Former Cape District players and officials who played prominent roles in keeping baseball alive during the apartheid years reminisced about some treasured moments at a dinner hosted by Athlone Athletics Baseball Club.
Derek Ronnie, the last chairperson of the association before it merged with three other Cape base associations to form the Baseball Association Western Province, now called Cape Town Baseball in 1994, were among luminaries who attended the dinner at the Venue on Park in Wynberg on Sunday.
The A’s have embarked on a drive to raise funds for 105 juniors between the ages of 10 and 18 to play in a series of friendly matches next month in Pacaltsdorp in George.
Tony Alexander, chairman of Athlone, said it was important to get the legends of the game together to help develop the sport.
“It is for us an honour to have the legends of not only our club but also the association from which both clubs which gave birth to A’s, Wolves and Dynamos, present at the event,” said Alexander.
Ronnie said the group of former players and administrators saw the value in supporting events such as what the A’s had embarked on, while also sharing some great stories of the past.
“Our community sport was filled with men and women who served with pride and dignity. Many unsung heroes who sought to make a difference. Today many of these people have been air-brushed out of the annals of our principled past. Today I salute the people who served baseball and softball during the torrid times of apartheid.
“The men and women of Mitchells Plain Baseball and Softball Unions, Cape District Baseball Union, Cape District softball Union, Western Province Base and Softball Union, Eastern Province Baseball Union and Eastern Province Softball Union.
“These organisations were led by people of the likes of Thelma Achilles, Roger Ronnie, Lindsay Alexander, Micky Gosslett, Stanley Brickwa, Kenny March, Keith Arnolds, Ronice Willenberg, Denise Paulsen, Gaya Mamman, Ronald Romon, Eddie Hendricks, Pat Goddard, Hugh Poggenpoel, Peter Parker, and the list goes on and on. Men and women who believed in the dignity of all.
“Sadly so many of their sacrifices have been offered at the altar of personal interest and self-aggrandizement. I think of the parents of our juniors, every single player who annually gave of self in time and money to ensure that our inter-provincial tournaments were a celebration of our common humanity. Today I salute the brave soldiers of justice and that which is noble,” said Ronnie.
Also speaking on the sidelines of the event was Jamie Hendricks who said sharing his memories takes him back to the time when brothers died on the park for one another. “For the right to belong, the privilege to take part, the honour to wear the colours and to put on the badge.
“It is for us to carry on the legacy of those who went before to play ball the only way we know how, the never say die way. Cape District was not a union. It was a family. The smell of Deep Heat in that 3× 3m dressing room where 15 players were cramped into. The Cape District was an unstoppable machine,” said Hendricks.