boys played ball for Colgate. They were Francis, Basil Jr., Jesse (George) and Shorty (Clement). Then in the 1950’s another group of Vince and Dee’s boys joined the Colgate team. They were Leo Jr., Dennis, Laurence, Michael, Louis, Urban and Tom. Also in the mid 1950’s, the Colgate High School won several pennants with Woodard boys Leo, Louis, Michael, Laurence and Dennis playing on that team.
As Colgate did not have a senior baseball team in the Souris Valley League in the late 1950’s, Francis, Shorty, Leo, Louis, Dennis and Laurence Woodard played with Tribune. In 1960 Colgate re-entered the Souris Valley Baseball League and the Woodard boys were back playing for their hometown team. On one occasion when all the Woodard boys were home on holidays, midway through the game, they were all on the field playing. Laurence pitched, Shorty caught, Dennis played on first base, Leo was on second base, Louis played short stop, Michael played third base, Jesse was in right field, Ricky played in centre field, Tom was in left field and Francis umpired.
Butch (Gregory) Woodard also played with Colgate from the mid-1960’s through the late 1960’s. Coaching this team for years was Don Cousins, a schoolteacher in Colgate. Don had also played baseball in the Radville-Colgate area. Later in the 1960’s people were moving into jobs and there were not enough players to field a team, so it again folded.
The Woodard boys had played baseball together, providing entertainment from the early 1900’s through the late 1960’s. As there were so many Woodards, the spectators (and on occasion, the coach or umpire) did not know who was who. The Woodard boys provided entertainment, having fun kidding everyone. Shorty and Jesse both attended Notre Dame College and played with the Notre Dame Hounds, Jesse from 1946 through the mid 1950’s. Louis, Michael and Laurence’s boys played minor baseball in Weyburn, with Laurence’s son Jason still playing Twilight Baseball to this day.
Throughout the years the Woodards shut down the farm to attend the big baseball tournaments, especially the Indian Head Tournament. Also, the Woodard boys played hockey and often all of them would be on the ice at the same time.
The Woodard Family dedicated and contributed 112 years to a rich Saskatchewan baseball history and to the development of the great province of Saskatchewan.
