A treasured volunteer who spent countless hours at the rink officiating hockey games in the winter and at the diamond umpiring baseball games in the summer so kids could play the sport they loved is being remembered for his passion 

2014 Manitoba Baseball Inductee Wilbert Funk & presenter Gladwyn Scott and lifelong contribution to sports and to his community.

Wilbert Funk passed away Tuesday, January 18th at the age of 92.

"I think for a lot of people in Altona and area it will be one of those 'remember when' kind of circumstances where we were impacted by Wilbert, and different generations had different experiences," said Altona Mayor Al Friesen. "For some, Wilbert was "Big Red" who wore number five and played defense for the Altona Maroons. For many of us, it was a time that he was our coach in baseball or in hockey, and for some, and of course for many fans and athletes, it was his time officiating. He's probably most well known as the guy who was behind the plate for some 2,500 games. A variety of experiences, and I think, as someone pointed out to me, he had got in a text conversation with some former teammates and ultimately they realized that Wilbert made them better people."

In 1998 Funk was honoured as Altona's Citizen of the Year.

"I think he was an encourager," said Mayor Friesen. "Wilbert was not a person who took losing well, but he certainly was someone who taught us to reach for more. He was a community booster. He was a booster of young people, and I think he inspired us all to aspire to be more. In his later years, he and his wife Sally would hold court on their front yard and everybody who would come by would get a friendly wave, and for the neighborhood kids they were grandma and grandpa. He inspired us to do more and be postitive no matter what the circumstances. His sense of humour, his smile and his laugh is a good example for all of us."

Funk played on the inaugural Altona Maroons team that captured the first South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League championship in 1951-52.

When his playing days were over, Funk got behind the bench and coached numerous minor hockey teams in Altona and also officiated games for a number of years.

During the summer months, it was all about baseball, both coaching and umpiring.

"Wilbert was a very passionate person and a real character," said former Altona Minor Baseball Association President Gord Sawatzky. "He was so good with kids, motivating kids and teaching kids in terms of minor baseball skills, learning the game and so many life skills as well."

Funk umpired for more than 40 years.

One of his biggest thrills was umpiring 73 games during the ball season that coincided with his 73rd birthday.

"You knew you had a fair umpire and you were in for a bit of a show," Sawatzky said. "Wilbert was known to put on a bit of a performance. Kids loved it. Coaches loved him and fans certainly appreciated him. I think the biggest compliment he could get perhaps, was opposing teams loved it when they knew he was umpiring and opposing parents got a kick out of him. He was always perceived as being very fair and he would be very expressive in calling a third strike on a batter and calling an out at home plate. You would know where you stood with him and he was so entertaining."

Wilbert Funk was named Baseball Manitoba's Umpire of the Year in 1997 and was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.