Sam Dempster has been the only coach the Durham College men’s baseball program has ever known, as he was with the program for the inaugural season in 1992.
For over 25 seasons as head coach of the Lords, Dempster has been instrumental in guiding the Lords to the level of excellence where it is today.
Since day one, the Durham College baseball program was a contender in the Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association (CIBA), as the team has had only two losing seasons in 25 years. Since the 1995 season, the team qualified for the Ontario championship finals in all but one year.
The Lords have won the CIBA Ontario Conference championship seven times, including four straight from 2005 to 2008. Durham has qualified for the CIBA national championship 10 times, and have finished in the final four six of the last eight seasons they competed as a member of the CIBA conference.
In 2011, Durham won their first ever CIBA national championship, beating Humber College 6-1 in Moncton, New Brunswick. At the national championship, Dempster also earned his 300th career victory.
In 1994, in only the program’s third year, the Lords went on to win the CIBA national bronze medal.
In the first season of Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) baseball, the Lords won a silver medal and advanced to the inaugural OUA/OCAA baseball championship.
In January of 2007, the veteran coach was awarded the Julio Puente Envoy International Coach Award by Major League Baseball at the American Baseball Coaches Association Conference in Orlando, Florida. The prestigious award is presented by MLB for unselfish, dedicated and passionate work in growing the game of baseball.
Coach “D” annually takes part in the MLB envoy program, going on tour throughout Africa and Europe on behalf of Major League Baseball (MLB); with the goal to promote and grow the game of baseball to children world wide. Dempster has also organized the Lords efforts of donating baseball equipment and uniforms to underprivileged areas.
In addition to his lead role at Durham, Coach Dempster is also an associate Canadian scout for Major League Baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers and previously a scout for the New York Yankees. He has also co-organized the Ontario Best Ever Clinic for many years and has assisted the Team Ontario program both north and south of the border. In 2005-06 he spent the summer in Europe as part of a group of coaches (under the direction of MLB) running clinics in Germany and England. He is also the head coach of the Great Britain National team, which qualified for the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
In April 2010, Dempster was inducted into the Whitby Sports Hall of Fame.
He was also named to Bob Elliott’s list of the top 100 most influential Canadians in Baseball.
DEMPSTER’S CAREER STATS
Head Coach of the Lords: 1992 - 2019
National Championship Appearances (Ten): 1994, 1999, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2019
Ontario Championships (Seven): 1999, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011
CIBA Championships (One): 2011
NCBC Championships (One): 2019
