The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Bernard Davis, Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation:
Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge in this Honourable House a gentleman who has dedicated his life to sport in this province.
Carl Lake has been a pillar in our provincial sporting scene since his early days as a ball boy at St. Pat’s Ballpark in St. John’s in the late 1950’s. After a brief tenure as a player, Carl found his true love on the baseball field in 1967 when he began umpiring games. From that point onward, he became a fixture at St. Pat’s, either behind home plate or on the bases. Local games, provincial contests or national championships, Carl has been umpiring baseball games in this province for 53 years; And on September 1st, Carl officiated his final contest at his beloved St. Pat’s Ballpark.
Inducted in 2006 as a builder in Baseball NL’s Hall of Fame, Carl recently told the local media, “St. Pat’s was his Heaven”. We should all be blessed with Carl’s advocacy of baseball, and provincial sports in general, through his time with local media and his very own website, SportspageNL.ca.
I ask all Honourable members to join me in congratulating Mr. Carl Lake, on 53 years of dedication to the sport of baseball, and for his continuous promotion of local sports in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.