Bruce Murdoch Pearce played baseball in his youth, including second base on the 1925 Trolley team, but it was his tireless efforts as a sponsor and booster of minor sports, that left his stamp on the development of minor sports in Norfolk County.

As owner/operator of The Simcoe Reformer newspaper Bruce sponsored numerous baseball and hockey teams.  If there was a need in minor sports, Bruce filled it, either through a financial commitment or through his ability to convey the message to others.

He managed Peewee, Bantam, Midget, Juvenile and Junior baseball teams as a young man, including 1937 Reformer Cubs Hockey Team and the 1946 Reformer Cubs, which won the All-Ontario Junior Championship,  Simcoe's first baseball crown. He also won many other Ontario crowns.

Believing interest in sports and the skill that went with it were signs of a good character, Bruce employed many young men in search of a job because they exhibited skill on the sports field or in the arena.

Many of our Hall of Recognition inductees worked at the Simcoe Reformer: including Eddie O'Donnell, Otto King, Howard Showers, Doug King, and the 1953 Stars' Fred Amerger.

There has been perhaps no person in Norfolk County who has exhibited a greater love for baseball.

Bruce was inducted into our Hall of Recognition in 1996.

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Original 1996 Profile by Don Stewart, Mike Bauslaugh