Elliott: Jepson presented PBLO Lifetime Achievement honour

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

The brains of the Premier Baseball League of Ontario, Linda Lewis, Rick Downton and Don Campbell -- yes, we are listing them in order of baseball grey matter -- decided it was time.

Time to give out a second PBLO Lifetime Achievement honour.

And who did Campbell chose to give out the award? The lump who received the first one.

Ah, that would be me. Jepson and Campbell presented me a siimilar award during the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame presentations at St. Marys in 2015.

So, with help from Ontario Terriers founder Danny Thompson we rolled up to John Jepson’s house in beautiful Virgil, near Niagara-On-The-Lake Monday afternoon. And the presentation was made inside the house with John in a La-Z-Boy chair wearing his blue Terriers T-shirt with the gold crest, his wife Linda by his side.

Jepson founded the Toronto Mets with Jason Chee-Aloy and Howie Birnie of the Toronto Baseball Association in 2004. There were championships and high draft picks. ‎Jepson had more impact than strictly blue-and-orange Mets team. He joined the PBLO board of directors in 2004 and quickly became the voice or reason.

The original loop consisted of the Montreal Les Ailes, the Ottawa-Nepean Canadians, Team Ontario, Ontario Blue Jays, London Badgers and the Mets. Jepson was president of the league from 2012-15 and now is the vice-chair.

And in June of 2016, Jepson left the Mets causing a free-agent bidding unseen when it came to teenage talent. The Terriers won the recruiting war landing Jepson to clean their diamonds, board rooms and dugouts of land mines.

Over the years, the PBLO saw young men go in the draft -- from first round to 30th -- go off to school -- from an NCAA Division I College World Series program, to an NAIA school to a JUCO or a Canadian program.

Behind the scenes was another matter. There was a cast of characters which would rival the Butcher, the Baker and the Candlestick Maker. Through trials and tribulations someone had to lead and no one did it better than Jepson. He was always at the ready to make a ruling or a decision.

Especially, when his Montreal Canadiens would make an early exit allowing his focus to shift to the diamonds. He used to sign off his emails to me “25 B4 14” which had me stumped. What Jepson meant was that HIS Canadiens would win a 25th Stanley Cup before the Maple Leafs would win a 14th.

Montreal native, John Jepson, founder of the Toronto Mets and now of the Ontario Terriers, in the locker room of his other favorite team … the Montreal Canadiens.

Jepson was a voice of reason in a room full of people busy with their own programs, own agendas and set in their way of thinking, sometimes temporarily losing sight of what was best for the kids and the province.

“I believe that John has done so much for baseball in Ontario, from his days with North York and National championships to the Ontario Youth Team to the Toronto Mets and the Terriers, he always put his players first,” said Linda Lewis. “Watching him deal with players and coaches he had a way to deal with any situation. He knew baseball.

“As Chair of the PBLO, he led us through any challenges that arose as only he could with his calm demeanor.”

The Mets won the Ontario eliminations in 2007 and 2008 when they were still TBA/OBA affiliated and could compete at the eliminations. They can’t any more. Jepson and Chee-Aloy won the midget nationals in 2007 at Repentigny and the next year in Halifax.

Heading south, the Mets won the National Amateur Baseball Association 18u in 2010 and were the 17u World Series champs in 2014. Jepson was general manager of Ontario Youth Team 2005-06 and the 2008 Canada Cup champions at Medicine Hat.

His dear friend Dan Thompson, who founded the Terriers, always says, as others have, that Jepson’s people skills are off the charts.

“John is very personable, incredibly warm and thoughtful towards everyone,” Thompson said. “He always has and makes time for you. Over the past 20 years he has taken on countless leadership roles in various circles. Since he is so organized, concise and well respected the end result has always been success.”

Jepson has been relied upon to make solid decisions with respect to the betterment of the game across the province in several capacities: Ontario Youth Team GM, director, board member, chair, vice-president and president to name a few.

“John is a constant source of well guided knowledge and has always steered his ship in the right direction,” Thompson said.

He served as Chee-Aloy’s GM when the North York Blues won the national peewee title in 2017 in Repentigny, Que.

Jepson grew up playing ball in Parc Extension. One night at NDG Park his team’s catcher became ill minutes before first pitch. So, Jepson put on the gear and was squatting behind the plate for as the pitcher warmed up.

“Hello Mr. Jepson, I didn’t know you caught,” said plate ump Jim McKean, who would go on a 26-year career umping in the American League and be inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame in St. Marys.

Jepson answered that his team’s catcher was ill. McKean replied, “Well, the first rule of catching Mr. Jepson: ‘Protect the umpire.’” He moved to Ontario in 1970 and began coaching in Toronto in the late 1980s.

His North York club that he managed won the junior eliminations in 1992 and four years later they were Canadian champs. In 1998, he was the GM and assistant coach when North York won another Canadian title. Five years later he was back in the winner’s circle again as North York won the Canadian bantam honours.

The man won. The man has the patience of a school teacher, whether it was children on the diamonds or children in the board rooms. And the man has a sense of humour.

The PBLO is now made up of the Ottawa-Nepean Canadians, Ontario Royals, Ontario Yankees, London Badgers, the Windsor Selects and the Terriers.

“The last thing you wanted to be is a telemarketing caller or someone that calls trying to sell him something,” Thompson said. “He would lead people along into a long phone conversation winding down the garden path. By the end the caller’s head must be spinning. Surely the first thing they would do when they hung up is cross his name off their list and never call again.”

John Jepson, left, and Don Campbell, right, make the presentation of the first PBLO Lifetime Achievement honour in St. Marys.

The presentation speech?

Well, it was only OK. I told John that as the first winner I had been asked to present the award to him as the second winner. And how well deserving a choice he was by the Donald of the Rideau ... as he often called Campbell.

I told Jepson I had complained to Campbell that John’s trophy was much larger than mine. Campbell replied, “Well, that’s because John accomplished a thousand times more than you ever did.”

John Jepson has touched thousands of baseball lives.