2024 BILL WHITBREAD TOURNAMENT IS
OPEN FOR REGISTRATION
REGISTRATIONBill Whitbread was born and raised
in Bolton where he worked for the local newspaper, Caledon Enterprise for
over 60 years. Bill was the editor of the newspaper and a well-respected
journalist until he retired. His passion for writing continued after
retirement as Bill stayed on part time with the newspaper to write his weekly
Sports and Days of Yore columns.
Whitbread loved watching all
sports, whether it be professional sports on television or a local Bolton team
competing at the community parks and arenas. Whitbread was one of the
organizers of Bolton Minor Hockey in 1959 and was the first President. He
started a house league for boys aged 6-12 years and had four teams during the
first year. He also coached and refereed during that time. He later
served as Treasurer and Registrar on the Executive. Whitbread was the
recipient of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) George H Carver Media
award for in-depth reporting over the years.
Bill and his wife Amelia had three
children who were involved in sports. Bill remained involved in youth
sports coaching his children's rep softball teams for several years. Bill's
passion was writing sports and he had a way with words like no other. He would
carefully digest the results of a game sheet and then articulate that same game
sheet into a story. When reading the article, you would have thought he was at
the game. He had nicknames for all the kids around town and enjoyed
giving those kids their time to shine with a headline or two in the newspaper.
Bill also known by many as Scoop received several awards over the years for
journalism, particularly for his efforts covering community sports at schools
and organizations.
Sadly, Bill passed away on April
13, 2014, doing what he loved, writing his column in the office. His legacy
lives on in his family.