Don Buskas has spent the past 33 years officiating the sports of hockey and baseball at a variety of levels in Wetaskiwin, in many other Alberta centres as well as in Alberta provincials, Western Canadian and Canadian championships. He is being inducted into the Wetaskiwin and County Sports Hall of Fame for his many hours of selfless dedication, for his leadership and mentorship skills and for the impact he has had on the young people of our community.
Buskas was born in Wetaskiwin and grew up on a farm in the Malmo district. His first involvement with organized sport started in Grade 7 when he attended Rosebrier school and took up curling, a sport he continued participating in for 21 years. As well, in high school he did play one year of minor hockey. Then like many parents he took up coaching once his three children were participating on softball teams. He also coached his two son’s hockey teams which led to his involvement in officiating hockey.
In 1992, Buskas began officiating hockey. He started refereeing at the U11 and U13 levels as well as in the Wetaskiwin Men’s League and served as a linesman at the U15 level. Don kept moving up in the age levels and in his fourth year he was doing “lines” for Junior B. The next year he was reffing Junior B. As his reputation and skill increased, Don started reffing Junior B and Senior AA at various centres in Alberta, from Athabaska to Irma, Vegreville to Drayton Valley and all places in-between. He is one of the few Level 4 Hockey Officials in the Wetaskiwin area. Don has refereed in the exhibition games of the Viking Cup as well as junior, senior, all categories of minor hockey. He has also served on committees with Hockey Alberta.
Besides all of the travelling to referee hockey games, Buskas was the Referee in Chief for Wetaskiwin Minor Hockey for 14 years (1997-2010). As RIC Don used to assign officials to all the local games. When Don was not officiating or assigning games, he was spending countless hours supervising in the stands, helping to make the standards of the officiating in Wetaskiwin “top notch." Buskas has instructed at clinics for hockey officials in many Alberta communities. He has been a strong supporter of young officials in Alberta and has helped groom many of these officials to advance to the Junior and College levels. During one hockey season, Buskas supervised 66 officials!
Buskas has always had high standards for himself and the officials he has taught and supervised. He is a stickler on procedures, rules and how Wetaskiwin officials conduct themselves on and off the ice. He does not tolerate any “goofing around” on the ice and has makes sure that all the referees show up to the rink in the proper attire. Whenever there is a rules dispute, Buskas is the one called on for advice.
Hockey Alberta has presented Buskas numerous awards for his work and commitment to refereeing. In 1998, Buskas was presented the Hockey Alberta Regional Award for dedication to minor hockey in Alberta. In 1999 Buskas was awarded the Duncan MacDougall Award for service and commitment to the North Zone referees. In 2000 he received the Chairman’s Award for dedication to minor hockey and hockey in the North Zone. In 2000 he also received the Supervision Award for dedication to supervising hockey officials. The Ron Panchyshyn Award was presented to Buskas in 2008 for service to the zone referee committee for his work assigning instructors and clinic dates.
When his oldest son started playing baseball in Wetaskiwin there was a lack of officials. To help the situation, Buskas took up officiating the sport. His first baseball officiating clinic was in 1993 and that season he started umpiring U13, U15 and U18 locally as well as working provincial round robin games. He assigned local umpires for 3 seasons. He has served on the Provincial Umpire Committee from 2000 to 2021 and was supervisor for Baseball Alberta Zone 4 for five seasons. He assigned provincial games from Provost to Rocky Mountain House and Innisfail to Millet. Also, Don served as Umpire in Chief for Baseball Alberta in 2003.
Buskas became a Level 4 nationally certified umpire in 1998 and in 2009 he attained a Level 5C certification. In 2000 Don attended a Baseball Canada Course Conductor Caravan in Regina and attained Junior Course Conductor status. He has donated many hours to teaching umpire clinics each spring. From 2010 to 2021 Don looked after umpire mentorship for the province and has travelled all over central Alberta to watch and mentor younger officials. Also, Don has supervised officials in numerous provincial championships.
Buskas has umpired at 11 Baseball Canada National Championships (2002-2018). These include championships held in PEI, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Newfoundland as well as the Canada Winter Games (2022), Baseball Canada Cup and Senior Men’s Championships. Don has also umpired nine Western Canada Championships. Both Westerns and Nationals were in all divisions from U13 to Senior Men’s AAA. Additionally, he has umpired Baseball Alberta Provincial Championships from 1993 to the present. He has also umpired in the Golden Baseball League and the North American Baseball League (2009-2011).
When the Edmonton Capitals won the North American League Championship (2005), he was the plate umpire in the game with base umpires from the U.S. As well, Buskas has umpired in the Western Canadian Baseball League (2005-present). Buskas has the honour of umpiring the only perfect game in Western Major Baseball League history on June 28th, 2018 when the Edmonton Prospects won 4-0 over the Fort McMurray Giants. Rich Hill was the pitcher. He also umpired professional ball for the Edmonton Capitals.
For his service and contributions in baseball Don has received many awards and citations. In 2001, Buskas was awarded the prestigious Murray Service for Umpire of the Year for his outstanding contribution to Baseball Alberta. In 2019, Buskas was awarded the Steve Bluett Hero Award for the qualities and characteristics he displays as an umpire. In 2022 Don was inducted into Baseball Alberta’s Hall of Fame, certainly a deserved acknowledgement of his many years of service to officiating baseball in Alberta.
We recognize the incredible contributions that Buskas has made to Wetaskiwin, Alberta and Canada in his officiating, organizing, teaching, mentoring and supervising capacities in both hockey and baseball. We salute his generous dedication and the positive role model he has been to those he has mentored and instructed. Don is more than deserving of being inducted into the Wetaskiwin & County Sport Hall of Fame.
The 2025 Induction Dinner will take place on Saturday, April 5, 2025 at the Best Western Wayside Inn Banquet Room in Wetaskiwin. Invitations are open to everyone and banquet tickets are available for purchase at the Wetaskiwin and District Heritage Museum. The deadline for purchasing tickets is March 29.
