Lloydminster’s longtime senior baseball star part of Saskatchewan shrine’s class of 2025
Standing in the infield of the Lloydminster Meridian Twins’ home
diamond, one of the senior team’s most distinguished alumni looks past the outfield fence and sees Border City history in a baseball type of way.
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Kevin Payne remembers when the home-run balls that cleared the Legion ballpark and landed on and around Highway 16 would be picked up the next morning as commuters headed to work. That stretch of highway was otherwise void of the developments across from the park today, such as the casino and the Co-op gas depot.
Payne, who was a longtime player and manager of the Twins, loves baseball lore both at the local and Major League levels. Now, he’s making history himself as part of the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2025 being inducted this Saturday, Aug. 16, during ceremonies in Battleford.
“To even be considered was an honour,” Payne said after receiving word from Saskatchewan baseball icon Jane Shury, the ageless founder and
president of the hall of fame.
“But to get the call from Jane that I was going to be included in this year’s induction class was really special, especially with this being the 40th annual induction.
“It’s truly an honour to be included with fellow inductees for this year, and the deep history of baseball in Saskatchewan, with so many great players and organizers and teams. It’s very humbling, for sure.”
PASSION FOR BASEBALL
From humble roots, great stories emerge, especially in many of the small towns that have been prominent in Saskatchewan’s baseball history.
Payne, who turned 47 in July, was born in Lloydminster, which was home for both of his parents’ families. His start in baseball came in the village of Forestburg, Alta., where he played from T-ball through the 11U division.
“I just always really had a passion for it, ever since I can remember,” he said. “Growing up around the ballfields, with both my parents having played. I recall watching my dad playing shortstop, and he was definitely the biggest influence in my game, as a youngster.”
Payne was 10 years old when his family moved back to Lloydminster in 1989, which happened to be about the same time that the Border City was reviving its minor baseball program.
The visionaries of the time recognized that the game was not only ideal recreation for youth, but that baseball truly belonged in Lloydminster, which had been home to semi-pro ball in the 1950s and 60s.
“It’s a cool, long history of baseball in Lloydminster,” Payne reflected. “Back from the old semi-pro days of the 50s and 60s when the team was called the Meridians. That’s how Bart (King) and his brother Graydon came up with the name Meridian Twins (at the senior level), to pay homage to that pro team.
“For the group of us that grew up together, to get baseball back growing again, and then with all the people who’ve put in so many hours of work to get it where it’s at now, it’s pretty special.”
POWERFUL HITTER
Payne was still midget age, 17, when he and hard-throwing Shayne Ermel and heavy-hitting Jaime Smithson were called up to play with the senior Twins in the North Saskatchewan River Baseball League. That was in 1996, the same year that Bernal Ulsifer and the King brothers founded the team.
The next year, Payne became a full-time member of the Twins. He went on to become a perennial league all-star and team MVP, best known for his
powerful hitting.
“I just didn’t know how much that team would mean to me over the next two and a half decades,” he said. “We had a really special team and we put in a good run.
“Baseball is obviously a team sport, so this hall of fame induction wouldn’t even happen, I don’t think, if not for all the teammates I’ve had over the years. The group we had with the Twins just had such great team chemistry. We planned and committed our summers around the team for so many years.”
Payne remained a big part of the organization for two-plus decades, from his achievements as a hitter, pitcher and infielder to those as a manager. Not to mention Lloyd’s string of championships.
“Stacy Walker took over as manager in 1998, and by 2000 everything began to click,” Payne said of Lloyd’s first championship season. “We had a good group of local players come up and some new players had moved to town that year. That’s when everything with the team started gelling and we began having a lot of success.
“Then, in 2004, myself and Troy Winterhalt took over management of the team, but we were still full-time players. We were player-managers over the next decade.”
The winning ways continued as Lloydminster captured 11 NSRBL championships over two decades. In his final year as manager, the legendary Arnie Lund guided the Twins to the first of their six straight titles through 2014. Lund, a three-time provincial hall of famer, died in 2022.
“Arnie was a big part of our team for a few years,” Payne said. “He was one of the best guys I’ve ever met. He was a lot of fun and I loved talking ball with him.”
Those Twins represented the Border City during its golden era for senior baseball.
“We had so many great players over the years, but our core — including Stacy Walker, Troy Winterhalt, Craig Traverse, Kelly Hoffer and Jaime Smithson
— that was really the glue that held it all together for so long to have so many winning seasons,” Payne said. “So many great memories with the team.
“Then, around 2015, it was awesome to see Steve Barbour and Chris Osmak — they were great players for us at the time — they also stepped up and took on more management of the team to keep it going. Which meant a lot to us vets, when we couldn’t maybe continue to put in quite as much time.
“Now, it’s just great to see (player-manager) Trent Kusch and the new young generation of players keep it going. It really means a lot to us old boys.”
When he was one of the young boys, Payne also played junior with a select Midwest White Sox team — made up of players from various NSRBL clubs — that hosted and won the provincial junior championship in Lloydminster in 1999. That ranks atop the batting order in Payne’s baseball memories. Championship Sunday was his 21st birthday, on which he fired a complete-game one-hitter in Midwest’s 1-0 semifinal victory over the Saskatoon Pistols.
‘A HUGE HONOUR’
In a full-circle moment, one of the teams Payne faced in the 1992 provincial bantam A (now AAA) championship was the Battleford Beavers, the same club being inducted into the hall of fame this year.
Although he doesn’t personally know the other inductees, “it’s a huge honour to be inducted with them,” Payne said.
“I know of Logan Hofmann. I played against his dad and his uncle for many years. He was drafted into the big leagues by the (Pittsburgh) Pirates, so that’s pretty neat.”
Payne believes he’s fortunate to be a part of the rich baseball tradition in Lloydminster.
“I’d like to thank Bart King for my nomination and Leo Wurtz for helping to put it together,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for both, especially considering all the years they’ve put into the game. It really meant a lot, coming from them, too.”
While softball was most popular in Lloyd summers back in the 1980s, the resurgence of minor baseball began in the 1990s and gained steam in the 2000s.
“I want to thank everybody that contributed to the baseball scene in Lloyd over the years,” Payne said. “It’s just awesome to see how much it’s grown over the last 35-plus years.
“Kathy and Brent Smithson loved the game and gave it so much of their time. They really led the charge for the minor ball program back through the late 80s and 90s and gave us the opportunity to play.
“Bob Ermel also really knew the game well and put in a lot of time with us growing up through those years.”
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Even with more competition from other sports, and the recent loss of the AAA program locally, minor baseball in Lloyd certainly has strength in numbers.
John MacNeil – Meridian Source
More than ever, more players are playing minor baseball and softball, Payne affirmed. “Through the 2000s and up until now, it’s great to see the amount of Lloydminster minor ball teams winning provincials at different levels and all the new facilities being built. Now, there’s so much more opportunity for young players, with the year-round training facilities and the academies and the winter travel teams.”
With their two children active in sports, Payne and his wife Carmen remain connected to local minor ball.
Their daughter Haley, 19, plays softball at the university level. After two years in Missouri on a college scholarship, she’s bound for British Columbia this fall to attend Simon Fraser University — Canada’s only NCAA school.
The Paynes’ 15-year-old son, Brody, is a multi-sport athlete. He spent this summer as a member of Lloyd’s 18U AA Prairie Pirates baseball team. He’s going into Grade 10 at Lloydminster Comprehensive High School, where he’ll play football with the senior Barons. Last spring, Brody was invited to a Western Canadian football prospects showcase in Richmond, B.C.
“I had to miss quite a bit (of my children’s sports) over the years, because of work,” Payne said. “But we plan our summers around that, to try to
follow the kids. We’re proud of what they’ve accomplished in their sports and school and everything.”
Payne’s induction caps a solid streak for the Twins. The team was inducted into the Saskatchewan hall in 2023, and Walker became an individual inductee last year.
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