SUMMARY OF ADELAIDE UNIVERSITY BASEBALL CLUB HISTORY
- Club formed in 1922 by P.A. Ohlstrom who also became the South Australian Baseball League Secretary.
- Club plays its first season under the name of “University” in South Australian Baseball League (SABL) which was run as a Winter Baseball Competition until the end of the 1968 Season.
- No Baseball was played in South Australia between 1942-45 due to World War II.
- Baseball was changed to a Summer Sport by the SABL for the Season commencing 1968-69, but a separate Winter season was continued thanks largely due to Stan Scarman who played for the Club at the time, and he acted as both the President of the Club and also the new Association, The South Australian Winter Baseball Association (SAWBA), from 1968-80.
- Club changed its name from University to “Students” commencing the 1968-69 Summer season.
- Club changed its name back to University in the 1974-75 Summer season.
- Club changed its name from University to “Varsity” for the 1978-79 Summer season until it stopped participating in the summer season run by the SABL.
- The Club had Teams playing in both the Summer and Winter Competitions from the 1968-69 Summer season and the 1969 Winter season until the end of the 1982 Winter season.
- The Club temporarily ceased playing from 1983 to the end of the 1985-86 Summer season due to a lack of playing Members to fill teams.
- Thanks largely due to the hard work of Chris McGowan and Sean Nugent, AU Cricketers who wanted to play Baseball during the winter, the Club was restarted as a Winter Baseball Club and has continued to have Teams playing in the South Australian Winter Baseball Association competition from 1986 until the present time under the name of Adelaide University Baseball Club, but are known as “Varsity” and had this name on their playing tops which were white with Blue piping and name together with Blue Caps.
- Home games were played at Waite Oval between 1986-2005.
- Softball was included by the Club in 1998 and the Club changed its name from the Adelaide University Baseball Club to The Adelaide University Baseball and Softball Club.
- Club then played all home games at Kensington Baseball Club between 2006-12
- In 2006 the Club became an Incorporated body.
- In 2010 due to a loss of players and lack of interest Softball had ceased so the Club changed its name back to Adelaide University Baseball Club Incorporated.
- In 2012 the Club changed its playing tops and Caps from White and Blue to White and Black with “The Blacks” and Lion Head Logo added to conform to new AU Sport Guidelines.
- Club moved to the Glenelg Baseball Club to play all home games from start of 2013 Winter season and continue to use this Club’s diamonds for all home games to date.
- Team numbers have varied from season to season depending mainly on student membership which has fluctuated from season to season.
- The Club did not submit Teams for the reduced 2020 season due to the impact of the worldwide Covid-19 virus.
- The 2021 season represents the 100th season of Baseball since the Club was formed in 1922.
- The 2022 season represents the 100th year since the Club's formation in 1922.
- The Club has been quite successful over the years winning Premierships in various Grades of the SABL and SAWBA and has also done very well in “CAPPS” medal voting for the player judged the Best & Fairest player in the SABL A Grade competition.
HIGHLIGHTS
- A Grade Premiers 1934
- P.A. Ohlstrom made Vice Patron of the SABL in 1939
- Metro B Grade Premiers in 1946
- A Grade Premiers in 1949
- Minor F Grade Premiers in 1951
- Adelaide University Baseball Team won the Intervarsity Baseball Games in 1952
- Major B Grade Premiers in 1958
- A Grade Premiers in 1964 and also the Adelaide University Baseball Team won the Intervarsity Baseball Games in 1964
- Major B Grade Premiers in 1965
- Minor D Grade Premiers in 1966
- Adelaide University Baseball Team won the Intervarsity Baseball Games in 1971
- A Grade Premiers in 1973-74 Summer season and also the Adelaide University Baseball Team won the Intervarsity Baseball Games in 1974
- Since commencing in the new Winter Baseball Competition run by SAWBA from 1969 the Club has won the following Premierships-
- Division 1: 1969, 1970, 1997,2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010
- Division 2: 2001, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021 & 2022
- Division 3: 1993, 1994, 2010 & 2016
- Division 4: 1992 & 1996
AWARDS
1. Keith Gillespie finished runner-up for the Capps Medallion in 1937
2. Bob Quintrell finished 3rd for the Capps Medallion in 1950
3. Bill Fuller won the Capps Medallion in 1951
4. Doug Othams won the Capps Medallion in 1952
5. Doug Othams finished runner-up for the Capps Medallion in 1953
6. Doug Othams won his second Capps Medallion in 1956
7. Jim Tamlin won the Capps Medallion in 1959
8. Roger Fleetwood voted Rookie of the Year in SABL A Grade in 1970/71 summer season
9. Steve Inverarity voted Rookie of the Year in SABL A Grade in 1972/73 summer season
8. Rudi Teimann finished runner-up for the Capps Medallion in the 1974-75 summer season
NOTE: Over the years many University Students and Non-University Members have won various awards in recognition of outstanding playing ability to the Club and Adelaide University, service to the Club in a non-playing capacity, and several Members have been recognised for their longterm service to the Club over many years either in a playing or non-playing capacity by being made Life Members of the Club. To view the Members who have been recognised in any of these categories please refer to the following headings in our Club Honours Board:
- AUBC Full Blues Award Recipients
- AUBC Half Blues Awards Recipients
- AUBC Club Letters, Service to University Sport & Volunteer of the Year Award Recipients
- AUBC Club Life Members
- Club All Australian University Representatives
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I could not have put together the Club’s history, statistics, data, various awards lists and Life Members list for the Club’s Honours Board without the very valuable and grateful help and information supplied by the following:
· Robert Laidlaw (SA Baseball Historian for the SABL) who supplied me with the Club’s History from 1922 to 1982 in the SABL
· Chris Thompson, Club Player, Life Member, Committeeman and Club President who provided me with much useful information stored on his Dropbox.
· AU Sports Inc. from whose website I obtained the Full Blues, Half Blues, Club Service and All Australian University Representatives awards data.
· Sara Lane, Sports Development Officer for AU Sports Inc. who provided me with plenty of early data and photos stored on AU Sport Inc. Dropbox relating to the Club.
· Chris McGowan, playing Life Member who was with Sean Nugent responsible for the rebirth of the Club in Winter Baseball in 1986 and volunteer historian of the Varsity A Team since 1986 who provided me extensive data and statistics for that Team since 1986.
· Mark Scicluna who is in charge of organising the playing draw each year for the SAWBA Winter Baseball Competition and also SAWBA records keeper.
The Club will always be indebted to the above.
**** Despite the assistance of the above there is still many gaps and much information that I do not have at my disposal to complete the Honours Board in full, with very little information known about the Club’s performances in the Winter Competition from 1969 to 1982 & again from 1986 to 2011. In addition I am sure that there are many more people who have played for AUBC over the last 99 Seasons that I do not know about in addition to Club Committee persons, award winners & anything that relates to the Club, so please take the time to study all the various sections of the Honours Board and if you have any information for any category that should be included please do not hesitate to pass it on to me either via email – coop8159@gmail.com or via my mobile 0408 195 188 for inclusion.
May you all enjoy with pride.
Thanks,
Warren Pengilly
President
AUBC
