An Okotoks baseball stalwart is going to San Francisco, but he is leaving his heart in Okotoks.
Foothills Midget Black Dawgs coach Brett Thomas, who has been both a player and a coach with the Dawgs program since its arrival in 2007, has accepted a job with the College of Mateo Bulldogs in California.
“The experience in Okotoks has been great for me,” Thomas said. “I was able to come here and was given a lot of responsibilities and was able to work with all groups — the college guys and then the Dawgs Academy kids.”
Thomas left for California on Aug. 8. However, in his last game in Okotoks on Aug. 6, the Black Dawgs won the provincial championship by downing the Sherwood Park Dukes 5-2. The victory meant Thomas has some unfinished business north of the 49th parallel.
“I told the guys that if we won provincials I would go to nationals,” he said.
Thomas will join the Dawgs in Quebec City for nationals, which are being held from Aug. 16-20.
He never thought when he got the call to join the Dawgs in 2007 it would end six years later close to the Plains of Abraham.
Thomas came to Okotoks from the University of Cal—Berkeley in 2007 as their starting catcher.
He caught notable former Dawgs pitchers Jeff Duda, Mark Hardy, Lee Ingram, Marc Wilson and others as Okotoks won the Western Major League Baseball pennant all three years he played in Okotoks.
Thomas couldn’t have told you the difference between Okotoks and the Ogopogo when he received the invitation to come up north in the spring of 2007.
“The way it worked at Cal is you get told where you are going to play summer ball,” Thomas said with a laugh. “My knowledge of Canada was very limited — English, north.
“I didn’t play much at Cal that year so I was just looking forward to playing baseball. I had no idea what I was walking into.”
What he walked into were full houses at Seaman Stadium, making lots of friends and calling Okotoks his year-round home for the last three years.
Oh, yeah, there were also those three championships from 2007 to 2009.
“I think the biggest highlight for me on the field was when I went for three for five and had six RBIs against Swift Current in the title game at Okotoks — I hit a home run in that one,” Thomas said. “Some of the highlights didn’t come from what I did… Jeff (Duda) threw 12 shutout innings against Swift Current in the 2008 finals and the next day Mark Hardy threw a one-hit shutout. Some of the best games I have ever caught were with the Dawgs.”
Thomas was the WMBL Playoff MVP in 2008.
Thomas quit playing after the 2009 championship season and joined the Dawgs coaching staff.
“I had been a player-coach in 2009 and that fall was the first year the Dawgs were starting the full-year academy and that was exciting,” Thomas said. “John (Dawgs executive director John Ircandia) reached out to me and gave me the offer and for that I will always be grateful.”
He said while winning back-to-back provincials in 2010 and 2011 with the Black Dawgs is great, but that isn’t what motivates him to coach.
“Coaches can affect the kids’ lives,” Thomas said. “The things people don’t get to see — to see a kid develop, to help 16-year-old kids who are away from home for the first time, to help kids get scholarships, that is amazing. That’s why we do it.”
Over the past two years all of the graduating Midget Dawgs have received opportunities to play baseball at a post-secondary school.
Black Dawg pitcher Kurtis Taylor, a 2012 graduate of Foothills Composite High School, said Thomas and pitching coach Tanner Osberg’s expertise have helped him.
“Brett’s a great coach,” said Taylor, who will attend Skagit College in Washington next year.
“He worked us hard and made us get better every day. He worked with the pitchers and the catchers to make sure we were always working together.”
Thomas is leaving his second home to a place not far from where he grew. San Mateo is close to Danville, Cal. where he grew up.
However, he won’t ever forget this community and its fans that took a shine his workmanlike play behind the plate.
His jersey receive the second-highest amount ever in 2009 when it was sold for $4,500 in 2009 at the annual Wear Pink Day, a fundraiser for cancer research.
“This community is just unbelievable,” Thomas said. “The people here are so supportive and they care about the guys on the Dawgs.”
