Chronicles of Buchanan Quinn

As The

Canmore Crushers' Mascot

1978 – 1984

Preamble:                                                              Written by Morgan Quinn

          Buchanan was born in 1978, one of seven in a litter from Big Mac and Jessica.  His parents were from the McKinven farm in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, specifically North Hatley, where the owner, a farmer from Scotland, bred border collies.

          I was friends of both owners of Buchanan's parents but predominately Rob and Sandra McDougall, owner of Buchanan's mother Jess.  While living in Calgary, they decided to breed their female, Jess, with Jamie Squire's male, Big Mac.  The result was a litter of four females and three males.  The four females were sold as working dogs to ranchers on the outskirts of Calgary.  Two of the males were sold to friends, one being me.  The pick of the litter, Jake, remained with the MacDougalls. 

          I received Buchanan at a soccer game I was playing in at the Banff Springs Hotel soccer field in the summer of 1978.  Buchanan was six weeks old at the time and scared shitless.  The pun here is while a group of us were living at suite 16 on Railway Ave, Gary Wilson's belongings were often the location of where Buch, as a puppy, would let it go, as it were!  Gary was very forgiving of Buch's growing pains.  Thanks Gary.

Natural Instinct:

          Prior to Buchanan being born, I was always interested in observing his mother Jessica's abilities.  She was an extremely intelligent dog and had a considerable amount of natural ability.  Of course being a border collie, she had a lot going for her to begin with.  In fact, once when riding at Johnny's stables at the foot of Lady Macdonald, we happen to come across a number of horses running free on the range.  Before Rob or any of us could react, Jessica immediately darted to the stallion, nipping him on the heels and rounding up the rest of the herd at the same time.  Let me tell you, it was a sight to behold.  At that moment, I leaned over in the saddle to Rob and said, "if you ever breed Jess, I want one of the puppies."  There you have it, the order was in and perhaps the thought altogether to consider breeding.

          Buchanan was a very well behaved dog.  Most people will attest to that.  He rarely barked and was not very interested in interacting with other dogs in the least, except perhaps Rocky.  I never had to have him on a lead nor chained at home.  He lived to chase things.  One of his specialties was night pursuit.  There were many nights at ball tournaments or at campfires in someone's back yard after a fastball game that involved Buch chasing sticks and such in the dark.  More often than not, he would return with the item, regardless of how far it was thrown or how long it took to find it.  Although, his natural instinct was to herd and so in doing, adapted to what I was involved in, which in the summer was fastball.  Buchanan picked up the game very quickly and understood his role almost immediately.  He would usually find his position, where he could clearly see the pitcher, usually Fid and run a path down his fence line to the catcher, usually Mitch, Keith or Barry.  As all know whoever saw him work, any foul ball was his.  The kids that had collected change for retrieving foul balls were suddenly challenged and consequently discouraged, as they were no match for Buch's abilities, much to their displeasure.  At the end of every half inning, he would usually run around the field circumference feeling engaged, as that was what the players were somewhat doing, while exchanging defense to offence.  However when the pitcher began to throw the warm up pitches before the batter was in the box, Buch was in his ready position, prepared for any balls over the fence, in any direction.

Anecdotes:

          A few stories come to mind that some people will remember.  They go something like this.

          During one very intense ball game at the Railway Ave. ball diamond, Buch ran after a foul ball that was hit directly towards the road.  At the time, two guys in a BMW from Montana were coming along at a fair clip and ran over Buch, while engaged in retrieving the foul ball.  The game came to a sudden and complete halt, as shock and disbelief was observed.  Our entire team, at bat at the time, left the dugout and ran to the road and circled the car before the two guys inside could react.  Our team literally picked up the car and all I remember seeing at the time was utter panic from the two inside, as their wheels left the ground with ease.  Interesting what adrenaline will allow one to do, however this was a collective team effort!  I was not part of the lifting but was honoured with the complete support of coming to the aid of Buchanan at a time of need.  As they lifted the car, Buch ran out from beneath, with nothing more than a nick on his elbow and he had the ball! 

          On one of our many tournaments, this one was in Edge H2O, B.C., I had the occasion to be taking care of Jake, Buch's brother, for the weekend.  Of course there was no question he would be accompanying us on the trip because Buch was a valued part of the team, thereby so would be Jake.  Why not include his brother?  Most will remember the layout of the ball diamond because it had a rather unique set of wooden grandstands around home base and extending along both baselines.  Buch, upon the beginning of our first game, occupied his normal position glued to the pitcher's every move along one of the baselines.  Jake, in observing Buch, assumed the role of patrolling the opposite base line from where Buch was positioned.  Both dogs ran the baselines all game, chasing down all foul balls, to the delight and entertainment of the many fans watching.  In fact, the crowd was more interested in watching the antics of the dogs, rather than the game.  We were not insulted.  To see how quickly Jake picked up what Buch was doing was astonishing. 

          Another story occurred on a weekend, when a number of us were camping up at the quarry above Canmore.  This was really the only feasible location to swim in the valley and nick-named the Canmore beach.  Upon waking up on the second day there, we immediately were aware that Buch was nowhere to be seen.  In the night and earlier that morning, we heard some coyotes yelping in the woods above the quarry and I wondered about their intent.  I grabbed an axe and ran to the woods, in time to see two coyotes run away further into the woods.  My thoughts were that Buch was lured, perhaps by females in heat, and then attacked by the pack.  I looked all around in the woods but there was no sign of Buch.  In returning to the campsite by the quarry, we decided to go back to town to see if, for some reason, Buch had gone home, although I couldn't for the life of me guess why.  While looking for him around town, I happened to be driving by the ball diamond, where a slow pitch tournament was underway.  As I gazed over, there working the game was Buch!  He had heard the sounds of a ball tournament ongoing and went all the way from the quarry to the ball diamond on Railway Ave.  While I was upset that he had decided to leave, I also was quite amused at his devotion to working ball games.  I thought, "well Buch, we have something in common." 

          Speaking of being in heat, one fall Buch and I were on our way back to my home town of Rosemere, Quebec from Canmore for a visit.  We had stopped over night somewhere around the top of Lake Superior.  We were on somewhat of a marathon, as was usually the case in my 28 driving trips across the country.  However that morning, I let Buch out for a leak, while I packed up my belongings in the motel room and loaded the car.  Upon completion, I looked around for Buch.  Problem, no Buch to be seen.  I whistled and still no Buch.  That was odd because he always responded to my whistle.  I drove around this very small town looking everywhere, stopping to whistle, still no Buch.  There was a RCMP detachment there and I stopped in and reported Buch missing.  They said they could not really do much but at least I reported him missing.  I began to piece together what could have happened and concluded that perhaps he had been taken by someone.  After looking around further for some time, I left and continued my trip to Rosemere, alone!  I was driving along thinking, how could that have happened and believe me tears were in my eyes.  Suddenly a police car came up behind me quickly and had the lights on for me to pull over.  The Mountie came up to the Volvo and indicated that Buch was back at the motel, where I stayed the night before.  The only thing was, I had travelled 100 miles down the highway, when pulled over.  Let me tell you, I was spitting nails by the time I returned to that motel.  When I arrived, there was Buch, sitting in the motel window waiting for me.  Talk about two emotional extremes being experienced at the same time.  I was promptly informed by the Mounties, that he had been pursuing a female in heat.  Buch was rather humble upon my arrival and he knew I was quite unhappy.  However I was more relieved that he had been recovered safely.  The rest of the trip was uneventful, as far as Buch was concerned!

          In closing I encourage any of you to contribute to this site, whether it be adding anecdotes about Buchanan or other memories about the Crushers.  It certainly was a most memorable time in my life, with most experiences and friends being treasured to this day.  I am in touch with some former members of our team and was in attendance at the Foothills Fastball League Reunion some five years ago.  It was a real pleasure to get together with former participants and catch up. 

          On another note, I would like to pay tribute to Keith Mitchell.  Although Fid was the heart of the team, Keith was our most valuable player.  His batting average was often well over 600.  He was lead off batter and had amazing speed on the base paths.  He also was one of our catchers, an intricate aspect of any successful team.  Apart from that, he was a gentleman, who was committed to the team.  After all he would drive from Field to Canmore to play, clearly an indication of devotion. 

It was great to see all of you at the reunion.                               Morgan