Inducted 2021
Dave Buckingham’s accomplishments and contributions to the sports community are vast, impacting both the sport of hockey and baseball, both as an athlete and builder. Dave’s Hockey career, as a goaltender, between high school and the Newfoundland Senior Hockey league saw him produce 7 team championships in a 10-year span. This includes a Herder Championship in 1977 with the Blue Caps, along with 7 top goaltender awards. Dave also represented Newfoundland on the national stage at 2 Allen Cup Championships between 1975 and 1978, winning the Eastern Allan Cup in 1976 with the Blue Caps.
Over a 20-plus-year playing career, Dave played at the highest level of baseball in the province, along with representing Newfoundland at 10 national tournaments. Dave showed the talent, sportsmanship and team-first approach that led to multiple individual awards and team championships. His individual accomplishments include being named MVP of the St. John’s Junior League, MVP of the 1976 Junior Provincial Championship, a 3-time St. John’s Senior League playoff MVP, multiple statistical awards and receiving the Gonzaga Vikings Association Athlete of the year award in 1976. During Dave’s playing career he was a core member of 13 provincial championship teams along with 13 city championship teams. Dave’s name is synonymous with the 1980s Shamrock Dynasty teams that won a record 9 straight Senior Baseball league titles. Dave’s outstanding playing career culminated with his introduction, in the player category, into the St. John’s Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Newfoundland Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.
Dave’s most impactful contribution to the Newfoundland sports community, however, came after his playing days were finished as an umpire with baseball where he was the provincial Umpire in Chief from 1997 to 2006. Dave helped transform umpiring in the province to assist in developing a more qualified and knowledgeable umpiring program and has helped the program develop over 10 nationally certified umpires. Dave’s abilities as an umpire are renowned nationally and internationally for both his on-field ability and off field mentoring, where he has been a go-to resource at every Baseball Canada tournament he attends. Dave has been involved in over 20 National tournaments as an umpire or umpire supervisor along with countless Provincial and Atlantic level tournaments. Dave’s ability as an on-field umpire and off field mentor resulted in his being appointed a crew chief at ever national tournament he’s attended. Dave’s on-field umpiring highlight was being selected to umpire the 1999 Pan-American Games in Winnipeg. Dave is one of only two umpires in Baseball Canada history to win both the Dick Willis Memorial Award for umpire of the year, and the Home Run Sports Umpire Lifetime Achievement Award. Provincially Dave won the umpire of the year award in 2007 and 2021 and has also had the umpire room at St. Pat’s renamed the Dave Buckingham Room in 2017. Dave continues to umpire and supervise at the highest level both provincially and nationally where his knowledge, leadership and fair approach to umpiring continues his passion of developing current and next generation umpires.