CHAMPIONS SPEAK
Inducted 2006 in the Builder Category
Pure Love of the Game
He Created Moments that Mattered
Most people in Wetaskiwin know Norm as an educator and the coach of the undefeated Sabres Football Team 1954-58. Let's delve into his baseball career 1943 - 1951 Read More
Batting and Stolen Bases was written specifically for the Wetaskiwin and County Sports Hall of Fame. The other three articles were included in part or in whole in "Welsh Cakes and Wet Cement"
an anthology of short stories and poetry celebrating Wetaskiwin’s
landmark Centennial in 2006. They are included here with permission of the authors or heirs and
WriteOn!
Wetaskiwin.
Fifty years later, Al Barnhill vividly recalls Norm Brown's profound leadership and influence, how his rock-hard toughness and desire to win spread throughout the football team. Read Now
Norm's speech to the 1977 graduating class was printed in the newspaper. Do you agree that what he says holds true today? More
by M. Thill
Why Norm Brown is Remembered
I met Norm Brown less than six months before he passed
away. He was enjoying the sunshine. Later I learned about him from a store clerk,
a businessman, a nurse, a grandparent – his students and friends, all admirers
– all signifying that this man was extraordinary, that he inspired people to
care, to make their life count for something.
They were right, you know. From my own brief experiences I certainly
discovered how very thoughtful and unpretentious Norm Brown was. While he could have basked in the glory of
his many accomplishments, he simply and modestly relished his moments in the
summer sunshine. While I’m sure he was
flattered to be named to the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame and to have a
Wetaskiwin football field and an Alberta Football Conference named after him, I
think his real thirst for life was quenched every time he heard someone laugh
out loud; that his deepest satisfaction came in seeing that someone cared
enough to offer their hand in friendship to another human being.
There are many stories about Norm Brown. All speak of his unselfishness, his uncomplaining nature, his doggedness, his high spirits, and his positive influence on people.
Did you know that Norm taught school in Saskatchewan for two years, without accepting a salary, because
the school had been kind and generous to him when he was young. When offered more than one teaching opportunity, Norm chose Wetaskiwin because the principal from the Wetaskiwin High School was
the only one that thought to phone him about the teaching position; the others wrote formal
letters. He gave up being a principal because he missed being in contact with
the students. A store clerk said, “Throughout
all his stays in the hospital the nurses never once heard him complain.” – and to have a leg amputated could not have been pain free experience.
I was so keen to learn more about this extraordinary individual. I learned several things about Norm through his family and many admirers. Of course he achieved legendary status as coach of the undefeated Sabres football team. Remarkable since he was a hockey and baseball player and had never played football. Apart from sports, Norm taught school in Wetaskiwin for thirty-two years.
As a writer he churned out
a weekly newsletter for the Kiwanis Club and in 1964 his years of work with
Alberta Education led him to write a Social Studies Textbook titled “Consumer
Education”.
His effectiveness as a leader was evident. Fifty years later, just the mention of his name, brought out the best in people. It was authomatic for people to smile, relate a personal story, or stand quietly remembering something meaningful that Norm did for them. I did not have to ask questions to recognize his genuineness or learn about his unselfish contributions to the community.
His humanity shone through everything he did. There is no doubt that his priority in life was love of others. Service to his community was therefore instinctive. Because people really mattered to him, he had a special gift of knowing just how to enable young and old alike to do their best. And he was tenacious in pursuit of his ideals.
When Norm Brown was inducted into the Wetaskiwin and County Sports Hall of fame, his son Rod and his wife Enid accepted on behalf of the Brown Family. Rod related that at the end of each newsletter for the Kiwanis Club Norm shared a reflection of his own. Rod chose one from Norm's archives that the family thought appropriate:
If you would sense a past, touch a stone;
If you would capture a moment, touch a rose;
If you would glimpse the eternal, touch a life.
Norm definitely created moments that mattered in
the lives of others. That is why he is remembered, maybe revered
as a human being as well as a coaching legend.
These next articles illustrate how he approached sports and viewed living.
Batting and Stolen Bases, included here, is a recap of his baseball days in Saskatchewan.
Norm Brown’s Field of
Memories is reflection written by Allison (Al) Barnhill, a former student who was also a player on the legendary football team coached
by Norm.
Five Values for Living - these are words from a speech that Norm Brown gave to the Wetaskiwin High School’s graduating class
of 1977 and reprinted in the local newspaper.
Norm Brown’s was born in 1924. His early years were spent on the eastern
edge of the Canadian Prairies in or near Minnedosa, Manitoba (population approximately 1600).
Between the ages of 6 and 17, like most everyone else on the prairies, he
experienced humble grueling times – ten long years of drought, a decade of acute
economic pain, widespread homelessness, hunger and unemployment.
For six of those years dust storms turned
the sky black for days at a time, choking anyone that ventured outdoors. Black powder permeated the food and crammed
into the pores of exposed skin. The dust wiped out any crops and gardens that
the drought hadn’t already eradicated. People
living in the dust bowl had never known anything like it before. Visibility was reduced to a matter of feet. It was after the dust storm blew through that they were able to see houses, barns, and vehicles buried beneath dunes of dust. People could do nothing to prevent the prairie landscape from the changes wrought by frequent dust storms.
Family dynamics changed, too. Fathers and son's left home to find work in the cities, the mines or whereever riding the rails might take them. Hobo camps dotted the landscape. The 1930's economic conditions resulted in children being placed in charitable institutions. The highest number of these cases was in Manitoba.
When the dust finally settled and the economy began to improve, the world was on the brink of another war. Norm was fourteen. He finished high school at a tiny inter-denominational
institution across the border in the dust-swept prairie village of Wilcox,
Saskatchewan where he was taken under the wing of Father Athol Murray at the
world’s smallest college, Notre Dame. There,
Norm got his high school and post-secondary education; he played hockey and
baseball.
Normie was a Notre Dame
Hound.
The Notre Dame Hounds were a key member of the Southern Baseball League
and Notre Dame’s famous hockey program put Notre Dame in the magnifying glass
of presidents, business moguls and movie stars.
More than just the skills and the rigors of competition, a hound learned sportsmanship, good
citizenship and something else that became profoundly important to Normie Brown
and other alumni. At that time Père (as
everyone called Father Athol Murray) was not afraid to admonished students,
athletes, businessmen and heads of state to elevate them from mediocrity. There was a life lesson in the
school motto as well: I struggle and I come through. Something profound about strife and emerging
the better for it was ingrained in Norm - that something guided him for the
rest of his life.
Father Murray description of a Notre Dame Hound:
The world today is looking for men and women,
Who are not for sale
Who are honest, sound from centre to circumference, true to the heart's core
With consciences as steady as the needle to the pole
Who will stand for the right if the heavens totter and the earth reels
Who can tell the truth and look the world right in the eye
Who neither brag nor run
Who neither flag nor flinch
Who can have courage without shouting it
In whom the courage of everlasting life runs still, deep and strong
Who know their message and tell it
Who know their place and fill it
Who know their business and attend to it
Who will not lie, shirk or dodge
Who are not too lazy to work, nor too proud to be poor ….
Not only will they be better prepared to fulfil their duties as citizens, they should make better friends, better husbands and fathers, better wives and mothers because free people do. They will, in short, be better prepared to live…
At that time Père had another maxim: “The world belongs to risk”. He was also fond of
saying "Every human life is insignificant, until you make yourself
great."
Père became a prairie legend, turning out fiercely individualistic
students.
Norm became one of those
individuals. He left Notre Dame for the University
of Toronto where he played hockey until an eye injury forced him to leave
competitive hockey. After he got his
Masters Degree he returned to Notre Dame to teach for two years. In deep appreciation for the education and experiences
he received in his youth, Norm refused a salary and took a part time job to
earn money. One of those jobs was playing semi-pro baseball.
Normie was a Hound
More than ten percent of Canadians were in the armed forces during WWII.
For those at home on the Prairies, baseball
was viewed as a morale booster. Saskatchewan
was no exception with no less than 13 teams.
Leagues were comprised of city and small town teams as well as military
teams. The Notre Dame Hounds played in the Saskatchewan Southern
League.
Records are not available to provide specifics for Norm’s athletic
career in hockey or baseball prior to his appearance on the 1943 Notre Dame Hounds
roster as a short stop. He was 19 years old.
In 1944 the roster indicates Norm played short
stop and catcher. In subsequent years 1946-1951
the rosters list 1st, 2nd base and 3rd base in addition to short stop and
catching duties. He was agile in the inner
field.
In the game reports for the years 1943-51 (Regina Leader-Post) when
the Hounds went up against the competition the team
could have a cake walk or faltering performance but Norm usually got a few hits and stole a few bases.
Let's look at some quotes from that time:
The Hounds out-hit the Reginans 8 to 7 as shortstop Norm Brown cracked a double and single to lead all hitters.
Making every hit count, the Notre Dame Hounds moved into second spot with a 5 to 2 decision over the winless Regina Red Sox. Each team pounded out eight hits but the Hounds came through in the clutches to fashion their winning margin. Frank Smith and Norm Brown both had two hits off loser "Smokey" Johnson with one of Smith's being a booming triple.
Percy Booker did a nice job on the hill, delivering a six-hitter for the win. Three of the blows off Booker were drilled by Hounds' shortstop Norm Brown who racked up a double and two singles.
Norm Brown and Frank Smith of the Dogs both had three base hits with Brown's total including a double and Smith's a pair of two-baggers.
The second half of the weekend showdown between the Southern League's front-runners took place in Wilcox where the Notre Dame Hounds took control of things early and hammered the Regina Red Sox 8 to 0. Shortstop Norm Brown and outfielder Carl Weisshaar both singled twice for the Hounds off loser "Lefty" Straub.
Following the two mishaps for the Sox, it was lights out. Norm Brown and Bill Hryciuk both singled twice for the winners.
The winning runs came in the fifth when "Corky" McCann singled, Norm Brown walked and Bob Toney cracked a single off loser Don Devine that scored both runners.
The Notre Dame Hounds made plenty of hay at Park de Young when they clobbered the Regina Caps 14 to 1 for one of the season's worst beatings. Brown was catcher to Ernie Frank.
On top of that, their three chuckers gave up 16 hits. "Hap" Edwards breezed to the pitching win with a three-hitter. Norm Brown, the Hounds' catcher, had a field day in the batters' box, belting a triple, double and three singles.
The Hounds struck early and, after four innings, held an 8 to 3 lead. Notre Dame outfielder Jim Chadwick had a triple and single while teammates Norm Brown, Chuck McCullough and "Corky" McCann all doubled and singled, a feat duplicated by Regina's Dean.
Five different hitters evenly split the Hounds' 10 hits with Del Kines, Bill Hryciuk, Normie Brown, Ralph Beattie and Frank Germann all drilling a pair.
Notre Dame shortstop Norm Brown paced all hitters with a perfect four for four performance plus a walk, scoring all five times he reached base.
The Notre Dame Hounds ran wild on the bases for an 11 - 6 victory over the Moose Jaw Canucks….Bill Hryciuk, Normie Brown and Barry Wolstencroft of the Dogs whacked out two blows apiece.
Norm Brown had a triple and Bill Hryciuk a double for the winners.
Normie Brown led the winners at the plate with three singles
Norm Brown, switching from his normal shortstop role to don the "tools of ignorance", came through with three singles to share hitting laurels with Bill Hryciuk in pacing the Dogs at the dish. (Tools of Ignorance is a baseball colloquial expression that refers to the. equipment worn by catchers, such as the catchers mask, chest protector, shin guards, mitt, and other protective gear.)
Norm Brown of the Hounds, in a losing cause, led all batsmen with four hits in this tightly contested game.
Normie Brown of Notre Dame picked up two hits Monday to increase his lead atop the Southern league batting race. Brown, with a .425 mark, topped Leon Booker of the Regina Caps, at .400.
The Hounds took a first inning 1 - 0 lead when Norm Brown stole home with Lauer concentrating on a runner at first. Normie Brown was the only Hound to collect two hits off loser Ralph McCleneghan and reliever Buddy Rogers.
A highlight of the twin-bill was the fielding of Canucks' third baseman Norm Brown who handled 16 chances without a miscue.
More than a Few Hits
The Notre Dame Hounds played regular season games and tournaments.
They eked out a victory to win the top prize at home in 1945. They won the title in Indian Head Saskatchewan beating 29 teams in 1947. The following year they tried again when twenty-two teams competed, including teams from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota and California. It was not unusual to see crowds of four and five thousand attend a tournament. Places like Indian Head and Nipawin drew 8000 baseball fans year after year.
In helping the Hounds in the fight for 1st
place Norm was among the league’s top hitters and liked to steal bases.
Some statistics for Saskatchewan Southern League are available
starting in 1945 ( sourced from "At the Plate" and Regina Leader-Post):
At the end of the 1949
season the collegian Notre Dame Hounds were
out of contention. Norm played short
stop for the Moose Jaw Purity Canucks in the five game final series against the
Regina Caps.
In 1950 Norm played for
three teams. He was catcher and 1st
base for the Hounds, short stop for Moose Jaw Purity Canucks and joined the Regina Caps as catcher and
1st base to win a tournament in Nipawin.
In 1951 the Regina Caps
organization tried to get Norm to play for them (see a copy of the letter they sent him in April). However, another team the
Saskatoon 55’s also had Normie Brown on their radar. Norm joined the Saskatoon 55’s team and played
with the up and coming hockey legend Gordie Howe who played ball in the summers.
That year the 55's won a tournament at home and followed that up with another top prize win in the Nipawin Tournament - making it 2 years in a row for Norm.
Norm Brown had two hits and three walks to pace the 55s.
When the 55's won the Kenaston Tournament it was their third straight tournament victory. Five days later they were in North Battleford to win their fourth.
The big blow for the 55s was a bases-clearing double by Normie Brown in the sixth inning. Brown then scored on Roy Taylor's single.
There was prize money to be won, upwards of $1000 in these tournaments. However, being league champions was the priority. The 55's were one of the six teams that qualified to play in the first annual Saskatchewan Championship Baseball
Tournament sponsored by the National Baseball Congress.
Stats and quotes from the Saskatoon 55's regular season league play are scarce.
Norm Brown's screaming double with the bags full in the 6th drove in three runs to put Saskatoon ahead for good.
Normie Brown also clicked for a trio of hits in five trips.
Norm's semi-pro baseball career in Saskatchewan ended when he relocated to Wetaskiwin, Alberta with his wife where they were both teachers. There they raised four sons and he is recognized for his dedication to his students and community, and let's not forget football. Maybe he hadn't abandoned the baseball field altogether; after all he was instrumental in introducing T-Ball to Wetaskiwin and in terms of his adhering to the description or philosphy of a Notre Dame Hound he most certainly was batting a thousand.
1946 Notre Dame Hounds
Back Row (L to R): Chuck McCullough, Steve Jones, Cy Huck, Ralph Beattie,
Bill Hryciuk
Middle Row (L to R) Lem Albers, Frank Germann, Barry
Wolstencroft, Walt Becker.
Front Row (L to R) George McCann, Norm Brown
Likely 1948 Photo of the Senior Hounds
Norm Brown front row 2nd from left
1950 Regina Caps - 1st place - Nipawin Tournament
Norm Brown front row 2nd from left
1951 Saskatoon 55's
Norm Brown front row 3rd from right
by John Allison (Al) Barnhill 2006
1938-2022
Recently, I returned to Wetaskiwin for a weekend in November. It was a wonderful few days back in the old hometown. The weather was warm, almost unbelievably so – temperatures in the teens and above zero. A Christmas crafts' fair was being held next door to the arena, and a high school football game was scheduled for that afternoon at one o'clock. What a great day for a football game – and the Sabres had a good team this season. They had won most of their games and were playing the Beaumont Bandits in the semi‑final playoffs for the Tier 3 Championship of Alberta.
Many years had passed since I finished playing football for the Sabres. To be exact, fifty years had passed since those days when we played teams from the High School and Lutheran College in Camrose, Ponoka, Lacombe, and Red Deer with its composite high school that attracted students and football players from throughout central Alberta. As I walked the length of Norm Brown Field, enjoying the midday sun, looking for gopher holes, and admiring the playing field with its white lines and yellow goals, memories of years gone‑by flooded back into my mind.
Clearest of all was the recollection of playing for the league championship against Camrose High School on another warm day in early November of 1954. That day the football field was ringed with spectators. More than 2,000 fans reportedly came to that game – when Wetaskiwin only had a population of about twice that many people. What a thrill that day was, especially when the Sabres, led by their All‑Star quarterback Roddy Schneck, defeated Camrose 7 ‑ 0 to win their first of three consecutive Central Alberta championships. The Sabres were undefeated that season, just like they were for the next two seasons. Those were the years of the Norm Brown and Sabres' dynasty.
Norm Brown was the main reason why our Sabres were so good. He was a soft‑spoken man with a good sense of humor, manifested most pleasantly with his chuckling kind of laugh. Beneath his warm, pleasant appearance was a rock‑hard but caring human being. We saw how tough Norm was when he would show the linemen how to block, or the running backs how to “hit a hole" at full speed and without wearing any equipment. What wonderful displays
of leadership by example.
Norm's toughness and desire to win spread throughout the team. In the mid‑fifties, we played with twelve or thirteen players. Inevitably, one of us would be thrown out of the game for fighting, or was so seriously injured that he could not play. So, our guys usually played the entire game: on offence and defence. Virtually all of us "played hurt". That was just part of playing the game.
Fond memories of Norm Brown carried beyond the football field and into his classes. All of the students, even the trouble‑makers, greatly admired and respected Mr. Brown. Most of the trouble‑makers were on the football team and the players would have "walked through fire" or "hell and high water" for their revered coach. Not only did they behave well in his English and Social Studies classes, but also no other students fooled around in Mr. Brown's class, or the football players would take care of such foolish kids.
Meanwhile back on Norm Brown's Field, memories of exciting runs, great catches, bone‑crushing tackles, and blocks kept flooding back… like the dam had burst. Many of those memories were of games played in the wind, rain, and freezing cold. But we didn't care how miserable the weather was, we were there to play the game… the best we could.
Nobody wanted to disappoint Norm Brown or let his teammates down and, for the most part, we did not. We were winners.
Those are the kind of memories that came to mind as I walked the length of the field and back, in the warm autumn sun, looking for gopher holes so no player would "break a leg" as those crazy actors say.
Born and raised in Wetaskiwin, Al Barnhill says of his inspiration for this story, “Sports have been central to my life and at times pausing for recollections brings on a well-spring of wonderful memories. I wish to share such joys.”
by Norm Brown
Addressing the 1977 Graduating Class of Wetaskiwin Composite High School
and afterwards printed in the Wetaskiwin Times and again in Welsh Cakes and Wet Cement, an anthology of short stories and poetry celebrating Wetaskiwin’s
landmark Centennial in 2006. As genuine as they were said then, Norm's words could surely hold true today.
Let me describe to you this year's graduands. Since Wetaskiwin is the car capital of the Province, it might be well to do it in appropriate language. "There's no doubt in my mind that some of this year's graduands have the spark of genius; on the other hand, there were some that had their brakes on all year long. Some charged into their courses and radiated genuine excitement; on the other hand some had ignition trouble. However, most of them ran smoothly, efficiently, and quietly all year long.
I think it would only be fair on behalf of the graduands, using similar metaphoric language to describe their teachers. They would probably say that we coughed, sputtered, and backfired all year-long; they probably noticed that some of us have spare tires – both in the front and in the back; they would probably say that we had transmission troubles; they might even go so far as to say that we had cracked blocks. However, I'm sure that they would agree that we had complete disregard for the fuel shortage, as we never seemed to run out of gas...
It has been traditional at graduation exercises for the speaker to provide some advice. Advice, I have discovered, is something that is better to give rather than receive. So I'll avoid advice as much as possible. However, I would like you to examine several intrinsic values that you might consider adding to your lifestyle – if they are not already there.
The first value I would suggest for your consideration is enjoyment. Someone has said that life begins at forty, but I'm afraid you will miss an awful lot if you wait that long…it’s not what we have, but what we enjoy that constitutes abundance, and we really never realize how wonderful today is until tomorrow comes along. Despite the many pessimistic viewpoints of the problems that exist – and they tell me that the world's problems are getting so complex that even the computers are getting confused – despite these problems there is still so much to enjoy. The thrilling feeling of racing down a ski slope without wiping out; the scintillating feeling of plunging into a lake on a hot day; the scrumptious taste of a hamburger when your stomach is crying for food, and so on. There are unlimited things to enjoy – however, that enjoyment, in my view, requires a certain rationality and consciousness in order to realize the enjoyment. Anyone who is ‘bombed out of his mind’ is really in a state of unconsciousness and unable to enjoy.
The next value I offer for your consideration is give. We all have two hands – maybe one is for giving and the other is for receiving. Maybe we are not entirely cisterns made for hoarding; maybe we are also channels made for sharing. When you analyze it, when a person gives, two people are made happier and one of them is the giver. Someone has said, ‘there are three goals in life Go, Keep Going and Help Someone Else Go.
Another value for your consideration is laughter. Few things are more enjoyable than a good laugh… humor is the hole that lets the sawdust out of a stuffed shirt. The nice part is that humor is almost everywhere. For example, I was amused at the Grade Ten student coming into Social Studies for the first time. He warned me: ‘I’ve always had trouble with Social Studies. Now English is a different story. Never do I have trouble getting good marks in English, but when it comes to Social I never can remember what was did and who done it.
Yes there is even humour in the classified Ad section of the newspaper. Here’s one that caught my eye: ‘Lady who likes to talk, drink reasonable, have a pleasant time wishes to meet a gentleman who likes to talk, drink reasonable, have a pleasant time. Purpose: to talk, drink reasonable, have a pleasant time.
“Yes, you can’t feel down in the mouth if the corners are up.
A fourth value for your consideration is think. Why? Partly because it can be enjoyable … one of the problems in Canada, in my opinion, is that many of our occupations are boring – many people don’t mind going to work, it’s the long wait until quitting time that is irritating. If somehow work could be made more challenging and more interesting; as someone has said: ‘Each of us has been given two ends: one to sit on and one to think with.’ The future of the world depends on which one we use most. Heads we win, tails we lose!
You know there are many expressive words in the human language. In my opinion the most bitter is the word alone, the most tragic is death, the most cruel is revenge, the saddest is forgotten, the one bringing the most comfort is faith, but the most beautiful is the word love. And this, the final value, I would offer for your consideration. By love I don’t mean everybody smooching with everybody they see on the street – maybe a better word is care – having consideration and care for people, the realization that there are no problem people but simply people with problems who require understanding. Doctors tell us that hating people can cause ulcers, heart attacks, headaches, skin rashes, and so on. No doubt it doesn’t make the people who are hated feel very good either. It appears to me that possibly we are directing our love toward cars, clothes, furniture, houses, and so forth rather than towards people. Maybe too often, we love things and use people, when we should possibly be using things and loving people. I think one of the saddest things about modern life is the number of people who are spending money they haven’t got, to buy things they don’t necessarily want, to impress people they can’t stand the sight of. Yes, this would be a better world, in my opinion, when the power of love replaces the love of power.
