How Black Knights became Winnipeg Colonels

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/09/2019 (2297 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The week of Sept. 8 to 15 was Mennonite Heritage Week in Canada, so let’s remember the Black Knights, a Mennonite men’s softball team that made a major impact in our province in the 1960s and early 1970s.

The original Knights were a group of young men connected to the First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg. Many came to the city from communities in south-central Manitoba and it wasn’t until 1967 that a player not connected to the church joined the team.

The Knights got their start in a Winnipeg church league and during the 1950s played primarily in the Mercantile League with some success but no championships.

In 1956, when a new sports field was built at Headingley jail, the Knights were the first team ever to enter the jail to play the inmates. In 1961, 1963 and 1964, the team won Cloverleaf League titles. Moving up to Winnipeg Men’s Industrial Fastball League, the Knights won the consolation final in 1965 and again in 1966 behind the pitching of John Hamm, who was in his 14th season with the team.

In 1967 and 1968, the Knights beat another Mennonite-based team, Winnipeg Tigers, led by the Zacharias family, in the league final. After winning the provincial intermediate A championship in 1968, the Knights moved up to the Manitoba Senior A Men’s Fastball League the next season.

The competition included the 1967 Canadian champion Molson Canadians and the province’s long-time top team, Kiewel Seals, but the Knights won the league title. The team then represented Manitoba in the Softball Canada senior men’s championship in 1970, ’71 and ’72.

By 1972, the Knights dominated senior A play with seven of the top 10 hitters and three of the best four pitchers. Batting champion Brian Dyck led in most offensive categories and pitcher Ralph Ens won 16 straight games. Playing coaches Harry Bueckert and Art Penner recognized the team needed to find better competition if it was going to have success nationally.

A Western Major Fastball League was being formed for the 1973 season with teams in Saskatchewan and Alberta so they entered the Knights. Champ’s Food Systems came on board as the major sponsor and the Black Knights became the Winnipeg Colonels. Led by Ens, the Colonels won the league’s first championship.   

The 1967-1972 Knights teams were inducted into the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame in 2010. Bueckert, Ens, Art Penner, Lloyd Penner, Barry Braun, Ernie Peters, and Ron Toews have been honoured as individuals.

The roster also included players familiar to softball fans such as Ken Peters, Brian Toews, Ed Doerksen, Cliff Dyck and Bernie Neufeld.

Rick Neufeld was better known for writing the song Moody Manitoba Morning. Jim Friesen and Peter Dyck did some coaching. When Lloyd Penner was inducted into the HOF in 2007, he told the crowd that when he joined the Knights as a teenager, there were three requirements.

In addition to being able to play ball, you had to be Mennonite and able to spit sunflower seeds.  

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The Manitoba Golf Hall of Fame will induct its 2019 class on Sept. 30 at the Southwood Golf and Country Club.

Brionie Brown and Bruce North will enter as athletes and Rob Officer as a builder. The 1985 national junior men’s amateur championship team of Jim Bristow, Glenn Collins, Todd Fanning, Dave McMillan and Ken Tresoor Jr. also will be honoured.

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The Manitoba Hockey Hall Fame is expecting a crowd of 600 for its induction dinner on Oct. 5 at CanadInns Polo Park.

The player inductees are Larry Bolonchuk, Bob Fitchner, Trevor Kidd, Marty Murray, Johnny Sheppard, Terry Yake and Susie Yuen. Kelly McCrimmon and Barry Shenkarow will go in as builders, Rob Haithwaite as an official and Bob Holliday in the media category. The teams are the 1929 junior Elmwood Millionaires, the 1957-58 junior St. Boniface Canadiens, the 1965-66 intermediate Flin Flon Warriors, and the 1972-73 senior St. Boniface Mohawks.

Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com