When Robb Andison first started playing ball in Whitehorse, Takhini 3 looked much the same as it does now.

Rustic benches a little longer and wider, the same dirt compound, the same community love of slo-pitch. Although the clapboard dugouts may have been updated, a fresh coat of paint added.

“The scenery is newer,” says Andison. “The ball parks are the same. They haven’t changed in 30 years.”

Three decades. That’s how long Andison has been involved in the Whitehorse slo-pitch scene.

He started playing in 1986, after he’d moved to Whitehorse from Mayo for the second time.

“This is where I started, right here,” he says, standing near the fence behind the plate at Takhini 3. “I met up with the right people and they asked if I wanted to play.”

He was in his early 20s, back in the day when Whitehorse still had an active men’s league – three divisions worth.

Andison, who says he was “a big boy” back then, started behind the plate.

He learned to pitch and could eventually play any infield position.

In 2000, he was forced to retire from playing because of his knees, but not before he’d begun taking on a role on the administrative side of the sport.

“In 1994 a friend of mine hauled me out to Softball Yukon’s annual general meeting and little did I know then, this is what being voluntold is,” he says. “You show up, you get put into a position. That’s how it started.”

Since then, Andison has served as a director with Softball Yukon from 1994 to 2000 and was president from 2000 to 2009. He has been on Softball Canada’s board of directors since 2007.

This fall, Andison will be recognized for his contributions to the sport when he is inducted into Softball Canada’s Hall of Fame as a builder in November.

He still gets choked up when he recalls finding out.

“It was absolutely surreal when I got the phone call from the Softball Canada board of directors CEO,” says Andison.

“He had told me that I’d been nominated. I was like no, really? Like Seriously? Me? Why?”

Andison has been a member of the host committee for the 2008, 2012, 2014 and upcoming 2017 world championships, all held in Whitehorse.

“He has the knowledge and he’s very good at hosting and helping out the community,” says George Arcand, current president of Softball Yukon and the only other Yukon member of the Hall of Fame. “His experience has been invaluable to Softball Yukon over the years.”

Born in Mayo, Andison has always held volunteerism as an important way to give back to his community.

He’s been involved at the administrative level in almost every sport he’s played.

“A builder of sport, I don’t necessarily take that view. I take it as a volunteer community service. Building a healthy community is what I take it as,” he says. “Ball is just my avenue of doing it. It’s my way of giving back, my way of helping my community grow. That’s what a builder to me is.”

As a volunteer, Andison has given up a lot of his personal time.

He says he can’t emphasize enough the support he’s received from his family and friends.

His whole family plays slo-pitch now.

“And it’s like, ‘Dad, when are you coming to play with us?’” he says with a laugh. “Dad’s too busy. Dad’s too busy administrating ball.”

When Andison is inducted at the Softball Canada Hall of Fame Induction ceremony on Nov. 10, he will be surrounded by his friends and his family.

“It’s my time. That’s it,” he says. “There’s nothing visual, nothing permanent, just my time. That’s what I want people to see. Donate your time. That’s your legacy.”