From the Star Phoenix
BY JORDAN HARTSHORN, THE STARPHOENIX JULY 31, 2010
During the course of our 10-minute chat, Darren Zack signed three autographs and shook hands will half-a-dozen other wellwishers. He greets all of them warmly, stranger or friend. Shouts of “Hey Big Zee” are met with a congenial smile of acknowledgment.
At 49 — 50 in August — Zack doesn’t look the part of a man who once dominated the softball scene, or one who could attract a fan following. He now boasts a balky knee under his 6-foot-4 frame and won’t be pinch running anytime soon.
But make no mistake about it — Zack is a rare, and towering talent of a pitcher, still relevant in his sport as he nears the half-century mark.
“There was a time when nobody could touch it,” said Zack, honest and not arrogant. “A couple years there I was swinging the ball hard.
“Time is catching up with me, man. It does hurt when you start off — the older you get the harder it is to get back into it.”
Zack is in town competing at the Canadian Native softball championship on the Whitecap Dakota First Nation. He’s competing with his hometown Garden River First Nation in Ontario in the senior men’s division. And while this team may represent the grassroots of his talents — he says he “grew up on the diamond” back home — he doesn’t lack for international renown.
He won gold medals with the Canadian national team at the Pan Am Games in 1991, 1995 and 1999 including a gold at the International Softball Federation world championships in 1992 and silvers in 1996 and 2004.
Competing with three differnt clubs at the International Softball Congress (ISC) level, he’s won the ISC world championship four times, and received all-world player honours as a pitcher on 10 occasions.
Numerous records, national and international, belong to him and he’ll be inducted into the ISC hall of fame in August. He’s already enshrined in the Canadian softball hall of fame.
Zack was ready to call it quits on the sport this season, but with his son, Darren Jr., playing for Garden River, he felt he could give it one more go.
“My boy asked me to play with him,” Zack said. “I just want him to have a good time, do his thing, and know errors are part of the game — everybody does errors. Don’t worry about that, just go play the best you can and good things will happen.
“If he pays attention and works hard he might get all that stuff.”
Darren Sr. would know.
At first he hoped to make it as a baseball player. The bright lights of the major leagues were all too alluring. However, after only a few games in which he played sparsely, Zack quit the team and took a dedicated approach to softball. With more opportunity for the sport in his area, he flourished.
“I said, ‘Thanks for having me guys — I’m going home,’ ” said Zack. “I wanted the big ticket, man. What kid didn’t want that and the millions of dollars to go along with it?”
For all the success and all the travel he’s logged, Zack says he’s always felt at home at the Native softball championships, having taken part in its earliest events in 1970s.
“Over the years you play with a lot of guys. You see them here and you still got that bond — I think it’s great. It’s like family, man.”
The Canadian Native softball championship continues today through Sunday. All finals take place Sunday afternoon.
jhartshorn@sp.canwest.com
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