Page 4 Wednesday, august 20, 2014
daily bulletin
Local NEWS
Bob ‘Nizer’ James; all-round athlete ANTHONY DR ANSFELD For the Bulletin
If you Googled “most underrated athlete mid 1960s to mid 1970s” chances are pretty good that Bob “ Nizer “ James of Kimberley B.C. would pop up. Nizer is retired from Cominco and lives in Marysville with his wife Marie. Back in the day Bob James was a standout baseball catcher for the Kimberley Junior Tempests under Carlo Johansen, before moving into elite fastball, as a catcher for Eddy Mountain. I saw Nizer play lots of baseball while I rode the pine for B.P.O.E. Angels under the tutelage of John “Mauk” McKenzie. Bobby’s dad “Sparky” James never missed a ball game, always wearing his L..A.Dodgers cap. My memory of Bob James was in a word terrific. His athletic prowess was often underestimated, because of his easy going nature. Not the fleetest of foot, Nizer hit for a high average and called a very savvy game behind the plate too. His throwing arm, while not as flashy as his cross town rival Alan Fabro, was none the less pretty darn good. James got rid of the ball very quickly on steal attempts, and threw the ball with unerring accuracy. I never saw him play Fastball here in Kimberley, or in Invermere (Coached by Eddy Mountain and Frank Sullivan) where he also played catcher and batted clean up (among his team mates were the late Darryl Jarrett,, Danny Sullivan alias Sully, Boots Boudreau, Mike Duval, Gerry Warniuk and John Davidson (current President and G.M,of Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL). Returning to Baseball for a moment, we were playing Rossland in the Kootenay Playoffs (around 1968) and Fabby put me in as a pinch runner at second base, with Bobby James at the plate and our Kimberley team down by one run. Now Bob was always cool under fire, and this time was no exception, lining a single off of Dennis “Zanzibar” Zinnio who usually chucked for Trail, but was picked up by Ross-
land for the Playoffs. Anyway, Nize came through for us that day (again) He was very cool in pressure situations. He had it all except foot speed.
HOCKEY
Bobby James first appeared on my “hockey radar” while a member of the 1964 BC Juvenile Champion Kimberley team who were Coached by Gerry Barre (still residing in Kimberley) and the late Bob McDonald ( manager). This team recently got back together for a reunion (50 years) at this year’s July Fest. Bobby James was a gangly third line centre, on the Juveniles — certainly not the star he was later to become on the Gonzaga Bulldogs, when he was their Captain, and leading scorer. Gonzaga “ The Zags” as they were called, played in a College League, with U.B.C., Simon Fraser, Selkirk College and B.C.I.T. , U of Vic, and Alaska Methodist University in Fairbanks. I believe Nizer was first or second team All Star the season of 1969-70. James was 6 foot 2 inches and a pretty good skater for a big guy. He excelled at winning face-offs , and was a very cerebral hockey player, seeing everything on the ice and always seemingly two passes ahead of the play, very much like Bobs old team mate on the Kimberley Juveniles, Lloyd “ Bert” Beattie, who could have been a penalty killer in the NHL.
Bob James played on the 1972 league champs, Kimberley Men’s Fastball league. Back row, left to right, Bob James, Eric Hoglund, Rod Loraas, Jim Boudreau; middle row, Jon Scanland, Ray Picco, Terry Patterson, Terry Kinrade; front row, Oran Hoglund (bat boy), Jim Broadhurst, coach Dan Sullivan and Mike Duval.
NIZER JAMES THE COMPETITOR
Well let me share this on Bob “ Nizer “ James — I was a room mate of “Nize “in Spokane in the fall of 1969, a lovely house we rented behind the Gonzaga Girls Dorm (no we did not have a telescope, we had two) Bob and I were pretty good buddies, until i scored a hockey goal with 30 seconds left in the game, between my club, the Spokane Junior Americans, and the Gonzaga Bull Dogs at the Spokane Coliseum. A raucous college crowd of 4000 came to this exhibition game, cheer-leaders the whole works. Nizer was of course their captain (and very popular on
Bob also had a lifelong involvement in hockey, here with the Juvenile Lions. Back row, Jim Kadin, Howie Wynn, Harvey Jenkins, Don Jones, Peter Gregg, Mike Jones, Craig Wilson. Front row, Gerry Barre (coach), Lloyd Beattie, Terry Frizzell, Dave Sanderson, Bob Muir, Dan Sullivan, Bob James, Jim Broadhurst, terry McDonald, Bob McDonald (manager). Missing, Darryl Reed, Dale McBain, Doug Daniel. campus with his fellow students). Gonzaga out shot us 72-35 or so, I got very lucky at the end of the game (with a scant 30 seconds to go) scoring on Zags net minder Dave Fisher of Trail, who either did go or did not go to school at Gonzaga. Gonzaga was infamous for having a few ringers on their team — Michael
Jones of Kimberley who matriculated at Washington State U comes to mind. Getting back to the game, I scored the winning goal and Nizer was so choked, he did not speak to me for two months. His own room mate!! Great Athletes do not like to lose, no how no way. He finally broke
the ice one day asking me if i had any tooth paste. Things quickly came back to normal. Before you knew it we were back watching our favorite show “ Big Valley” and going to the Bubble Inn where Nize was the reigning pool player, and bought our house groceries with his pool earnings.. We ate
well. As Mary Hopkins said so well in her song “Those Were The Days My Friends, We Thought They Would Never End”. These days Bob “Nizer” James is still involved with Hockey Canada, after serving in management with the Kimberley Senior Dynamiters (Allan Cup
Champions 1978) Bob and his wife Marie are Kootenay Ice season ticket holders. Bob Nizer James is a very affable fellow, pretty laid back, but once he stepped on the baseball field, or hockey rink things changed, and a warrior emerged, a very nice one though.