ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — It’s been a tough couple of days in the St. John’s baseball community.
On Sunday, longtime coach and executive Mike Buist, most recently the executive director of the St. John’s Minor Baseball Association, died at the age of 72.
A day later, came word that Bill Campbell, a fixture with the Guards Athletic Association (GAA) and another local baseball stalwart, had passed away at 78 . As was the case with Buist, Campbell’s death on Monday came after a brief battle with cancer.
Known as Bill "The Will,” Campbell was the longtime GAA president, making him the face and voice of the association. As such, he had a hand in the operation of the club’s teams in various sports, but of all them, he is best known for his work on the diamond, where he coached Guardsmen baseball teams and the St. John’s Capitals in provincial competition.
Many in the local media community fondly recall working with or encountering Campbell when he was employed as a cameraman for NTV. And many of the resulting conversations would be about baseball.
He competed briefly as a player for the Guards, but made his mark from the coach’s box.
“He was strong in his knowledge of the game and in how well he got along with players, especially young players,” said Dan Puddester, his friend for more nearly 60 years and who helped Campbell coach Guards junior teams beginning in the 1960s.
Puddester said he first got to know Campbell in his late teens and that even then, he was interested in coaching.
“Especially those junior teams,” said Puddester. “He started with the juniors for the first three or four years before he moved up to coaching the senior team, but he still kept coaching the juniors.
“It was his real passion.”
Campbell’s lengthy tenure as the Guards president came in separate terms, including one that stretched over the last half dozen years or so, but even when he didn’t hold the association’s top job, he was a member of the GAA executive directorate, one who was known for being tireless in advocating for the Guards’ causes and works.
“It’s a tremendous loss,” said Puddester.
Campbell leaves to mourn his children David Howley Campbell (Jade), Alexander Campbell, Lora Campbell and Julia Barnes (Jon); their mother Constance Howley; and grandchildren Eric Barnes, Greyson and Aiden Campbell.
A celebration of life service will take place at Barrett’s Memorial Chapel on Thursday at 1 p.m., with a reception to follow at Barrett’s Reception Centre. Interment to take place at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations in Campbell’s memory may be made to Guards Athletic Association.
