Baseball Canada president Ray Carter (Tsawwassen, B.C) has been inducted into the ‘Builders’ category at British Columbia’s Delta Sports Hall of Fame.
Carter is one of the most distinguished baseball people in Canada, having been involved with the sport for over 30 years. Before being elected as Baseball Canada president in 2000, Carter was the organization’s vice president from 1988 to 2000 in addition to acting as the chairman of Baseball Canada’s High Performance Committee, Human Resources Committee, Sport Development Committee as well as the Planning and Administration Committee.
“It was very exciting for me and it was kind of a shock because there are so many volunteers in this community of over 100,000 people that would be worthy recipients,” Carter said. “For me to be singled out, I thought that was very special. It’s quite an honour.”
A native of Vancouver Island, Carter moved inland to the Delta Region in 1975. He got involved in the local sports scene almost immediately with the Tsawwassen Amateur Baseball Association where he worked his way up from groundskeeper and coach to president in addition to spending 13 years with the Delta Parks and Recreation Commission. He later served as B.C. Minor Baseball president from 1988 to 1990 and the B.C. Amateur Baseball president from 1990 to 1998.
With the Delta region being a hotbed for sports, Carter felt right at home.
“I think it was a match made in heaven when I moved out here,” said Carter. “I liked the area and decided it would be a good community to live in and being sports-minded it was just natural that I got involved about as soon as I got here. When a friend invited me to help coach a team I was hooked.”
Carter, who currently also works as the president of RKTG Consulting and Engineers and sits on the Delta Police Board is one of the most decorated baseball people in British Columbia and all of Canada. In addition to receiving numerous volunteer awards within his own community, Carter was also the recipient of Canada’s Governor General’s medal for volunteerism in 1993.
“I really think that awards like these should be shared with other people and sometimes it’s a little awkward being singled out when I know there are so many other people that put in a tremendous amount of work,” said Carter. “The first person I would want to thank is my friend and business partner Dick Klassen, who first asked me to coach, because that was the beginning of what’s been a great ride for over 30 years. The other is my good friend Don Cowan, the Toronto Blue Jays Scout, who encouraged me to go to Baseball B.C.”
Other inductees included skier Bronwen Thomas and former NHLer Gary Nylund.
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