SSHoF logoLarry Pavloff

Athlete (2025)

Softball

Larry PavloffWhen the ball was hit high and deep, centre-fielder Larry Pavloff tracked it down. He made his glove look like a wide open barrel.

When a pitch came across the plate, a riseball, heater, drop or a change up Pavloff’s bat was a magnet.

Wherever he went a championship followed. During a 16-year stretch of senior softball, he won provincials 13 times. In 13 appearances at nationals, he was named an all-star three times, and in two positions; outfielder and first base. Competing in the masters division, he was a medallist at Westerns eight times.

Here is what you get from Pavloff: A sacrifice bunt for the Crown Tire Merchants in the ninth inning to set up the winning run and force a seventh and deciding game in the final in the Saskatoon Senior Men’s League in 1978; an RBI triple for Saskatoon Molsons in the 11th inning for the only run in the semifinal at the Canadian championship in 1984; an RBI single for Saskatoon All-O-Matic in the 11th inning for the only run of the game in the A-B final at nationals in 1986.

Larry Pavloff was a candidate for the Canadian team that went to the 1979 Pan-Am Games. He was with All-O-Matic when the A’s toured Japan in 1980. He was with the A’s when they finished third in the Mini World Series in New Zealand in 1983. He toured Japan, Taiwan. Hong Kong with the A’s in 1986. He won New Zealand’s national title in 1987 as a player-coach with Auckland United.

“He was, without question, a player you wanted on your team,” said Don Funk, owner and GM of All-O-Matic.