LEWISTON – A quick glance around the Hall of Fame room at Gipper’s Sports Grill in Auburn will tell you that there have been a lot of good athletes born and raised in the Twin Cities.

Most of them are honored for accomplishments made in what most people consider the prime of their athletic lives.

Marcel Mathieu says, “Define ‘prime.'”

Mathieu, never played sports in high school.

“There were 10 kids,” Mathieu recalled. “I had to work to help support the family and help at home. That’s how it was then.”

Conversely, Mathieu began building the foundation for his stellar athletic career right about the time when most people slow down a bit – when he got married.

“I started to play softball at night,” Mathieu said. “That was quite a few years ago.”

After another long hiatus – and after six children of his own grew up, Mathieu retired. That itch to play softball lingered, and he took it up again.

Twelve world championships later, at 75, Mathieu isn’t slowing down.

And now he can add another accolade to his resume. This year, the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame is inducting Mathieu with its Class of 2009.

“It was quite a surprise,” Mathieu said. “I never expected this at all at my age.”

Slower start

It’s not that Mathieu wasn’t athletic.

“He would have played a lot of sports in high school,” Marcel’s wife, Irene said, “if he’d been allowed.”

“I played summer baseball somewhat in grammar school,” Marcel said. “Just like all of my friends.”

But family came first.

In high school, Mathieu put his penchant for sports on hold. The eighth of 10 children, Mathieu helped out by working.

“We all took a job after school to help out,” Mathieu said. “That’s what needed to be done, and I never played high school sports at all.”

Stops and starts

Marriage revived his sporting career, all be it briefly.

At a time when sports careers usually diminish due to more commitments to home and family, Marcel had the chance to pursue playing softball. Enlisted in the Army, he played on a fast-pitch team in Beasly, Va. When he and Irene returned to Lewiston after his 19-month enlistment ended in 1955, he continued playing locally.

“It was OK when we only had one child at home,” Irene said.

But again, duty called. Marcel and Irene had six children.

“Six in seven years,” Irene made sure to point out with a laugh. Not quite as many as he’d had brothers and sisters, but close enough.

“We were working on it,” Marcel quipped, “but six was enough.”

On top of that, Marcel was busy as a firefighter for the Lewiston Fire Department, from which he eventually retired at age 52 in 1985.

Back into it, and how

“Since I retired, (softball) has been a passion of mine,” Marcel said. “I’ve played quite a bit.”

That may the understatement of the sporting century.

He picked up the game again when he and Irene made their winter home in Arizona, beginning with a one-month stint in 1986 and gradually expanding to nearly eight months at a time.

“I got involved with a pretty good team,” Marcel said, “and we traveled quite a bit.”

Utah, Iowa, Texas and Nevada are just some of the states the Mathieus have visited since Marcel began playing. Traveling and playing all the time helped the team – and its players – get noticed. After a few seasons, Marcel joined an elite team that traveled even more, and to more prestigious events – the World Series, the World Championships.

And not only did he play in the events. He and his team won them, as signified by the 12 different championship rings he’s earned.

“It’s perfect,” Marcel said. “I gave one each to my six kids, and one to each of the four grandchildren, and I have one and Irene has one.”

In several of those tournaments, Marcel earned individual accolades, as an all-star, or as player of a particular tournament.

And he’s not done, either.

Marcel said this week, as he and Irene celebrate 55 years of marriage on Friday, that he and his team are eyeing several more tournaments this year and beyond.

“I’m already looking forward to playing in the over-80 tournament,” he said. “There are fewer teams in that division.”

Marcel and Irene will join other inductees Fred Royer, James Chaplin and John White at the A-L Sports Hall of Fame’s annual induction ceremony Sunday at Lost Valley in Auburn.