COATICOOK. If there is one person whose name is synonymous with baseball in Coaticook, it is Paul-Émile Thibault. This great volunteer looks back on his journey and his love affair with this sport.
“I always played baseball when I was young,” he recalls during an interview at the Julien-Morin stadium, an enclosure that he has long considered his “second home”.
However, it was in the 1970s that he pushed his involvement towards the management of Coaticook training. He managed the Athletics, then the Big Bill in the late 2000s. “I took care of it with Bruno Boivin, Pierre Bureau and Marcel Sévigny, lists Mr. Thibault. We all had our part to play. Mine was in terms of finances and getting sponsors. We all supported each other and that’s what made our organizations strong. »
During his career, he also enjoyed working with Benoit Mrais. He also has fond memories of certain star players, such as Raymond Létourneau, Stéphane Waite, Vincent Guay and Jean-François Ricard.
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL STADIUM
When he thinks of the Julien-Morin stadium, Paul-Émile Thibault feels a certain pride. After all, the facility is often ranked among the finest baseball stadiums in the country. “It’s really not a problem to receive teams here,” he says.
And that’s not counting the many major events and competitions that the place has hosted over time. We can think of the Canadian Championships in 1993, the World Championships in the 2000s and, more recently, the Canada Games in 2013.
Jokingly, many citizens involved in sport will say that the stadium is that of Paul-Émile. Indeed, the Coaticookois spent more than twenty hours a week there to put it in condition. And no question of holding other events than baseball games. “I know that many would have liked to do something else, but for me, it’s sacred. A baseball diamond is made for playing baseball. You don’t have to damage it. When I was taking care of it, it was not uncommon for spectators to come and tell me that it was very beautiful, that it was almost like a postcard”, underlines this “purist”, who, even to this day, still holds the keys to the place.
TAKE THIS DISTANCE
At the end of the 2019 season, Paul-Émile Thibault announced that he wanted to distance himself from the Big Bill. “At a certain age, you have to know how to pass the torch. And my decision still fell well, since it arrived on the eve of the pandemic. »
This great volunteer always has good words
The man, who will be honored by the Coaticook Big Bill organization during the XXXXXX meeting, has only good words for his leaders. “They are doing a very good job. Even though I’m no longer there, the wheel is geared up and the work is done. »
Mr. Thibault remains active in various organizations, such as the Hospital Foundation, the Coaticook Golf Club and the Coaticook HLM. Although he has only attended a few Big Bill meetings this season, he promises to be more attentive to training during the playoffs. “I wish them success. The Big Bill has good players. We have a succession. There is also the junior [Rocket] which helps us recover some players. Now Coaticook must line up behind them. I have no doubt that it can be done. Coaticook is a real baseball town,” said the member of the Quebec Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in conclusion.
