Mr. Slo-Pitch Bill Bowers remembered as builder of the sport
Peter borough’ s slo-p it ch communityis mourning following the death of Bill Bowers, known as Peterborough’s Mr. Slo-Pitch for his long-time efforts in building the game.
The park with the ball diamonds on Brealey Drive, next to the Peterborough Sport and Wellness Centre, was renamed after him as Bowers Park in 1996.
Mr. Bowers was inducted into the Peterborough and District Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 as a builder.
He had continued to play slo-pitch with the JO Express team, a group that has been together for about 20 years, and had played on Tuesday before his death on Wednesday morning, teammate Ray Clifford said.
“He played the game forever,” Clifford said.
“Hewillbesadly missed throughout the slo-pitch community. He was just a real gentleman. He always had a great sense of humour.”
To keep the game fun, he had an Old Vienna tuque from 1987 that he would make teammates wear if they had struck out or went hitless, Clifford recalled.
The Mr. Slo-Pitch title was well-earned, said Clair Leahy of the Peterborough Men’s Softball Association.
“All of the people who play slo-pitch in Peterborough today owe a debt of gratitude to Bill Bowers,” Leahy told
The Examiner.
“He deserves an awful lot of credit. At one point there were more than 50 slo-pitch leagues in Peterborough under one umbrella under him as president.
“It’s no surprise that Bowers Park is named after him. He’s just done absolutely so much.”
He helped organize the city’s first slo-pitch league in 1976 and worked at the sport’s local, provincial and national levels.
The 72-year-old was instrumental in the growth of slo-pitch fields throughout the city and area since coming here from Toronto in 1972.
“What I really appreciate about it,” Bowers told Examiner sports director Mike Davies in a 2003 interview about his hall of fame induction, “is it’s the first time slo-pitch, individually, has been honoured in this way. I really feel proud about that and I’m happy for our sport.”
“We have a great team of people working together in the city to make it happen so I get probably a little more credit than I should.”
He helped form the slo-pitch council in 1986 as its first president and had been president of the Peterborough Slo-Pitch Association since 1977.
He organized an annual SloFest tournament for more than 25 years each Canada Day weekend and assisted in organizing the 1980 Ontario Summer Games slo-pitch event here, the 1989 Co-ed provincial championships and 1996 SloPitch Nationals.
Bowers helped raise more than $250,000 for new fields at Fleming College in 1991 which was renamed Bowers Park in 1996. He was the city’s Sports Personality of the Year in 1997 and was named Tourism Ambassador of the Year by the Kawartha Tourism and Convention Bureau.
No funeral arrangements had been made as of Wednesday night.