Roy Pyke, veteran of the 1965-67 Greensboro Generals was inducted Friday into the Brockville (ON) and Area Sports Hall of Fame.http://www.recorder.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3166745#
A thrill for new inducteesRON SMITH, Sports Editor, The Recorder & Times, June 11, 2011
It's an amazing wall that just became even more impressive. The Brockville and Area Sports Hall of Fame inducted its five newest members for the lobby wall of the Memorial Centre on Friday afternoon. With the well-deserved addition of Jim Hale, George Hunter (deceased), Steve McAllister, Roy Pyke and Jim Vickery, there are now an even 100 plaques recognizing the sports accomplishments and achievements of Brockville and area.
Pyke, well known as the tough, hard-nosed catcher for the Brockville Commercial Stars fastball team, found it a special wall to see. "It means an awful lot to me. Seventy per cent of the people (on the wall) I know or played against or played with, and it just makes me feel so proud and honoured to know I am going to be joining the people who have become my friends. I am very honoured," said Pyke.
The casual, 60-minute ceremony recognized the returning Hall of Famers along with the newests inductees.
"This is THE highlight of my career and I've had some good ones," said Pyke, who won gold for Canada in playing senior hockey with the Morrisburg Combines. "This is the highlight of my sports career, No. 1."
Pyke played baseball and hockey growing up, and some semi-pro hockey before being one of the final cuts of the St. Louis Blues in 1967.
He joins Hodgkinson, Dixie, Bates and Metcalfe from the Commercial Stars in the Hall of Fame.
"It shows you how talented that team was," said the 65-year-old Pyke of a dominant fastball team from the 1970's to the 1990's.
(I'm pretty sure Roy Pyke is the second from left in the article photo.)
Roy Pyke's Stats courtesy hockeydb.com
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You have correctly identified Roy in the Hall of Fame awards photo. Roy was a standout pitcher on the St. Thomas Tom Cats team that played in the Junior Intercounty Baseball League in the seasons of 1963 and '64, coached and managed by me. He was also a popular (and "tough") member of the St. Thomas Junior "A" Barons hockey teams during that period. He was always a favorite of mine on and off the ice and ball diamond.
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