Baseball Hall inductee a coach, player, executive and groundskeeper

A veteran Regina baseball coach is among the inductees for 2016 at the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in Battleford.

Norm Loehr played minor baseball in the Saskatchewan towns of Muenster and St. Gregor between 1948 and 1957. According to a biography provided by the Hall of Fame, his senior ball career saw him play in Delisle, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, and Regina before an arm injury forced him to stop.

Loehr turned to coaching in the Columbus and Optimist leagues in Regina between 1966 and 1998. He continues to coach the junior league in Regina, and served as a high school assistant coach and in a number of executive positions. In 1975 Loehr coached the first Saskatchewan Baseball Association bantam team to take part in the Canadian Championships. The association presented him with a Special Award of Merit in 2011. That same year, the trophy for Regina high school baseball was dedicated in his name.

Loehr’s contributions can be seen right in the playing field. Since his retirement from his government job nearly two decades ago, Loehr maintains the diamonds at Regina’s Optimist Park, described by the Hall of Fame as the “gem of baseball parks in southern Saskatchewan.”