Page 22 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 141
P. 22
Jim Riddell’s Sports Talk
Presents with Area Seniors:
Serving You Since 1937
Syd Garniner
were hiring in Cornwall, and I ended best, and that team went on to win
up coming here for $107 per week, two Regional Championships.”
which was a lot of money in those
On the nights that Syd wasn’t
days.”
coaching his teams, he volunteered
By Jim Riddell Growing up in Maple Grove, as an umpire for other leagues,
Syd played tennis and swam officiating games for about six
yd Gardiner came to Cornwall
competitively, but he also spent years. In 1968, Mayor Nick Kaneb
Sin 1963, moving here from several years pitching baseball,
Maple Grove, QC, a district in the presented Syd with a certificate
which ultimately became his recognizing him for five years of
city of Beauharnois, located about favourite sport. Soon after he arrived
forty kilometers from Montreal on volunteering with Cornwall Minor
in Cornwall, Syd volunteered Baseball. During the winters, he
the south shore of the St. Lawrence
to coach in the Cornwall Minor coached teams in the Cornwall
River.
Baseball system. “Dan Begg was Minor Hockey system, and he also
“My dad (Len Gardiner) was an the President, and my dad was the refereed. “I’d been coaching bantam
accountant and was transferred to CFO of Cornwall Minor Baseball, and midget teams when the coach of
Domtar as Paymaster. I was working and they got me involved,” recalled a Jr. B team became sick. I was asked
as a student at the mill in Beauharnois Syd. “I was coaching three teams Photo Submitted to take over a last place team and we
and I had a band which I was the at different age levels, Pee-wee, quickly became disciplined. We had ended up finishing in third place.”
lead singer in, so I stayed behind for Bantam, and Junior. The Junior team two pitchers, Eric Peterson and Brian
a while. My dad told me that they was a rag-tag bunch of guys that Tremblay, that were the best of the Continued on page 23
