Re: Five Titans Set to Enter North Shore Sports Hall of Fame
Dear Editor:
I thought I would respond to an article that recently appeared in the North Shore News about Fen Burdett. He was my Babe Ruth baseball coach when I graduated from Jaycee Little League to Babe Ruth, age 13 to 15.
The league held tryouts at Sutherland Secondary on the gravel field with numerous players from all teams. During the tryouts I fell and injured my leg. Coach Burdett came over and asked me if I was OK.
I said, "I don’t think I can run." He said, "No worries, you don’t need to come out for the second tryout."
I took that to mean that I had made his team already based on what he saw in me.
I played for him for three years making the All-Star team each year. Unfortunately, I was one year too old to be eligible to be on on the 1964 Babe Ruth championship team.
During my second season with coach Burdett, I couldn’t afford to pay all of my league fees and once again he said, "No worries. You come mow my lawn and that will cover it."
I guess he saw me as a young teen who was heading in the wrong direction, and he took the time and effort to keep me on the straight and narrow.
I still reflect fondly whenever I think of him as a coach and a mentor, and for my love of baseball for all these years.
Thanks coach. At 77 years old, I never forgot what you did for me.
Norm Duplissie
North Vancouver
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