A longtime member of the Sarnia Braves baseball organization has died.
Joe Panik passed away at Bluewater Health in Petrolia on Wednesday, June 3, 2020 at the age of 81.
He was a proud member of the organization for over 60 years as a player, coach, umpire, organizer, convener, and fundraiser.
In 1959, he was called up to play with the Sarnia Braves and helped them capture the city's first Ontario Senior A championship.
The team said Panik was a major fundraiser for baseball in Sarnia over the years. These funds provided the city with hundreds of thousands of dollars for improvements at Errol Russell and Blackwell parks.
Panik and Stan Slack started the Sarnia Braves Minor Baseball program in 1994. He was named president and held the position for 25 years.
Since 1994, the minor Braves have won eleven OBA championships at the A, AA, AAA level as well as finishing as finalists 10 times.
In 2017, he was inducted into the Sarnia-Lambton Sports Hall of Fame.
A celebration of his life will be scheduled in the future once restrictions have been lifted.
