If you attended a meeting of the North East Secondary School Athletic Conference in recent years, there was a good chance Bill Yeaman was also in attendance.
On Saturday, those contributions will be recognized when Yeaman is inducted into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame in the builder category. The ceremony will take place in the Ches Leach Lounge.
“It’s really humbling. There’s no doubt about that.” Yeaman said about being inducted. “It’s so nice to be after 40 years of coaching and working with kids and athletes to be recognized by another agency and then your family. It’s a little overwhelming, but it’s truly appreciated.”
Yeaman spent several years in education beginning in Gladmar in 1979. He would transfer to Birch Hills where he spent 23 years as a physical education and history teacher. He would transfer to Kinistino in 2004 where he would serve as vice principal and principal before retiring from teaching in 2015.
Yeaman held every executive position available in the North East Secondary School Athletic Conference including president, vice president, secretary and referee-in-chief. He represented Section 3 of the Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association for three terms from 1992 to 1998 and was recognized as the North Central District Merit Award Winner in 2006.
Yeaman says he found his time working in athletics to be extremely rewarding.
“When you start out when you’re younger, you join in with a lot of enthusiasm. I’ve had a really great career and I’ve been so fortunate to work with the Northeast School District, the SHSAA district and the North Central and held just about every position that there was. I just got into the athletics, and I found over the years that the more involved you became in these organizations, the more you get out of that yourself personally and you can have a direct impact with the kids.”
Yeaman also coached the Birch Hills Marauders boys’ basketball teams to a total of six SHSAA titles including four consecutive from 1984 to 1987.
Yeaman credits the teams he coached for buying into the strategy that helped them win those provincial championships.
“We had some really, really successful teams. The reason why we were successful is the kids bought into what we were trying to establish and commit to, and they did. They were just really talented kids and they worked hard, and then I had the distinct pleasure of moving to Kinistino coaching girls and won five provincial championships coaching girls’ basketball.”
Yeaman currently serves as the Public Address voice of the Birch Hills Marauder football team and the Birch Hills Brewers baseball team.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
