September 2, 2024

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

Over the years, the Canadian Baseball Network has honoured a few people.

We don’t mean the Canadian Baseball Network all-Canadian college team, the weekly Big Man on Campus (Canadian college player of the week) or the Canadian minor league player of the week.

No, we mean the likes of the late Honourable Mr. Justice Randall Echlin, Jim Ridley, Wayne Norton as well as Claude Pelletier and Murray Zuk. They were scouts, players, organizers and a Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame/Toronto Blue Jays fanatic.

Yet, we had never honoured a coach in the past and there have been so many devoted coaches from sea-to-dewy-outfield grass.

Our executive staff met and decided to name a Canadian Baseball Network Honoured Coach award. We asked a long-time ball man if we could name the honour after him.

His answer came in different waves:.

No ... he did not want the award named after him.

Yes ... he would pick who the award should be named after.

And yes, he would pick the first winner.

His choice was to name the Canadian Baseball Network Honoured Coach award after the late Dave Wallace.

And so the first winner is … of the Coach of the Year is …

Ta-da ... Dave Wallace, the long-time coach of the Parksville Royals of the British Columbia Premier League.

Wallace guided the Royals for 23 years. He was an excellent choice for our first Canadian Baseball Network Coach of the Year award A) to be named after and B) to be the first winner.

He touched the lives of players and their families. Wallace was a volunteer for Oceanside minor ball and the Parksville Royals, as a Little League coach (1988-92), was president of Oceanside (1992-94) and head coach of Parksville (1994-2016).

He had a greater impact than as a coach. He was a builder, too. The British Columbia Premier League – the Premier League copied by many a province -- was an idea hatched by Walt Burrows (Brentwood Bay, BC), now a veteran scout with the Minnesota Twins and Lowell Hodges (Victoria, BC) in 1993.

At the time, the goal was to have the best players play against the best year-round. All participating organizations would be completely independent of each other as well as in total cooperation with each other. That would improve the talent level in the hopes of players getting some of their school expenses paid and opening the door for BC players to advance into the pro ranks.

Before this, players played in various leagues and on all-star teams were composed at the end of their teams’ respective house-league seasons to compete for provincial, national and even World Series championships. The problem was the all-star teams could only practice after house league play was completed. And once teams were eliminated that was that.

Season over.

It meant that the final pitch of the season could either be at the end of June or mid-July. So, the season was pretty much done as the best weather was in full bloom like the beautiful Butchart Gardens in Victoria.

The Hodges-Burrows master plan was presented to Clyde Inouye and Wallace. The rest is history. Wallace was involved in the creation of the five-team Island Premier League and what is known today as the Premier League which has grown into three divisions and 28 teams.

The concept changed the course for elite level nationwide. Parksville was the first team in what is now a formal BC Premier League. Wallace was the coach and Inouye, known as the Sir John A Macdonald of the league, was general manager.

Now, the Royals played at Innouye-Wallace Field on my first trip to BC. It was described by North Delta Blue Jays former coach Mike Kelly, and backbone of the BC coaches convention, as a “must-see venue.” (It was also the first B.C. diamond I ever saw. Next was Serauxmen Stadium in Nanaimo and then Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver.)

* * *

The Mount Rushmore of BC Premier League coaches would include the late Bill Green (Coquitlam, BC), plus John Haar (Vancouver, BC), Doug Mathieson (Langley, BC), Ali Mellios (Delta, BC) and Wallace.

And the coast-to-coast mountain range of Canadian coaches would also include Greg Hamilton (Orleans, Ont.), Bobby (Nifty Nedly) Smyth (Etobicoke, Ont./Ladysmith, BC), Okotoks Dawgs' Jeff Duda (Surrey, BC), Greg Brons (Saskatoon, Sask.), Joe Wiwchar (Morden, Man.), Richard Emond (Montreal, Que.), Matt Stairs (Fredericton, NB), Bob Gillis (Cole Harbour, NS) and Greg Williams (Mount Pearl, Nfld.).

* * *

Wallace's tireless commitment enabled 1,000s of players an avenue to play a higher level of ball, with many going on to play collegiate and pro levels.

Royals that headed to the pros included …

_ C Bobby Lee Cripps (Powell River, BC) a 40th round selection to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995.

_ RHP Vince Perkins (Victoria, BC) drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 49th round in 1999 and selected in the 18th round by the Toronto Blue Jays from Florida Gateway in 2000.

_ RHP Ryan Patterson (Lake Cowichan, BC) was selected in the 29th round in 2004 by the Milwaukee Brewers.

_ INF Taylor Green (Comox, BC) chosen in the 25th round by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2005 draft. He was Wallace's only major leaguer, but far from his only success story.

_ INF Carter Bell (Courtneay, BC) was selected in the 22nd round by the San Francisco Giants in 2008 and by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 29th round from Oregon State.

_ RHP Paul Barton (Qualicum Beach, BC) drafted in 39th round from Panola College in 2009 by the Cincinnati Reds

_ LHP Mark Hardy (Campbell River, BC) drafted in the 43rd round in 2010 from the University of British Columbia

_ LHP Ethan Stewart (Campbell River, BC) selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 47th from New Mexico Junior College in 2010.

_ RHP Adam McKillican (Comox, BC) who pitched at Georgia Gwinnett and UBC, signed as a free agent and is in the Colorado Rockies system in 2016.

There were also multiple Team BC and Canadian Junior Team players.

* * *

As a rookie coach in the BC Premier League, Ari Mellios took his Delta Blue Jays to visit Wallace’s Parksville Royals. This was before he coached American League MVP 1B Justin Morneau (New Westminster, BC), LHP Jeff Francis (Delta, BC), LHP James Paxton (Ladner, BC) and class-A Vancouver Canadians manager Brent Lavallee (Ladner, BC).

“My first instance meeting Dave Wallace, I was 24, holy cow he was a good coach,” said Mellios, now coaching again the Premier junior league, now with the Whalley Chiefs junior team. “I learned how to conduct myself from Dave Wallace. It was OK to be fiery but you had to be respectful.

“I liked the way he coached his club. His players hustled. They were aggressive. They showed up, put their heads down and worked hard. They hustled, played the game the right way. He taught fundamentals. And he brought fire and intensity.”

Squatting for Parksville was Bobby Lee Cripps (Powell River, BC).

“Cripps was my introduction to high-end talent,” said Mellios, who managed 100s of games, “not everything sticks, but ... that day (a North Delta-Parksville doubleheader) does. Cripps dominated both games. Cripps had to take a ferry to get to the park for practice.

“First game he caught, threw two of our guys out from his knees. We lose the first game. Second game, in the seventh Dave says 'take off the pads.' He blew it by our guys and gets the save.”

Cripps was a 40th round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers and had his best season once he joined the Toronto Blue Jays system, hitting 29 homers for the class-A Hagerstown Suns. Cripps played five seasons in the minors reaching double-A at both Knoxville and Chattanooga in the Cincinnati Reds system.

“Bill Green was quiet, more introverted Dave was way more outgoing ... like John Haar,” he added. “Dave was a class act. He always appreciated the way we played. We were not mouthy .. it was all about going out and playing our hardest.

“I was very sad at Dave's passing.”

Five years later, Mellios was back with his Blue Jays and they won the Parksville tournament and you could say the home run derby.

“I was throwing to Justin Morneau, man he hit some balls deep into the back of the woods behind the batting cage in right field,” Mellios said. “Hitters were using aluminum then It was a preempt to Yankee Stadium ... eight years later.”

Morneau didn't recall how many homers he hit or who he beat. However …

“I do remember seeing a guy past the right field fence going to get all the home run balls,” Morneau said. “It turned out it was the Twins scout Howard Norsetter. He was pacing off the distances for the home runs I was hitting. Howie was the scout who signed me.”

* * *

In his role as Canadian director of the Scouting Bureau and now with the Twins, no one has seen more Premier games than Burrows – unless it is a tree behind an outfield fence.

“What separated Dave and made him special was his goal to make every player that came into the program better,” Burrows said. “He obviously wanted to win on the scoreboard, but his goal was all about development, that being preparing his players for the next level. He did it better than anyone else.

“Nothing fancy, basic repetitive fundamentals in baseball and in life. He took what he had and worked selflessly with it.”

Burrows said if one of the Parksville Royals was “a better kid and player at the end of the season then that was a win for Dave.”

“Dave was humble, positive, upbeat and coached for all the right reasons,” Burrows said. “Things have changed and not that there’s anything wrong with it, but Dave never took a dime for all the time he put in. In my opinion, he really is the benchmark of what coaches in youth baseball should aspire to be. If you decide to have a yearly coaching award he would be THE choice to name it after.”

* * *

Doug Mathieson (Aldergrove, BC) raised a son Scott Mathieson, who pitched in the majors with the Phillies after graduating from the Langley Blaze. Mathieson has scouted for the Arizona Diamondbacks and now the Milwaukee Brewers. He is a master recruiter so much that other teams call his club the 'Team Canada' Blaze.

In other words … he runs a top flight program. When Perfect Game names the top high school/academy teams in Canada it is one of three: the Okotoks Dawgs Academy, the Ontario Blue Jays and Langley.

“Dave Wallace was a man who would speak his mind, mind you didn’t always agree with him,” said Mathieson. “He did so much from the ground up, whether it was cutting the grass, working with kids for private lessons. He'd buy the tampers to tamp down the mound and do repairs.”

* * *

Blair Kubicek first met Wallace playing senior ball in Victoria in 1973 for Al’s Esso a senior team Kubicek's family sponsored. They were fast friends as teammates. Wallace left Victoria and moved to Parksville.

“As a coach, he never worried about his team's record; he only focused on teaching the game and letting all his players play and learn,” said Kubicek (Digby, N.S.). “He was a baseball guy through and through and also took great pride in his field, which of course I really like as a groundskeeper and someone who can build a ball diamonds.

“He truly created an environment for his players to get better. He was a wonderful friend, I dearly miss talking baseball with. We spent hours on the phone, too many sometimes.”

* * *

Dave Empey, former North Shore Twins coach, once said “that for his money,” the Parksville Royals are the most successful team in the league.

“As evidence I give you three words: integrity, compassion and development,” said Empey. “That pretty well sums up Dave Wallace’s attitude toward coaching. He has immense integrity, pervasive compassion, and as always. Dave always stressed player development over winning.

“That doesn’t mean the coach he was not competitive. Of course he was. He loves to win as much as anyone.”

Empey coached future major leaguers RHP Ryan Dempster (Gibsons, BC), RHP Chris Mears (Victoria, BC) and OF Simon Pond (North Vancouver, BC). From the other dugout, Empey said he had “never seen Dave sacrifice long term development for short term victories. And that’s the mark of a great coach.” And this from a man who competed against Wallace for almost 20 years and he “enjoyed every minute of it – well, almost every minute.”

The two coaches had an agreement: explaining “win or lose, Game 1, we made sure all the players see the field in Game 2.”

Empey said he thought when the league kicked off it had much chance of being a success, as he had “of riding in the Kentucky Derby. Parksville players commuted from the far corners of northern Vancouver Island, often traveling two or three hours to get to the park. The Royals did not have the same enrollment as the Langley, Blaze, Coquitlam Reds and the North Shore Twins.

* * *

The Royals maintain that Wallace demanded that his players play with enthusiasm, grit, and determination. In over 20 years of coaching, he always put the long-term development of the players ahead of short-term victories, encouraging his players to put their best effort into everything they did on the field, at school, at life.

* * *

Jim Seredick, long-time Royals pitching coach, said he had often heard coach Wallace address teams in front of him and say …

“This isn’t a program about baseball. Baseball is simply a tool we use to realize some goals. This is a program of becoming the best you can be at whatever you do. It is a program about time management … learning to use your time wisely; it is a program about respect: respecting your coaches, your teammates, your teachers, your parents and yourself.

“It is a program about doing the right thing, not the easy thing; a program about hard work. There is no magic dust and there are no shortcuts to success. You have to put in the time and the effort. It is called hard work. That’s the way it is in life. You put in a good effort, an honest effort in school and at your job. There is only one way to do those things: the right way. Do what is right, not what is easy.”

* * *

Some of the Parksville Royals who went on to NCAA Division I schools: Fraser Inouye (Parksville, BC) Clyde Inouye 's son, who went to Yavapai and then to Louisiana Tech. Chris Wallace (Parksville, BC), Dave Wallace's son, who went to Central Arizona, then Winthrop, Jordan Webb (Courtenay, BC) and Ryan Chenard (Port Albernia, BC) t Winthrop; Ali Simpson (Campbell Rivers, BC) Bethune Cookman. Anson McGorman (Nanaimo, BC), Utah, Josh Lauukenan (Nanaimo, BC) who went to Cloud County and New Mexico State, Kieran Bowles (Nanaimo, BC) Northeastern Community College and New Mexico State, Thomas Green of Cuesta College and Oakland. 

Some others who went to four-year schools such as ... Seth Gurr (Coaldale, BC) Montevallo, Tim Holyk. Miles and Cumberland, Kevin Biro (Deep Bay, BC), Bryan Pawlina (Courtenay BC), Matt Thornton (Campbell River, BC),  Ryan Berrecloth (Parksville, BC), Owen Kelly (Nanaimo, BC), Shane Rogers (Nanaimo, BC) and Mackenzie Parlow (Qualicum Beach, BC) all University of British Columbia Thunderbirds; Justin Millard (Port Marry, BC) Jamestown and Vanguard; Ben Cairns (Nanaimo, BC), Cam Mclachlan (Nanaimo, BC), Justin Millward (Campbell River, BC), Scott Wallis (Campbell River, BC) all of Jamestown, Ethan Fox (Campbell River, BC) Avila and Dylan McKinley (Cowichan , BC) Dickinson State. 

And those who went to two-year schools in California, junior colleges and community colleges ... Ben Munger (Nanaimo, BC) Taft College, Thomas Plant (Courtney, BC) Cabrillo, Clayton Isherwood (Van Anda, BC) of San Jacinto. Phil Gonyer (Nanaimo, BC) Eastern Oklahoma State College, Brayden Radclliffe (Duncan, BC), Cloud County

Curtis Pelletier (Victoria, BC) Grayson County, Anthony Dunn (Parksville, BC), New Mexico Highlands, Keitaro Adachi (Comox, BC) Williston State; Brad Aitken (Courtenay, BC) Vernon; Edyn Barber (Cranbrook, BC), Northeastern, Jason Barton (Qualicum Beach, BC) Panola, Kiran Carcary (Parksville, BC), Trvis Frank (Nanaimo, BC) McCook; Tyler Kolopenuk.(Nanaimo, BC) Skyline, Walker Maximick (Comox, BC) Garden City, Jake Nnikirk (Nanaimo, BC) Dawson Community College and Jcob Volkers (Comox, BC) Miles Community College

* * *

“My son Tanner played for the Royals when he was 13 and was one of the younger players on the team. The team was made up of 13-to-18 year-old olds. Tanner came home from a practice one night and asked me what a Communist was? I asked him why he said ‘Coach Wallace said they were all Communists because they didn’t know how to work.’ 

“Another one off Dave’s favourites was ‘Practice with a purpose and be prepared to win.’ Dave enjoyed winning but he got greater pleasure in seeing his players have success and enjoying the great game of baseball and life.”

_ Lyle Lamont, Parksville parent.

* * *

Upon Wallace's passing in November of 2020, his family asked that his legacy be honoured through an annual Royals scholarship that will provide an opportunity for a child to participate, who otherwise wouldn’t be financially able since he always believed it should be about the game and kids getting to play it.

If you wish to contribute to the Dave Wallace Scholarship, please send a cheque to ‘Parksville Royals Baseball Club’ (P.O. Box 138, Qualicum Beach, BC V9K 1S7) or e-transfer to parksville.royals.baseball@gmail.com (note in memo ‘Dave Wallace Scholarship’).