Estevan Minor Baseball (EMB) recognized one of its long-time volunteers Friday.
Kent Phillips, who was president of the EMB from 2009-2017 and served in other capacities, tossed out the ceremonial first pitch during the opening ceremonies for the Saskatchewan U13 AA championship.
A large sign honouring Phillips has been mounted on the announce booth.
In a bio, it was noted that Phillips’ involvement with Estevan Minor Baseball began 21 years ago. After watching his oldest son Brendan play his first year of baseball at the senior mites level, Phillips decided he wanted to get involved. The next season he volunteered as a coach and never looked back.
Throughout his 21 years, Phillips was involved on many levels. He coached all three of his sons in the house league program, along with their respective AA and AAA teams with much success. He was also active in organizing and volunteering at the provincial and western tournaments held in Estevan.
And he was a volunteer at the 2016 Saskatchewan Summer Games in Estevan.
“One project that was very important to Kent was converting one diamond in each of the mosquito, peewee and bantam levels to grass infields at Cactus Park, and in partnership with the city, EMB was able to have this project completed in 2016.”
Although his first love of coaching, Phillips was vice-president of EMB for seven years and president for eight. He also served as Saskatchewan Baseball Association director for the last nine years. In 2016, he received the Joe McDonald Award of Merit recognizing has many years of volunteering for minor baseball. His company, Performance Pump Service, received Saskatchewan Baseball’s Patron of the Year Award.
In 2018, he was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Kent Phillips Volunteer Award from EMB.
He won a silver medal as a coach at Westerns in 2006 and won the Bantam AA provincial title in 2012.
Phillips remains a very positive influence for Estevan Minor Baseball.
The Mercury will have coverage of happenings at the tournament throughout the weekend.
