Lögberg-Heimskringla - 23.09.2005, Page 7

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 23. september 2005 • 7
GE
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Tel 780.986.4711
Fax 780.986.6662
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www.haidarealty.com
5919 - 50th Street
Leduc, AB T9E 6S7
An Independently Owned and Operated Member Broker ot Coldwell Banker Afflllates of Canada

Ultimate
Service
Back row, from left: Ivan and Judy Hruska, Kegan and Garnet
Johnson. Front row, from left: Steve Hruska, Kristine Adam,
Jen Hruska, Einar Johnson.
Einar Johnson in his Holar
All Stars days.
team in Churchbridge. The boys
he coached then are quick to say
how much he helped them. One
thing he always emphasized was
sportsmanship. When Minor
Sports was formed he let others
take over. In 1970 he was assis-
tant coach of the Junior Sandlot
team who were the South Sas-
katchewan Rural Champions.
His son Garnet played on that
team.
Over the years, Einar has
enjoyed seeing his boys play
baseball and his girls play fast-
ball. More recently it has been
the grandchildren.
Einar likes to watch base-
ball on TV and has always been
a fan of the Blue Jays. He is not
however, in favor of the desig-
nated hitter rule. He feels that
pitchers need to be complete
players.
What Einar most appreci-
ates when talking to old players
and fans is that they remember
he always played such clean
sports. For one thing, whenever
he hit a batter, which was bound
to happen with all the years he
pitched, he always asked if they
were hurt and said, “Sorry about
that,” and meant it.
Einar and Doreen’s children
are Rose (Sveinbjomson), Judy
(Hruska), Loa (Wilson), Gor-
don, Gamet and Thelma (Mon-
nier).
Einar took over the family
farm from his father, and his son
Gordon has taken over the farm
from his parents.
Einar Johnson outside the Saskatchewan Baseball Hali of Fame.
Johnson inducted into Hall of Fame
Doreen Johnson and
Judy Hruska
On August 20, 2005, Ein-
ar Johnson was inducted
into the Saskatchewan
Baseball Hall of Fame in Bat-
tleford, Saskatchewan.
Attending with Einar was
his wife of 54 years, Doreen
(Ingjaldson), his son Garnet,
daughter Judy and husband Ivan
Hruska and three grandchildren.
Einar donated a number of ar-
ticles to the Hall’s museum,
including a Holar All Stars uni-
form, a Holar All Stars jacket,
a Churchbridge Uniform, a
Churchbridge jacket, a Jr Sand-
lot, South Sask Rural Champ
Ass’t Coach jacket and a photo
of himself.
Einar (Red) Johnson’s
parents were John and Rose
(Bjamason) Johnson; his pa-
temal grandparents were Bjom
Johnson and Ólafía Stefánsdót-
tir, who immigrated to Church-
bridge in 1886.
Einar began playing base-
ball at age 13 wilh the Church-
bridge Senior team. He was
soon pitching and before long
the catcher was putting an extra
sponge in his mitt. Many times
he pitched up to three games a
day, two or three times a week.
He had many faithful fans in the
area.
In the late 1940s, when
blacks were not allowed in the
major leagues, there was a trav-
eling black exhibition team, The
Ligon Colored All-Stars. The
team, operated by George Li-
gon, entered in the annual íirst
of July toumament in Saltcoats.
Einar pitched against them and
got the win. People still come up
to him and say, “I sure remem-
ber when you pitched against
[the All-Stars] and beat them.”
During this time, Reverend
Borchardt of Langenburg, who
was well known for his umpir-
ing, used to call on Einar to
go with him when places such
as Kamsack, Roblin and Gil-
bert Plains wanted him to bring
along a pitcher.
In the fall of 1949, Einar
started to play with the Holar
All Stars. He played with them
for the next few years when
they made a great name for the
team. In 1951 at the Kamsack
tournament they played a Sas-
katoon team and Einar pitched
to Gordie Howe. Among many
other tournaments, they took
part in the big Foam Lake tour-
nament in 1953. The Holar AU
Stars were inducted into the
Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of
Fame in August 2003.
In the late 1950s, some
Churchbridge “boys” asked Ein-
ar to come and coach their team.
They insisted that he was not
only to coach but also to play. He
agreed to coach, but told them he
would decide whether or not he
played. They had a pretty good
team for a few years, ending by
winning the final toumament
held at the old Churchbridge
sports grounds before it was tak-
en for the town lagoon.
In the early 1960s Einar
helped start the first Sandlot

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