Wall of fame committee mourns loss of longtime member
Caesar Hajdu remained dedicated to preserving Welland sports history in his 100th year
Caesar Hajdu, who is on the Welland Sports Wall of Fame as both an athlete and a builder, is being remembered as a “firstclass guy” and as a coach who taught his players fair play and sportsmanship were more important that victories.
Hajdu died Monday, Oct. 12, at age 99.
The native of Kisber, Hungary, was inducted into Welland’s sports shrine in 1999 and a few years later became a member of the wall of fame selection committee. He remained actively involved in preserving the city’s sports history and provided the seven-person committee with an invaluable “historical perspective” until his death.
“He was a trusted voice. He didn’t say a lot — he was fairly quiet — but when he spoke you listened because it was worth hearing,” committee chairman Gary Talosi said.
There were times during the past few years when Hajdu wanted to step down from the committee. Each time he was persuaded to return.
“It wasn’t like we kept him around because we didn’t want to kick him off,” Talosi said. “We were happy that he stayed as long as he did because he had threatened for a few years saying, ‘Well, I’m getting old and I’m not contributing that much.’”
“The truth is, he did contribute a lot. We are going to miss Caesar Hajdu.
“He was a solid guy, quiet, caring, gentle, positive. The female members of our committee loved him. He was a gentleman. “He was just a first-class guy.” Now 69, Talosi met Hajdu in the late 1950s when he played on a squirt baseball team coached by Hajdu. One of his teammates was Hajdu’s son Dale who went on to become Talosi’s roommate for four years at University of Waterloo.
“He certainly taught sportsmanship. He was certainly a good coach because when we were that young, he had to teach us the right way to catch a ball, to throw a ball, to swing a bat,” Talosi recalled with a chuckle more than 60 years later.
“You would think that coaching a bunch of young guys like me in the late ’50s would have shortened his life span, but he actually said that the best years of his life were the years that he was coaching.”
As a coach Hajdu liked to win, though victory wasn’t the only goal on the game plan for his teams.
“Winning mattered but teaching and his players learning about sportsmanship was much more important,” Talosi said.
While Hajdu was a man for all seasons, playing baseball and basketball at a high school in the 1930s, 1940s and into the 1950s, his No. 1 sport was probably basketball. Talosi couldn’t recall Hajdu ever missing the finals at the Tribune Boys Basketball Tournament.
“He loved the Tribune Tournament.”
Hajdu, who came to Canada in 1929, attended Welland High before embarking on a 42-year as an electrician at the former Union Carbide plant in Welland. After his retirement, the avid golfer spent five years working in a dream retirement job helping out in the pro shop at Peninsula Lakes Golf Club.
Hajdu also worked with wife Pearl in the family business, Special Touches Florist, as her “delivery boy.”
He is survived by Pearl, his wife of 73 years, and by their two children, Dale, 69, and Cheryl, 62, as well as grandsons Nathan, Jordan and Sean.
Because COVID-19 is limiting the number of people who can attend today’s service at Pleasantview Memorial Gardens, the family is inviting people to watch a livestream of the service beginning at 11 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations to St. Kevin Church or the Tribune Boys Basketball Tournament scholarship fund are being encouraged. E-transfers may be made to tribtourney@cogeco.ca.