If you’ve been to any sporting event in Prince Albert, there’s a good chance you’ve ran into Roger Mayert and his family.
Mayert was inducted into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame earlier this month in the Meritorious Service category for his many hours of volunteer work.
Mayert has been involved in a volunteer capacity with the Prince Albert Raiders, Esso Cup, Canadian Junior and Bantam Softball Championships, World Men’s Softball Championship, Canadian Junior and Senior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships and Special Olympic Summer Games amongst many other events.
Mayert says he was surprised when he first heard the news about his induction earlier this year.
“When Barry (Mihilewicz) called me, I was really shocked. I was surprised that they nominated me for the award. I’ve been on that board for years. I guess they finally thought, hey, maybe he did a little bit of favor here and a little bit of volunteering.”
During the induction banquet, a video tribute for each inductee produced by Big Drum Media was shown highlighting the work they’ve done in order to be inducted in the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame.
One person who spoke about the work of Mayert during the video tribute was Dawn Kilmer. Over the years, Kilmer has worked closely with Mayert on several occasions as a volunteer.
In an interview with the Daily Herald, Kilmer says Mayert is always one of the first people to put his name forward for an event.
“He’s a super volunteer. He volunteers regularly for anything and everything. He is never the first one to leave, always there at the end. Our city is so lucky to have Roger.”
Whenever Roger comes to volunteer at an event, he never comes alone. Mayert is often accompanied by his wife Anne and daughter Darcy.
“The volunteers I know, their families also volunteer and Roger’s family is no different.” Kilmer explained in an interview. “Roger and Anne raised their daughter Darcy to give back to the community. It’s just part of who the Mayerts are, giving to the community and always helping out.
“I wasn’t surprised. I actually nominated him because every year for anything like Citizen of the Year or any of the things that honor people, I just take time beforehand and think about the people I know and take some time to fill out a form and put it in because they deserve recognition. People will always say ‘I don’t do it for the recognition’. Realistically, when we honour people like Roger, other people are inspired to be like him. It’s just a good thing and he’s just wonderful to be around.”
Mayert has been involved with the Prince Albert Raiders since day 1 of the franchise. After starting as a season ticket holder, it didn’t take long for him to become involved helping out the team in whatever capacity he could. He spent 19 years as a member of the Raider board of directors and played a role in the Bring Back the Magic campaign that saw the Art Hauser centre renovated in the early 2000s. He was in charge of the team’s media and scout room during the 2024-25 season.
Mayert says he got an itch to get involved and hasn’t stopped since.
“I took in games for about a year or so. Then I decided I could do something. I started in the ticket office helping sell tickets. That’s where it all started. I looked after the tickets there for years and then I moved on from the ticket office, and I went to the bar, and I ran that for years. When we switched over with the bar, we were closed when the game was on, and I always liked to watch the game and enjoy it. It carried on from there and I went to the scout room.”
During the game, Mayert can often be found sitting with his family cheering on the Raiders. After witnessing the team’s many successes over the decades, he says he likes the fact the team is always in the mix most years.
“We were winning games back-to-back, and we won the Centennial Cup a couple of times, and then we decided to go into the Western Hockey League and the first year or two, well, the first year especially, we were a disaster. I don’t know how many games we won, but very, very few. The following year we picked up, and we picked up some good players, and that’s where it starts, and it just kept going. We’ve had some bad years, we’ve had some good years, and it’s been off and on, but we’ve had a fairly competitive team right through.”
sports@paherald.sk.ca
