Moritz Funeral Home

Don Colpoys lived baseball. It was his life. It was his passion. It was his family."It was his life and he never cared about getting paid for doing it," his son, Donny said. "We abused him all the time for it. He basically did it for free. He loved it and never made any money in baseball. … But he was there to win. There was no fooling around. He wanted to win and if we get beat, we'll beat them tomorrow. He loved the game dearly, but he was going to win."Win Colpoys did, in all kinds of ways. The 83-year-old died on Thursday night. He was a professional player, a scout, a coach and a general manager. His fingerprints are all over Western New York baseball.The Buffalo native began his baseball career as a catcher at Bishop Timon signing with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1954. He then was a scout for the Philadelphia Phillies and managed the Niagara Falls Pirates of the NY-Penn League in 1978.Then came 1979, the year Colpoys helped bring professional baseball back to Buffalo. It was Colpoys who learned that Jersey City would not be able to host a team that season in the Double-A Eastern League. Colpoys contacted Buffalo Mayor Jimmy Griffin and started the process of bringing the team to Buffalo, playing in War Memorial Stadium. Colpoys was the general manager of the Bisons from 1979 through 1984."Don was one of Buffalo's true legendary baseball people," Bisons vice president and general manager Mike Buczkowski said. "I always enjoyed our conversations about the game, not only the current state of baseball but also his extensive knowledge of the great history of the sport. On behalf of the Bisons, our heartfelt condolences go out to his family."Colpoys' Hall call a neighborhood thing Says honor goes to everyone who helped him run teamFamily and baseball were synonymous in the Colpoys household.Donny recalled helping out those first two seasons of the Bisons in War Memorial Stadium, painting numbers on the seats, selling programs, and working at the concession stands.Later, when Colpoys became the head coach for Cani... (Buffalo News)