Walwyn Brewley

VI’s Hall of Fame Softball President says ‘goodbye’

BY DEAN GREENAWAY

Saying his time has come, BVI Softball Association Hall of Fame president Walwyn ‘GM’ Brewley called it quits Sunday after 22 years at the helm. Fittingly, Brewley called and scored the game where his former team the Blue Wings beat the Byrds 6-2 for their record ninth championship.

Time and again Brewley said he would step down, but never made a formal announcement until just before the final out was recorded late Sunday night. “This is the final championship game under my presidency,” Brewley who has been at the helm since 1981 announced over the Public Address System.

“I’m stepping down effective now,” Brewley said after recapping the game. “We will have an election to make it official, but I won’t be back next year as president. I’ve been here for over 20 odd years and I think you have to know when to say when. I think my time has come. Like a bridge over troubled waters, I shall lay me down.”
Brewley said he took the sport as far as he could, but noted player’s interest in the sports has diminished over the years, something his successor will have to address. Most players today he says are merely going through the motions. “It’s not like when we used to play. You wanted to play and you were interested in playing,” he noted. “I think that’s one of the reasons why the interest in the league has slacked off. We don’t have hungry ball players any longer. They don’t come and give that 100%. A few do, but the majority don’t give it like before.”

Another issue Brewley who was inducted into the International Softball Federation Hall of Fame in 1999 sees is a lack of national pride, which he says is killing BVI sports. “We don’t have that national pride at all. I don’t know how we’re going to get them indoctrinated. We’ll have to start with the young ones at school now. Hopefully, when their turn comes, they’ll go out there and do what they have to do for this country.”

Brewley says players have been critical and blames the association for everything that goes wrong. “I think the players have to be more introverted and look a bit harderj to see that they are the ones who make the league. It’s not the association or the president,” he said. “We have gotten softball to the level where they can attend annual tournaments. But they have to help themselves to get to these tournaments. You just can’t sit back and say ‘Well, we’re going to represent the country and the government has to give us the money.’ That has to stop. The next person who takes over, that will be a job for them.”