Page 15 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 91

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605 Education Rd. Cornwall, ON, K6H 6C7
Jim Riddell’s Sports Talk with Area Seniors
Henry “Hank” Greggain
enry “Hank” Greggain has
Hplayed his share of hockey
and golf, but his favorite sport has
always been fastball. Born in 1945
in Ste Therese QC, Hank inherited
his love for the game from his father,
Gilf who was a talented baseball
player from Moose Jaw, SK.
Gilf had been approached by a
Montreal Sr. team to travel east
for an interview and discuss the
possibility of relocating to play for
them. Not only did the interview
proposal not work out, but his
wallet containing all of his money
was stolen. Forced to get a job, Gilf
obtained employment at a store as a
meat cutter, he met his future wife,
and settled in Ste Therese.
The Greggain’s moved to Cornwall
when the opportunity to operate a
corner store selling meat products
arose. Humpty Dumpty potato chips
were a huge seller in Ste Therese,
but not yet available in Ontario
at the time. Gilf acquired the area
rights for Humpty Dumpty potato
chips and he eventually had three
people, including Hank’s brother,
distributing them across Eastern
Ontario. Gilf had a warehouse for
his products and that is where Hank
honed his skills as a shortstop.
“You know how some kids spend
endless hours on a backyard rink
playing hockey? That’s the way it
was for me at the warehouse, day
in and day out all summer long,
fielding grounders. I always used a
lacrosse ball because it would come
back at me really fast. I would be
working from various distances,
moving up close enough that I was
sometimes getting hit by the ball.
I spent so much time there that my
mother even spoke to my father
about it, suggesting that I may need
some psychiatric help.”
Hank played minor fastball and 500-batting average.
when he was 15 yrs. old he was
approached by Larry Keen Jr. who
asked him to give him a list of midget-
aged players who may be interested
in joining a team that he was forming
with the intent of playing in the All
Ontario Championships. Hank got a
group of his friends together. “We
didn’t have any tryouts and we only
had 11 players in total. We had an
extra pitcher and a rover who could
fill in at any position. We played in
the Industrial League, finishing in
the middle of the pack. We were
good defensively, but at 15 years of
age we hadn’t developed power yet.”
The Hodgins Lumber Huskies Cornwall in the early 70’s with Hank
won the southern division in 1962 leaving the RCMP for an insurance started Versus Business Forms, a
and lost to Sudbury in the OSSA adjuster position, returning to company which they continue to
championship finals. Hank recalls fastball with Rochon-Mosseau in operate today.
Issue #91 August 2020 15
“People Pulling Together for you”
that the Huskies were a disciplined,
well-coached team, stating, “Larry
Keen was a very, very good coach.
We all had a job to do and we were
expected to do it. He really taught us
the game. Every Sunday morning,
we had sliding practice – no balls,
no gloves - just sliding. We worked
on three different slides: the straight
slide, hook slide, and the stand-up
slide.
In 1963, Hank played with the
Huskies in the Industrial League,
but he was, unfortunately, just the North End League.
beyond the midget cut-off age
Hank had also played hockey
for the OSSA Championships. In
growing up, playing with St. John
1964, the Huskies, now playing
Bosco in the U20 Church League.
in the Juvenile age group, won the
He remembers that there were some
OSSA Championship by defeating
teams from Oshawa, West Rouge, good players in that league, with
several going on to play with the
Niagara-on-the Lake, and Sudbury.
Royals. Hank played both Sunday
Six of the Huskies victories were by
morning and Friday afternoon
one run and Hank finished with a
hockey for more than forty years. He
started playing with the Cornwall
Following high school, Hank, who Oldtimers when he was 35 and he
was working at Domtar and playing played with them for 30 years. “We
for the company ball team, left to went to many tournaments just to
join the RCMP. After spending have fun and if we won it was a
seven months of training in Regina, bonus. We once played a team from
Hank was posted to Fredericton, Sweden in the CARHA tournament
NB. It was there that Hank met in 2004. Several of their players had
Margaret, whom he married in at one time played for their national
1970. Hank and Margaret have 3 team and we rarely touched the
daughters, Kim, Karen, and Angela.
puck. We were out of our league,
“All three of them were ball players,
but it was fun just to be involved.”
and I even got to coach two of them:
When fastball started to die down
Kim for four or five years, and then
Hank took up golf and has been a
I coached Angela’s team for another
member at the Cornwall Golf and
four or five.”
Country Club for the past 50 years.
The Greggain’s moved back to
In 1991, Hank and Margaret