A Little Bonner Baseball History

by Kim Briggeman

June 7, 2021

Visit the Bonner Milltown History Center and Museum for a trip down memory lane. The baseball uniform and cap of former player and coach Arnold "Ode" Odegaard are two of the portals leading you back to Bonner's heydays.When the Missoula Paddleheads hosted the Boise Hawks on June 5, 2021, it marked the first Pioneer Baseball League appearance in Missoula by a Boise team since Aug. 31, 1960. The Missoula Timberjacks won that night 3-1 at Campbell Park, on the corner of South Higgins and South avenues. It turned out to be the final league home game ever for the Timberjacks, who folded following the season after five years.

But it wasn’t their last time playing at Campbell Park. After finishing the season on the road, the Timberjacks came back to Missoula one last time for an exhibition “player appreciation night” contest against those other ‘Jacks — the Bonner Lumberjacks, a semi-pro team in the Western Montana League made up mostly of millworkers. Here's Bonner’s lineup that historic (sort of) night, Sept. 6, 1960:

Stan Wold 2b

Howie Johnson rf

Lynn Colvert p

Duane Anderson ss

Bob Sowre c

Butch Hendricks c

Dick Graven 3b

Gordon Hunt cf

Gene Sowre lf

Bob Payton 1b

Lefty Pleasant 1b

Gary Trenary lf

Jim Hill was announced in the starting lineup in the paper that morning but apparently didn’t play.

Gene Sowre was also the team’s business manager. Field manager was John Luraski. You’ll know at least some of these names. Wold, the Sowres, and, of course, Lefty Pleasant were synonymous with baseball in Bonner. Gary Trenary went on to coach high school football at Loyola and Hellgate and lives in Frenchtown. His brother Don’s son, Guy, runs the River City Grill. Howie Johnson taught me how to bunt in my shaky playing days.

In their last act as a team, the Timberjacks beat the Lumberjacks 6-2. Bob Sowre and Bill Burkland won an exhibition egg-tossing contest before the game. Duane Anderson, who'd go on to play for the Missoula Highlanders in 1961, hit a two-run homer for Bonner's two runs. Colvert, also a future Highlander, had three of the Lumberjacks' five hits.

And that was it for the Missoula Timberjacks. At least one of them, shortstop Cesar Tovar, was destined for the big leagues with the Minnesota Twins. He went just 1-for-4 against Bonner's Colvert that night. As for the Lumberjacks, who were playing baseball under that name as early as June 11, 1905, when they drubbed Reilly’s Shamrockers of Missoula 22-0? They continue to share their nickname with Bonner School teams, but that night, Sept. 6, 1960, against the Missoula Timberjacks was the last baseball game they played as well.