Elliott: R. I. P. Bob (Ox) Senior
Popular Kingston coach Bob (Ox) Senior) has passed .
April 16, 2023
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
Let me think of all the working relationships I have had since 1965 -- whether they be with a coach or a manager. Of the teams I covered we had disagreements but there were not a one I could say I disliked.
Let’s see:
Hockey: Bob Senior (Kingston Frontenacs), Major Danny McLeod, (Kingston Aces), Brian Kilrea and Bob Ellett (Ottawa ‘67s) and Gord Hamilton (Nepean Raiders).
Football: Hall of Famer Doug Hargreaves, (RMC), Hall of Famer Frank Tindall (Queen’s), Hall of Famer Don Gilbert, (Ottawa U), Ace Powell and Bryan Kealey of Carleton University)
Baseball: Hall of Famer Dick Williams, Jim Fanning, Buck Rodgers (of the Montreal Expos), plus Hall of Famer Bobby Cox, Jimy Williams, Cito Gaston, Tim Johnson, Jim Fregosi, Buck Martinez, Carlos Tosca, John Gibbons and John Farrell (of the Toronto Blue Jays).
Well, maybe Farrell and I did not share a lot of laughs.
It was a blessed career for 50 years and three months. When covering the Expos the legendary Michael Farber, working at the Montreal Gazette at the time, had problems with Williams. Or vice versa. When someone asked how he and No. 23 (Williams uniform number) were getting along Michael would show wit explaining “we have a nodding agreement. I say nodding to him, he says nodding to me.”
The reason I came up with this list was the passing of Bob (Ox) Senior, 87, from one of Kingston’s royal families. Didn’t matter if it minor ball, minor hockey or senior … a Senior was always involved, whether it be Dougie, Don, John or Ox.
Ox didn’t coach the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Ottawa ‘67s or the Kingston Junior A team. He coached the Kingston Fontenacs of the Eastern Ontario Junior B league, meaning bus trips to Oshawa, Cobourg, Peterborough, Trenton and Belleville.
He was the first coach I’d ever covered as a beat writer. He’d tell me stories of playing for Eddie Shore at Springfield and playing junior and pro.
More important than hockey, he taught me about my job, though he’d never worked for a bugle. He taught me common sense ... how to act on a bus ... in a locker room ... and when and wasn’t a good time to ask a dumb question (like not two minutes after his team blew a four-goal lead and lost). The bus would arrive roughly two hours before puck drop. So, there was a lot of standing around.
He would spot a guy in another town not dressed properly, call me over and say “I don’t want to EVER see you dress like that mutt.”
I learned as much from Ox as anyone I ever covered. Buck Rodgers and Dick Williams would round out the top three, with Jim Fregosi edged out of the money.
Twice Ox’s team won the title in 1964 and 1969. Ox lost two fingers as a child when he got to close to a wringer washer. Yet, he still played pro hockey, still reached the upper echelon of Kingston baseball and softball, mostly as a catcher.
We remember an old-timers game at Megaffin Stadium and I was helping running the old timey team against current edition of the current Kingston Ponies. A young whipper snapper went first to third on a wild pitch. Ox was catching and had to hustle to the backstop. Two bases on a pitch to the screen in an old-timers game is a no-no.
Arty Leeman was pitching and in a total balk move picked the runner off third -- the umpire didn’t think two bases was proper etiquette either -- and a rundown ensued.
About six players in our dugout yelled “GIVE THE BALL TO OX!” Ox tagged the runner in the back and there was an imprint in the ground which had to be repaired my the crack grounds keeping crew. You could see the face plant. The only thing missing was the white lines. Please replace your divots.
Every Toronto Maple Leafs fan knows and loves Dougie Gilmour. Well, his brother David Gilmour was 13 months older than I was. I saw them both up close. And David was a stud at baseball and hockey. If you asked 100 people who saw both at say bantam or midget, the majority would have say David was better than Dougie.
That was not the case. After playing junior for the Peterborough Petes, Hamilton Red Wings and London Knights, he played four years in the minors, including one game with the Calgary Cowboys in the WHA.
Before the Frontenacs, Ox coached the Elks. Maybe it was bantam, maybe it was midget. It does not matter. The Elks faced the mighty Hawks in the playoffs with goal scorer David. Ox put pesky Bruce Ducharme on David as a shadow. David was without points. I do remember at the end of a period, David’s mom, Dolly, fired her shoe at Ox. The shoe missed and sailed onto the Memorial Centre ice surface.
Ox sent Ducharme out to pick up the shoe and the Kingston legend was Ox never ever gave it back. I forget who won.
Clyde Harris, who played five years between the pipes for the Queen’s University Golden Gaels and senior for the Orillia Terriers after playing for Ox called him “a major mentor in my sporting life. I was so fortunate to have him as a role models. He will be forever revered and respected by everyone in the Kingston sports community.”
A few years ago, I went to Kingston to mumble at a Little League banquet. Ox showed and sat at the same table with my sister Elizabeth. Ox had lost his saint of a wife Marian a few years before. He turned to my sister and said “gee it’s good to get out for a change Liz.”
And he was not referring to the speech, but rather seeing the likes of Bobby Gilmour (Dougie’s uncle), Arty Leeman and other long-time friends the Kingston and District Hall of Famer (class of (2001) hade made over the years.
Bob Senior was a Hall of Famer teacher as well.
* * *
SENIOR, Robert (Bob) William
June 1, 1936 - April 12, 2023
Despite his determination to battle through his declining health, Bob passed away April 12, surrounded by the caring and attentive caregivers and staff at Helen Henderson Care Centre.
Bob was a kind, generous, good man who loved his family, his sports, and the city of Kingston.
He enjoyed life with family, friends, and neighbours on Morenz Crescent and Cronk Lake.
Bob was an accomplished athlete and he appreciated the friends that he made through sports. He was a proud member of the Kingston Athletic Sports Enthusiasts (KASE) club, which includes fellow local athletes of his generation.
He was also honoured to be inducted into the Kingston Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 for his accomplishments in hockey, baseball, curling and builder category.
His passion was harness racing with his horses Lucky May Jay and her colt Early Lead. He spent more time golfing in his retirement years, but never mastered the game, but enjoyed the outdoors and the walk at his favourite golf course, Belle Park.
He chose a career in Correctional Services, as it provided a stable and steady income to provide for his family and allowed his wife to stay home as a homemaker. He started as a Tinsmith at Kingston Penitentiary and retired as Chief of Plant Maintenance at Collin’s Bay Penitentiary.
We will miss his larger than life presence.
Cherished father and father-in-law to John (Jill), Doug (Terri) and adored Poppy to Callista and Rhett.
Survived by his siblings Peggy Anderson, Dianne Ullman, and Doug Senior and sister-in-law Arliss Rickards, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Predeceased by his wife Marion (Rickards), his parents Don and Elizabeth, brothers Don and John, and grandson Owen. Also predeceased by much loved mother and father-in-law Robert and Violet Rickards, and brothers/ sisters-in-law Don (Andy) Anderson, Janice Senior, Les Ullman, Luba Senior, Herb Rickards, Muriel Shannon, Margaret Rickards (Moreland), Mac.
Family and friends will be received at the Trousdale Funeral Home Sydenham on Sunday, April 16, from 1-3 and 6-9. Funeral service will be held in the chapel at 11 a.m. Monday, April 17 Interment Sydenham Cemetery. Reception to follow at the Sydenham Legion everyone welcome. For those who wish, Donations to be made to the NICU at Kingston general hospital.In the Care Of Trousdale Funeral Home.