Court Heinbuch

Court Heinbuch was born in 1940 and lived in Kitchener his entire life. As a youngster, Heinbuch excelled at hockey and baseball. He was an overpowering left handed pitcher and led Kitchener minor baseball teams to Ontario titles at the Peewee, Bantam, Midget, Junior and Senior levels.

Heinbuch pitched his first no-hitter as an 11 year old Peewee and again in 1961 when the Junior Dodgers won the Ontario Championship. Heinbuch’s senior career with the Kitchener Panthers spanned a decade from 1962 to 1972; they won the Intercounty Championship in 1967 and 1968. At the national level, he was a member of Team Ontario that won the 1969 Canadian Championship at the Halifax Summer Games.

Heinbuch was also a talented basketball player and played on championship teams at Eastwood Collegiate, McMaster University and Waterloo Lutheran (Laurier) University. He was a member of the 1965-66 Coronets team that won the Canadian Senior Basketball Championship.

He was an outstanding basketball coach at the high school level, building a basketball dynasty at Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute in Kitchener. During the 1982-1983 season, the Gaels won six tournaments and the All Ontario AAA Championship. During his coaching career, Heinbuch amassed six City and six County Championships and had an 80 percent winning record. He was an assistant coach at the University of Waterloo when the team won the 1974-75 Canadian University Championship.

Heinbuch led the Kitchener Panthers Baseball School for several years and initiated one of the most prestigious basketball tournaments in Ontario that continues today and bears his name – the Heinbuch Classic. An athletic scholarship in his name is awarded each year at Cameron Heights.

Photo by Belair Studio