Lumsden Heading to the Hall

Longtime North Bay athlete, coach and sports executive Gary Lumsden has been named to the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame.

Hall of fame chairman Bill Jacko described Lumsden as an excellent athlete, who won provincial championships in two sports and then went on to coach athletes from pre-teen to adult in a number of sports.

"In addition, he served as a recreational adviser on several local boards and has been a National Coaching Certification program instructor for a number of years," said Jacko in a press release.

Lumsden will be inducted as an athlete and builder at the annual NBSHF induction and awards dinner, April 22 at the Best Western North Bay.

Lumsden arrived in North Bay in 1966 and played championship basketball and fastball into the 1980s. He was with the Garland Pepsis when they won the Ontario Basketball Association intermediate OB championship in 1969 and played with the Pepsis as they won 10 straight city basketball titles.

He played with a number of different teams in the city¹s premier fastball league, the Gateway Major Fastball Association, for 11 full seasons and parts of six others, racking up a career batting average of .277.

He was named the top first baseman on a 25-year all-star team. He placed in the top 10 in the league batting charts on four occasions, finishing third in 1969 with Continental Hotel. In 1973, he was with Gateway Delivery when they won the OASA all-Ontario intermediate OA¹ championship.

As a physical and health education consultant with the North Bay school board, he started and coached the first youth gymnastics team, he initiated youth basketball leagues, organized elementary school track meets and started a swimming program for Grade 4 students at the YMCA.

Joining Canadore College as an instructor of leisure studies, Lumsden coached the Panthers¹ OCAA men's basketball squad from 1973 to 1980 and the women's program from 1981 to 1985.

Lumsden coached high school basketball at Chippewa and Widdifield and handled the CKNY Empires senior men¹s baseball team, which represented the Northeast at the provincial championship in 1980.

He instructed technical coaching courses (NCCP) in basketball, baseball and track and field throughout Northeastern Ontario and served as a timer for the marathon at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

Lumsden has served on the YMCA board, the North Bay pool commission and the P.H.A.R.A. board, where he initiated a therapeutic recreation service for the disabled and was also president of the North Bay Minor Baseball Association in 1980.

Submitted to BayToday.ca