When your wife is a provincial softball player and you can’t catch a ball, how do you share in her passion of the sport? You become an umpire.
In the mid 80’s Bob Pearson decided to start an umpiring crew to serve the needs of the West Island Community. Originally made up of husbands and friends who thought they knew the rules, Bob came to realize that there was much his crew needed to know.
Bob became familiar with the leadership at both Softball Canada and Softball Québec and on a personal level attended clinics to become a level 4 umpire, qualifying him to officiate at the National Championship level. He stayed current with the annual rule changes, umpire interpretations and case book examples.
The West Island Softball Umpires Association (WISUA) was born of his passion, to be the best at this craft. Bob offered annual clinics sharing the new rules of the year as well as reviewing the year’s umpire exam with his team.
This umpiring crew started with one league and now serves 12. Some of the WISUA umpires have officiated at the Quebec Softball Provincial Championships, Bob had officiated at the national level. Bob shared his skill with the GMAA assisting high school students to learn the game while officiating.
Sadly, Bob passed in June of 2019. These are some comments that were shared.
“Getting involved in umpiring with Bob was a true joy. I aspired to be as professional as he was. Kind and thoughtful as he was, engaging and educational as he was as he passed on his words of wisdom to all of us wanting to become good umpires” Ron Deschamps
"I knew Bob as an umpire for High School softball games. He was not only always fair, but also a kind teacher of kids. He always found time to answer a question or share a smile with nervous kids just learning the game. The kids and coaches from the GMAA Girls' Softball teams will miss Mr Pearson." Gary Elson
