In fact, the only question could have been ‘why not sooner?’.
When you’re responsible for the creation and development of the one of the top Junior B leagues in Canada and played a central role in the formation of the Western Canadian Baseball League, in addition to literally helping build the national ice hockey program in Japan, well, that’s the kind of thing that gets you noticed by all sorts of people.
Johnston was one of five individuals and teams enshrined on the Hall of Fame’s Wall of Fame on the second floor concourse in Mosaic Place during the 2019 induction ceremony on Oct. 19.
“I think he just loved sports and particularly hockey so much that when he quit playing he just wanted to stay in it,” said son Derrick Johnston, who inducted Bill alongside step-daughter Jana Garinger. “He wanted to have his hand in it as much as possible and wanted to be a part of it even if it was behind the scenes.”
Johnston moved to Moose Jaw in 1975 and brought his love of sports with him, especially when it came to officiating hockey. It was in the early 80s that he decided to give organizing a try and was instrumental in the formation of the Highway Hockey League when it amalgamated three different leagues, serving as the new organization’s first president and naturally working as a referee.
Johnston’s dedication to his on-ice craft saw him become a Level 5 official and eventually become the Saskatchewan Hockey Association referee-in-chief. True to form, he played a role in the formation of the Moose Jaw Hockey Officials Association and in 1998 become the MJMHA commissioner.
The international game came calling in 1984, as Harvey Parker, who nominated Johnston for the Hall of Fame, would explain back when the 2019 class was announced this past summer.
“He was always on the go,” Parker said. “Even when he was over in Japan teaching officials (in 1984), he was watching a game where the refs only called one penalty. So he officiated a game and the Japanese referees watched him and he called 22 penalties. They were just amazed. Then after he was done, they went out there and were calling penalties all over the place, and with authority. Before that, they were reluctant to call one or two penalties.”
“That was an opportunity of a lifetime for him, I know he really enjoyed it and made lots of friendships over there that lasted his whole life,” said Derrick. That’s where the memories of his dad and sports mostly flourish, with Bill’s time as an on-ice official.
Son Derrick Johnston and stepdaughter Jana Garinger were on hand to accept Bill Johnston's induction into the Moose Jaw and District Sports Hall of Fame.“He took that very seriously and was very good at it and sometimes when he would go to games with my brother and I, he would critique the referee,” Derrick recalled. “It was kind of funny hearing him say things about other referees and how they were calling the game and things like that. But we learned a lot from him doing that, too.”
It was in 1992 that Bill decided it was time to do something about the lack of second-tier junior hockey in southern Saskatchewan and helped found the South Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, a Junior B loop that would become one of the top leagues of it’s kind, with its teams making regular appearances on the Keystone Cup national championship trophy. Johnston would serve as president for the first five years, and was still around when the SSJHL joined with the North and became the Prairie Junior Hockey League.
Each year, the Bill Johnston Trophy is presented to the PJHL South division champion.
Then came his work in baseball.
When the Saskatchewan Major Baseball League was going through some tough times and was down to only a few teams in the late 1990s, Johnston helped form an alliance and interlocking schedule with a high-level league out of Alberta, leading to the formation of the Western Major Baseball League in 2000. That league became the Western Canadian Baseball League last season, and has developed into the premier college summer leagues in the country, drawing hundreds of thousands of fans to ballparks every summer.
“I actually wasn’t aware that he started leagues like the South Sask league and stuff like that,” Derrick said. “I didn’t know until I read some of the things that were sent to me and I was just shocked. He didn’t talk a lot about the things he was doing, I knew some of the stuff he was into but I didn’t know everything. And it quite surprised me.”
Bill Johnston passed away on Feb. 23, 2012. Derrick has no doubt that the Hall of Fame induction would have been a major highlight of his father’s lifetime in sports.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “It’s an honour, I feel really proud of what my dad accomplished and being able to be inducted into the Hall of Fame is an amazing honour.”
Johnston received the Saskatchewan Hockey Association Outstanding Volunteer award in 1994 and was named the Moose Jaw Times-Herald Sports Builder of the Year in 2007.
