Remembering ‘Mr. Baseball’ Bob Colliar

Sports were always a large part of life for Colliar, as reflected in his involvement in both community hockey and baseball teams throughout his life.

Hockey involvement

Through the lion’s share of the 1950s (’52-57), Colliar served as player and manager of the Meota Monarchs hockey team in the Big Six and Big Four Hockey Leagues and was elected as the first president of the Big Four Hockey League back in 1953.

From the latter stages of the 50s, and into the mid-60s (’57-65), he then served on the executive of the S.A.H.A. Referee Association, and also held the post of Referee in Chief and secretary-treasurer of the Big Four Hockey League for over 25 years, from ’57-83.

In 1980, Colliar was recognized with a plaque presentation by the N.H.L. Old Timers for outstanding service and dedication to hockey, and in 1984 he was also recognized by the Big Four Hockey League for 25 years of dedicated service.

Baseball involvement

While hockey may have taken centre stage for the winter months, come the spring/summer, Colliar’s attention switched to his other leading sports passion, baseball.

“He gave so much of his time to baseball, coaching and umping, not just for years but for decades,” Sask. Baseball Hall of Fame president, Jane Shury said. “He didn’t hesitate to ump if they called and he was a member of the board for the museum for a time, so he certainly contributed in a big way to baseball, very much so.”

In addition to being Inducted into the Sask. Baseball HOF as an individual for his contributions to the game in 1991, Colliar was also inducted again with the 1978-80 Jr. Beavers teams enshrined, joining rarified air as a multi-time inductee.

From 1950-52 Colliar played senior ball for the Meota Monarchs, before moving to coach of the team in the N.W.S.B.L. for another six years from ’52-57.

The following year, in 1958, Colliar became senior manager and coach of the North Battleford Jr. Beavers, a post he would hold for over 35 years, leading the team to a provincial championship during the ’58 season, coaching under the management of fellow North Battleford sports icon, Emile Francis.

Bob Colliar pictured here during his time as coach of the North Battleford Jr. Beavers baseball team. (Submitted photos/Kelvin Colliar)

In 1964 Colliar coached the Junior Beavers to a provincial silver medal, followed by a return to the top of the podium just three years later, with a second provincial title and a silver medal in the National Championship in 1967.

Over a decade later Colliar again led the Beavers to the top of the mountain with a Western Canadian Championship victory, defeating teams from major centres like Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Edmonton on the run to the championship. Later that same season, the Beavers would also take third at Nationals.

Kelvin Colliar, Bob’s son, who himself was inducted into the Sask. Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022, got an up-close look at the game from an early age, helping his father as bat-boy with those early 70s teams, before later suiting up with the Jr. Beavers from ‘78-80.

It was those earliest years in the game though, that not only sparked Kelvin’s own love for the sport but also instilled principles of hard work and service for others.

“My dad was really community-minded and he was a man that just never, never stopped,” Colliar said. “I think in the back of his mind he thought he was going to live to be 130 years old, and therefore never stopped to rest on his laurels. He continued to build a better tomorrow for not only himself but for everyone else.”

Kelvin and Bob Colliar at Kelvin’s Induction into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022. (Submitted photo/Kelvin Colliar)

More than just his success on the field, Bob Colliar was in many ways an innovator of the game as well. Long before travel teams were the norm, he took the Beavers to tour the province of Quebec on an exhibition schedule in early July of 1980.

That season, the team would go on to win the bronze medal at the Saskatchewan Games in Estevan and provide the cherry on top with a provincial championship on their home field in North Battleford, en route to silver as well at the Western Canadian Championships in Kamloops, BC.

Perhaps Colliar’s magnum opus as coach of the Jr. Beavers came entering his third decade with the club, in 1985. That season he coached Team Saskatchewan at the Canada Games in St. John, NB., before returning to North Battleford to lead his Jr. Beavers to the Western Canadian Championship in front of the home crowd in North Battleford.

That season the Jr. Beavers were named Team of the Year and Colliar was presented with Honorary Life Membership in the Saskatchewan Baseball Association.

Martin Smith, who is from Edam, played seven seasons with the Jr. Beavers from the late ‘80s to the early 90s. He told battlefordsNOW about the impact Colliar had in helping form some of his and his teammates’ greatest memories from those early years in the sport.

“I’m very grateful to Bob for the opportunities he presented to us, he got us into the Alberta Junior Baseball League in the 80s which we’d continue to play in into the 90s, and in 1991 was instrumental in our Jr. Beaver baseball club going to Europe to play against Czechoslovakia and Polish national teams which was an experience of a lifetime,” he said.

“He gave a lot of small town ball players a chance to play really competitive ball.”

That trip to Eastern Europe was another in the list of innovations Colliar brought about in junior sport, becoming the first Canadian team to play baseball in Eastern Europe.

Whether in sport or in community, Colliar’s impact in the Battlefords and Meota communities and across northwest Saskatchewan will continue to be felt for years to come.

A Celebration of Life for Bob Colliar will be held at the Meota Community Complex at 11 a.m., Saturday, August 12.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1

by Martin Martinson

Remembering ‘Mr. Baseball’ Bob Colliar

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