2016 Inductees

Dale Lloyd – Athlete And Builder

Dale Lloyd has had a long and varied career in sport, as both an athlete and as a builder.

Born in Berwick May 8, 1948, Dale grew up in Cambridge, which at the time was a diverse sporting community. Dale has fond memories of football, soccer and especially fastball teams. His youthful goal, however, was to one day play fastball for Cambridge, a dream he would ultimately realize. Dale played minor hockey in Berwick, and for the 1966-1967 and 1967-1968 seasons, was a member of the Berwick Shell Juniors. The 1967-1968 team finished as provincial runners-up to the Halifax Colonels. Dale was an average player on good teams.

While his career in hockey was short, his exploits in fastball, golf and curling were much more significant. Dale has fond memories of his watching the Cambridge Tigers and later the Cambridge Red & Whites. “It was just like major league ball back in the day, with many great players,” he said. Dale replaced Howie Mintis as the centrefielder for the Red & Whites. His fastball career took him to the Waterville Mohawks, the Berwick Eassons, the Senior B Alpines and finally the Eassons again.

He worked hard on his hitting, sporting a lifetime batting average in the vicinity of .325 and winning three batting titles and one in 1978 when he hit .420. Though medium in stature, he also became known as a power hitter. “Most of all, “ he says, “I always wanted to play good defense,” and he did so. His all-round play resulted in all-star selections at three different positions – centrefield, shortstop and first base. Dale was part of four provincial runner-up teams, won a handful of home run titles, and in 1980, merited the Alvin Savage Memorial Trophy as the Most Valuable Player on the Berwick Eassons.

In golf, Dale participated in a number of tournaments and ‘skin games’ over a 40-year career. In his prime, he played to a seven handicap, and he has made two holes-in-one. He won the Atlantic Men’s Wear Golf Tournament at Oakfield in 1980, and in 2000 won the Peter Gzowski Invitational at Ken-Wo in New Minas. Eight years after that, in 2008, he and Tom Cogswell teamed up to win their division at the Nova Scotia Senior Four-Ball at Berwick Heights Golf and Country Club. On the organizational side, in 1975, Dale and Rod Dorey started the South Berwick Invitational Golf Tournament, an annual event that is still being played today, more than 40 years later.

Dale was encouraged to take up curling as a winter sport by Dr. Ron Thorpe after suffering an injury playing hockey. He was part of a curling team that won the Western Counties championship in 1978, and a team that reached the semifinals of the British Consuls in Bridgewater. A long-time member of the Berwick Curling Club, Dale ran many bonspiels at the club. He was the icemaker at the B.C.C. for 10 years, and in 1978, served as club president. He represented Berwick in provincial curling play in 1982, 1983 and 1984. His team lost in the provincial semifinals in 1982, and won the Greenwood closing bonspiel in 1984.

In 1979, Dale ran for Berwick Town Council, and was elected on a recreation platform, collecting the most votes of any candidate. He and another newcomer to municipal politics, Gary Whittier, were responsible for hiring Mike Trinacty as the town’s first full-time Recreation Director in 1982.
In more recent years, Dale has served on Kings County Council representing District 8. He will complete his second term on council in the fall of 2016. He resides in Berwick West.

Dale is proud of his life and career in sport. He recalls attending the final round of the Masters tournament in Augusta, Georgia in 2006, and once hitting a home run off the legendary Eddie Feighner of ‘The King and His Court’ during a 1977 exhibition in Greenwood.

Dale has also been a valued member of the Berwick Sports Hall of Fame committee for many years.

For one of the most varied careers of any athlete to call Berwick home, the Berwick Sports Hall of Fame is pleased to induct, as an athlete and builder, Dale Lloyd.