News
In Memoriam: Eric Toneff April 28, 2020
The Comox Valley, Vancouver Island North, and the entire Baseball Community in BC lost an ardent supporter on April 20 with the passing of Eric Toneff.
Eric was a longstanding baseball advocate and umpire supporter in his native Comox. He served as an umpire, a BCBUA Area Director, a BC Minor Baseball Director, and a friend of everyone for as long as anyone can remember.
Prior to his involvement in Baseball, Eric was a professional wrestler, mainly for BCTV’s All-Star wrestling for those of you old enough to remember those days. He loved talking about the old wrestlers and the many, many characters that popularized wrestling in the 80’s – of which Eric blatantly admitted he was not one of. He truly loved that period of time in his life.
Soon he would end up as a Funeral Director in Comox, and eventually owning his own business.
He was a tremendous supporter of umpires especially at the Grass Roots level, spending hours at the field mentoring and working with new umpires, and still finding time to work on his own game as a very competent level 3 umpire in BC who was more than capable at the Sr Level.
After suffering a serious ear injury on a line drive in Parksville, Eric left the field and umpiring and focused his efforts as a BC Minor Baseball Director for which he served several terms.
Eric was also a friend of baseball off the field. When our Provincial Supervisor Howard Chapman passed away in 2015, Eric donated his services and time as a Funeral Director as a way to honor our leader. This was a tremendous gesture, which spoke volumes of Eric’s dedication to umpiring and the Game of Baseball, but mostly his compassion as a human being.
We will all miss Eric’s contributions, but more than all of that, we will miss his personality and his character as an individual.
On March 13, 2020, BCBUA announced that it would suspend all IN PERSON baseball operations until the end of March due to COVID-19, consistent with a similar announcement from Baseball Canada. Baseball BC has now also served notice that they will be shutting down in person baseball operations indefinitely. In view of widely publicized developments in British Columbia and Canada, BCBUA baseball operations are suspended indefinitely. THIS INCLUDES THE NATIONAL CLINIC AND UMPIRE ACADEMY THAT WERE SCHEDULED FOR APRIL. We will re-evaluate in due course when circumstances warrant.
We regret any inconvenience but confirm that we are primarily concerned with the safety of our members and their families and are doing our best to comply with the advisories of public health authorities.
Kelowna Umpire Recognized February 21, 2020
Long-time Kelowna Umpire in Chief Darcy Rysz was recently recognized for over a decade of service to the Central Okanagan Umpire Association
Welcome to the new BCBUA Site! November 26, 2019
Welcome to the new BCBUA site, your one stop for all BCBUA news and administration.
Members can still log in to their profile and handle registration and things like exams and reports.
2019 BCBUA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING October 29, 2019
The 2019 BCBUA AGM was held in Richmond on Saturday October 26. Thanks to all of those who attended.
The following positions were filled in the elections. Welcome to the new board members!
President - Rhonda Pauls
Vice President – Scott Eckardt
Treasurer – Jared Roberts
Past President – Sean Sullivan
Area 1 – Vancouver Island – South – Jonathan Hollett
Area 3 – Lower Mainland – East – Gary Webber
Area 5 – Lower Mainland – South – John Pentland
Area 6 – Thompson – VACANT
Area 7 – Okanagan – South – Kevin Burk
Area 9 – Northern BC – Kyle Anderson
A full BCBUA Executive listing can be found here.
2019 BCBUA AWARD WINNERS October 28, 2019
2019 BCBUA award winners were announced at the AGM on October 26. Congratulations to everyone! Click here to see the winners.
BCBUA ROADMAP TO EXCELLENCE January 26, 2019
The BCBUA Roadmap to Excellence document describes the 5 levels of umpiring in the province and the steps required to attain each one.