T. Kent Morgan

Sports ‘Halls of Dreams’

Do readers have any idea how many halls of fame and honour rolls connected to individual sports we have in our province?

To find out, Memories of Sport suggests visiting the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum gallery at 145 Pacific Ave. in Winnipeg.

The Sports Hall has mounted a new exhibition titled Fields….(Rinks, Courts and Lanes) of Dreams that features artifacts and displays from 10 different halls of fame that have committed to maintaining the heritage of their sports. The material complements the Sports HOF memorabilia related to inducted individuals and teams displayed the museum’s regular “decades” exhibits, which remain in place. Visitors can take a stroll through Manitoba’s sports history Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Self-guided tours are free. Group tours for up to 20 people must be booked in advance at a cost of $5 per person.

The 10 sports featured in the exhibition are baseball, basketball, curling, football, golf, hockey, lacrosse, rugby, softball and 10-pin bowling. In addition, Sports Hall of Fame curator Andrea Reichert has filled two display cases with items from the Hall’s collection for figure skating, judo, ringette, running, soccer, tennis and volleyball, along with Special Olympics and high school and Indigenous sport.

Pro baseball’s rich Winnipeg history

When the Winnipeg Goldeyes play their first home game of the 2023 season at Shaw Park on May 19, independent professional baseball will return to the city for its 30th season. In 1994, the team owned by Sam Katz joined the Northern League and won the championship under the leadership of manager Doug Simunic.

Before the independent-league Goldeyes arrived, Manitoba baseball fans enjoyed watching teams that were part of the large organized-baseball umbrella, usually sponsored by major league teams. In the early years of the 20th century, Winnipeg had teams that first played in the old Northern League and then the Northern-Copper County, Western Canada and Central International Leagues. Both Brandon, in 1908, and St. Boniface, in 1915, played in the Northern League.

Calling Sherburn Park home, the Winnipeg Maroons played an entertaining level of ball in the Class D and C Northern League from 1933 until 1942, when several leagues folded owing to the Second World War. Older Winnipeg fans will remember the first version of the Goldeyes, a farm team of the St. Louis Cardinals, which played at the Winnipeg Stadium from 1954 to 1964. The city last had an organized baseball team when the Montreal Expos organization moved its AAA International League team from Buffalo to Winnipeg partway through the 1970 season. The Whips lasted one more season in our city.

Sports collector Burnett Konsmo recently sent Memories of Sport a copy of an article about Winnipeg baseball published in the September 1987 issue of Sports Collectors Digest. Author Paul Gertsen, whose journalism credentials are not listed, claims that minor league baseball is an oft-forgotten chapter of Winnipeg’s sporting legacy. Take that statement for what it’s worth from a writer who spelled Sherburn Sherbourne, had the Whips playing in the American Association, and tells his readers that Dale Hawerchuck, not Hawerchuk, can really skate.

’Tis the season to honour our own

The time has come once again to clear out the notebook and recognize members of the sports community who have made an impact in our province.

Greg Ferguson, who has been involved in slo-pitch softball since the 1980s, reported on the 2023 SPN Manitoba Hall of Fame induction held April 6 at the Thistle Curling Club. The new players to become honoured members are Shelly Bohn and Sheri Wood from the Winnipeg Women’s League. Builder Steve Mymko and two umpires, Dave Radinsky and Dave Black, were also inducted. Mymko was a driving force behind the excellent Buhler Recreation Park in Transcona while Radinsky is a former provincial umpire-in-chief. An umpire for about 25 years, Black has served as the UIC at the Little Mountain Sportsplex.

The second group of athletes and builders to enter the Manitoba Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame was inducted on April 12. The athletes class of 2023 included basketball’s Michelle Foreman, former NHL forward Jamie Leach, Shelly Hruska from ringette and bandy, and boxer Maurice Camyre. Brian Chrupalo from the Pine Creek First Nation was honoured as an official. His football career includes working in the CFL. Builder Arnold Asham is best-known for his support of curling. On the diamond, he was a playing coach for the Carman Goldeyes in the Redboine Senior Baseball League and the manager of the Winnipeg Internationals in the Manitoba-Saskatchewan Major Fastball League.

The Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association will induct this year’s hall of fame class May 13 at the Canad Inns Club Regent. Entering the hall as builders will be retired MHSAA executive director Morris Glimcher, and rural coaches Ken Overby from Teulon, Daryl Ford of Glenboro and Gord Nixon of Russell. The 1996-1998 Morris School varsity girls volleyball team also will be inducted.

When Orr and Gretzky graced the ice together

Bobby Orr’s pro hockey career ended early in the 1978-79 NHL season after he played six games for the Chicago Black Hawks. Wayne Gretzky’s pro career began that same season when he played eight games in the WHA for the Indianapolis Racers. Arguably the greatest defenceman and the greatest centre to ever play the game, the pair only played together once – in a game on April 25, 1980 at the Winnipeg Arena.

Toilers tragedy shocked Winnipeg in 1933

Jean Lothian called recently to remind this columnist that March 31 is the anniversary of one of Manitoba’s major sports tragedies.

It was 71 years ago this week…

When the Chicago Black Hawks visited the New York Rangers on March 23, 1952, the final NHL game of the season for both teams had little meaning.

Road warrior just keeps clicking along

If, in January or February, members of the Reh-Fit Centre on Taylor Avenue, spotted a man riding a fat-tired bicycle around the parking lot, it was Lindsay Gauld. Investigation by Memories of Sport confirmed that the honoured Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame member was just getting in a few extra kilometres before he went into the Reh-Fit for his regular exercise class.

Celebrating Manitoba’s best Black athletes

February is Black History Month, so what better time to remember Black sports personalities who were pioneers or made a major impact in our province?

Snubbed by O-Pee-Chee?

Let’s play a little trivia with hardcore Manitoba hockey fans and sports memorabilia collectors.

Remembering those we lost, part 2

In this second January column, Memories of Sport continues to remember sports personalities who died during 2022.

Remembering those we lost in 2022

To begin the new year, Memories of Sport wants to remember the sports athletes, builders, officials and volunteers who died during 2022. The best place to start is with individuals who were inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, with their year of induction noted, as well as the members of teams honoured by the Hall.

High school bonspiel once ruled holiday sports

Right after Christmas, from the late 1940s into the middle of the 1970s, the Manitoba high school curling bonspiel was a major sporting event in Winnipeg.

Hockey the focus of this year’s sports books

Hockey dominates the sports books with a connection to Manitoba this holiday season. Winnipeg Jets fans will enjoy books by former player Norm Beaudin and broadcaster Curt Keilback, while the story of the 1920 Olympic champion Winnipeg Falcons is told in two very different books by Cathie Eliasson and David Grebstad.

A breezy history of pro basketball in Winnipeg

Word that pro basketball will return to Winnipeg in the summer of 2023 brought back memories of the two pro teams that played in our city in the 1990s. The new team will play in the 11-team Canadian Elite Basketball League and call the Investors Group Athletic Centre at the University of Manitoba home.

Newest members of Manitoba’s baseball HOF

The Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame announced its 2023 induction class at media conferences in Brandon and Winnipeg on Nov. 8. Eight individuals and four teams will be inducted at the 25th induction banquet at the Access Events Centre in Morden on June 3, 2023.

90 years of Big Blue memories on display

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers football team that won the 1990 Grey Cup will be inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 3. Head coach Mike Riley and more than a dozen team members are expected to attend the annual induction ceremony at the Victoria Inn. In the Grey Cup game played at BC Place in Vancouver on Nov. 25, 1990, the Bombers overwhelmed the Edmonton Eskimos 50-11. The Bombers had become the CFL’s East division representative by defeating the Toronto Argonauts.

Sporting halls catching up with inductions

The Manitoba Rugby Hall of Fame is the latest hall-of-fame organization to play catchup with its inductions. On Oct. 15 at The Gates on Roblin, rugby finally was able to honour its 2020 induction class of three at a ceremony. The planned dinner was cancelled in 2020 and again in 2021, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nearly 50 years since WHA Jets first home game

Sunday, Oct. 15, 1972, is one of the most important dates in Manitoba hockey history. That’s the day the Winnipeg Jets played their first home game in the World Hockey Association at the Winnipeg Arena and top-level professional hockey came to our city.

1962 Bisons honoured at U of M homecoming

Sept. 23 and 24 is homecoming weekend at the University of Manitoba. Events will include the 60-year reunion of the 1962 Bisons football team, which is considered to have begun the “modern era” of football at the university.

When the Summit Series came to town

On Sept. 2, 1972, Canada and the Soviet Union played the first game of what has become known in hockey history as the Summit Series. Probably no hockey battle has been discussed and written about more than that eight-game series, which Canada won four games to three with one tied.

Manitoba’s hall of fame swimmers, divers

While Manitobans are enjoying the heat of summer, let’s jump into the pool and remember athletes, who made an impact on water sports provincially and beyond.

Winnipegger was youngest to swim English Channel

On July 23, 1963, a St. James high school student became the youngest person to successfully swim the English Channel. Claudia McPherson completed the swim from France to England in 17 hours and 17 minutes according to the official Channel records. The Woodhaven teenager was aged 17 and four months and a Grade 11 student at Silver Heights Collegiate.

CUAC Blues were the ‘best of the best’

To complete the Memories of Sport series about Ukrainian sport in our province, more teams of note will be remembered. Several represented Ukrainian organizations while the lineups of others had strong Ukrainian representation.

Teams from the Institute Prosvita Athletic Club (IPAC), which was established in 1916 and sponsored by the Canadian Ukrainian Institute Prosvita of Winnipeg, competed in several sports. In 1952, the IPAC Rovers, coached by Frank Moski and captained by Sam Dolhun, had an undefeated season and won the Canadian junior soccer championship. The lineup included Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame basketball inductee Fred Ingaldson and Gordie Chem, who also played for the 1954 and 1955 Manitoba junior lacrosse teams in the HOF. On the basketball court, IPAC reached the Canadian senior final in 1963-64.

In 1951-52, the Sts. Peter and Paul Church in St. Boniface entered the Catholic Inter-Parish Hockey League with a team made up primarily of Ukrainians. It went on to win three straight championships from 1953-54 to 1955-56. In the latter final, the St. Boniface team beat another Ukrainian team from the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At various times the champions were coached by playing coaches Jim Mosienko and Pete Petrow, while John Kozoriz was the manager.

In his book Their Sporting Legacy, about the athletic exploits of Canadians of Ukrainian descent, K. W. Sokolyk writes about a little-known University of Manitoba team with an interesting accomplishment. Headed by Nestor Budyk and Myrslav Zatwarnicky, the Ukrainian Students’ Club formed a team called Kozaks to play in the intramural hockey league in the 1974-75 season. Coached by Rev. Michael Wiwchar and managed by Peter Melnycky, the team won the championship in its first season. In February 1976, the Kozaks travelled to Newark, N.J. for a two-game series with the Chornomorska Sitch all-star team. Sokolyk states that this was the first time a Ukrainian hockey team from Canada played a Ukrainian team from the U.S. The Manitobans won both games. 5-2 and 9-0.

Hockey, football greats inducted into halls of fame

The Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame has announced its induction class for 2022. The group includes six players, one builder, one official, one member from the media, and two teams. In addition, one veteran player from early in the 20th century will be honoured. The induction dinner will be held at the CanadInns Polo Park on Oct. 8.

The six players all got their start in Winnipeg at local outdoor rinks. Goalie Sami Jo Small first played at Norberry Community Centre in St. Vital when she was five. In her autobiography, Small mentioned that she played minor hockey against fellow inductee Jason Botterill, who grew up Fort Garry and played for the AAA Mavericks. At age seven, Brad Chartrand started to play at Heritage Victoria in St. James-Assiniboia. Mark Mackay, who was born in Brandon, moved to Winnipeg at age five and began playing at age 10 for the St. Boniface Saints AAA atoms.

The four later played university hockey en route to their HOF careers. Small played on the men’s team at prestigious Stanford in California, where she had a track and field scholarship. Botterill helped the University of Michigan win the NCAA championship in 1996. Chartrand attended the Ivy League university Cornell and captained the team in his junior and senior years. Mackay played two seasons for the U of M Bisons.

Dave Hrechkosy got his start at Northwood CC in the North End before playing junior for the West Kildonan North Stars of the MJHL and then the Jets in the Western League. Defenceman Barry Legge played playground hockey at the Crestview CC before joining the St. James Canadians of the MJHL at age 15. Like Hrechkosy, he quickly moved up to the junior Jets.

Tragedy struck after Black Hawks first cup win

After the Chicago Black Hawks won their first Stanley Cup in the spring of 1934, tragedy struck the team not once, but twice, that summer. In both cases, it happened in Winnipeg.

In April, Chicago beat the Detroit Red Wings three games to one in the National Hockey League final. The 1-0 championship series victory came in the second period of overtime of game four on a goal by Harold (Mush) Marsh.

The final had a distinct Winnipeg flavour with two local goalies in the net. Chicago captain Charlie Gardiner gave up just two goals in his club’s three victories. Wilf Cude backstopped the Red Wings to their only win. In the final game, Marsh’s goal was the only shot he let in; he stopped 52 others. Gardiner had 40 saves in his shutout. Gardiner and Cude were boyhood friends who attended Albert School in the inner city. Being slightly older, Gardiner had been a mentor to Cude both on and off the ice.

The Black Hawks roster included Winnipeg products Art Coulter and Bill Kendall, St. Boniface’s Lolo Couture, and Montreal-born Johnny Sheppard, who learned his hockey in Selkirk. Along with the two goalies, they all have been inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.

Manitoba’s rich junior hockey legacy

When you examine Manitoba’s amateur hockey history, it becomes clear that for many years our province produced strong junior hockey teams. The list includes 12 teams that won the Memorial Cup, emblematic of the Canadian junior hockey championship. The Winnipeg Falcons won the first one in 1921 and the Winnipeg Braves won our last Memorial Cup in 1959. Will the Winnipeg Ice end the long Memorial Cup drought this season?

After major junior hockey became the highest level in the country with leagues in Western Canada, Ontario and Quebec, a decision was made by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) that teams from the three leagues would compete for the Memorial Cup. That left teams from long-established leagues as such as the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) and the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) out in the cold, so to speak. In December 1970, the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association, now Hockey Manitoba, donated a new trophy called the Manitoba Centennial Cup to the CAHA. Teams representing leagues rated as junior A, a step below major junior, would compete for the cup.

In the first half of the 1970s, teams representing the MJHL won back-to-back Centennial Cups. The first happened on May 14, 1973 at the Winnipeg Arena, when the Portage Terriers beat the Pembroke Lumber Kings 4-2 in game five of the best-of-seven Canadian final. Steinbach product Randy Penner scored three times and Al Hilton added a single for the champions. Frank Leswick had two helpers. The Terriers were coached by Muzz MacPherson.

En route to the Canadian final, Portage had won the MJHL title in four straight games over the St. James Canadians and then beat the Humboldt Broncos of the SJHL and the Penticton Broncos from B.C. Against Pembroke, Portage won the first three games 5-0, 4-2 and 3-0 before dropping game four 6-4.

Remembering more great Ukrainian-Canadian athletes

In the two previous columns about Ukrainian sports people in Manitoba, more than 50 Manitoba athletes and builders have been recognized. The majority have been inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and/or individual sports shrines in our province. Several were honoured as the Manitoba Ukrainian Sportsman of the Year.

Many readers have recommended others who deserve to be remembered.

Former Sport Manitoba CEO Jeff Hnatiuk, soccer’s Peter J. Manastyrsky, and hockey’s Murray Balagus, Julian Klymkiw and Don Kuryk have also been named Ukrainian Sportsman of the Year by the St. Nicholas Men’s Club. The current president of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame, Kuryk also played football for the Canadian senior football champion St. Vital Bulldogs.

This columnist wants to remember George Konik, his high school friend from the north. Born in Flin Flon, Konik played for the 1957 Memorial Cup champion Bombers and was an all-star catcher and batting champion in the Polar Baseball League. The defenceman later was an All-America hockey player at Denver University and served as captain of the U.S. team at the 1972 world championship.

Manitoba’s best Ukrainian athletes

Ukrainian athletes, builders and volunteers have made a major impact on the Manitoba sports scene for many decades. If you have played a sport in our province, you′ve had many teammates and opponents with Ukrainian roots. The surname of the centre on my first line in peewee hockey in The Pas was Melnick.

In previous columns, Memories of Sport has covered the history of the Canadian Ukrainian Athletic Club (CUAC) in Winnipeg’s North End, which produced outstanding teams in baseball and hockey and the CUAC Blues women’s softball team that dominated in the mid-1950s and 1960s. For more than 50 years, the St. Nicholas Men’s Club held a spring dinner at the St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church where the Ukrainian Sportsman of the Year was honoured. Now seems to be the right time to remember some of the best of Manitoba’s Ukrainian athletes.

When the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1980, hockey star Bill Mosienko was one of the nine individuals honoured. Terry Sawchuk, who was named Manitoba Professional Athlete of the Century in the year 2000, was inducted in 1982. In reviewing the list of athletes and builders honoured by the HOF in its 40-plus years, you find several dozen with Ukrainian heritage. They came from the sports of baseball, basketball, bowling, curling, football, golf, hockey, softball, track, volleyball, and weightlifting.

The St. Nicholas Men’s Club recognized a number of Sports HOF inductees as its Sportsman of the Year. Hockey player and golfer Nick Mickoski was the first in 1967. Bill Juzda, Dale Hawerchuk, James Patrick and Mosienko were other hockey players selected. Among the other individual HOF inductees are baseball’s Joe Wiwchar, Ken Galanchuk, Fred Ingaldson and Vic Pruden from basketball, curler Kerry Burtnyk, football players Steve Patrick and Cornell Piper, golfers Glen Hnatiuk and Ted Homeniuk, volleyball’s Mike Burchuk and Dale Iwanoczko, and all-around builder Buck Matiowski. Team members include Orest Meleschuk, the skip of the 1972 world champion men’s curling team, and John Shaley, who led the CUAC Blues to the first Canadian women’s softball championship in 1965.

Bombers ruled the field and the court

Once Bud Grant took over as head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1957, the football club became a dominant force in the Canadian Football League. After losing the Canadian final to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Grant’s first season, the Blue and Gold won the Grey Cup four times in the next five years. The run was interrupted in 1960 when the Edmonton Eskimos upset the Bombers in the Western final. The score was 4-2 for Edmonton and that’s not a typo.

Some of the team′s American imports chose to remain in Winnipeg after the football season and find work to supplement their football incomes. In Canada, multi-sport athletes played baseball in the summer, football in the fall and hockey in the winter. In the States, the main winter sport was basketball. At the same time as the Bombers were successful on the football field, a Blue Bombers basketball team became a force on the local courts.

A team called Rae and Jerry’s Bombers entered the Greater Winnipeg Senior A League in the 1957-58 season. With Grant heading the lineup, the team had instant credibility. The Bombers coach had played college basketball for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. Then, during the 1949-50 and 1950-51 seasons, the 6-foot-3 forward played 96 games for the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBA. The Lakers, who relocated to Los Angeles after the 1959-60 season, won the NBA championship in Grant’s first season. After he ended his pro basketball career, Grant spent two seasons in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles before coming north to join the Bombers.

In the playoffs, the basketball Bombers lost to the league champion Kodiaks in the semi-final. During that season, Buddy Tinsley, George Druxman, Norm Rauhaus, Gerry James, Ron Latourelle, Nick Miller, Gord Rowland, and Barry Rosebourgh all saw action. Glenn McWhinney was the playing coach. The following season, with imports Frank Rigney and Ernie Pitts strengthening the team, Rae and Jerry’s reached the league final, but lost to Kodiaks. The champions picked up Grant, Rigney and Miller for the Western final, but the trio were ruled ineligible due to their professional football status. Grant suggested that the $10 he paid to register nationally should be refunded.

60th MCA bonspiel featured 454 teams

In the winter of 1947-48, Winnipeg truly was the curling capital of the world. The Manitoba Curling Association marked a milestone in its history by holding its 60th annual bonspiel.

One hundred and eighty-two rinks from Greater Winnipeg area clubs and 272 from outside the City entered what was titled the Diamond Jubilee bonspiel. The total of 454 rinks was believed to be a world record. Sixty years before, in 1888, the first bonspiel was held, featuring 62  rinks.

Diamond jubilee bonspiel play began on Feb. 10, 1948, on 89 sheets of ice in the Winnipeg region and wound up on Feb. 19. A record total of 249 curling clubs were affiliated members of the MCA that season.

There was more than just bonspiel action that month, too. On Feb. 16, high school curlers from across the country hit the ice at the Amphitheatre rink in the Dominion championship. In addition to the host province, provincial champions came from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Quebec plus one team representing Western Ontario. They competed for the Victor Sifton Trophy, put up for play by the Winnipeg Free Press. On Feb. 17, the Manitoba Ladies Curling Association opened its 24th annual bonspiel with a record entry of 127 rinks.

When the Winnipegs won Olympic hockey gold

Canada won ice hockey gold at the first four Winter Olympic Games. Teams from Winnipeg won two titles, with the Falcons winning in 1920 and a team just called Winnipeg Hockey Club, or the Winnipegs, in 1932.

The triumph of the Falcons has been well-documented, most recently in two new books. Golden Boys, by Paul Keery with illustrations by Michael Wyatt is aimed at young readers. A Confluence of Destinies, by Winnipeg author David Grebstad was published on Jan. 19.

A lengthy article of the history of the Falcons club was featured in the 2020-21 Hockey Hall of Fame official induction program, Legends, which was published last November when the 2020 HOF class was honoured with a delayed ceremony in Toronto. The writer was this columnist.

With the 2022 Olympics underway in Beijing, now seems to be the right time to remember the Winnipegs’ victory that took place 90 winters ago. The tournament was played in Lake Placid, N.Y. from Feb. 4 to 13. The team from Winnipeg had earned the right to represent Canada by winning the 1931 Allan Cup, emblematic of the Canadian senior championship. The Winnipegs beat the Eastern champion Hamilton Tigers in two games straight.

Final farewell to sports people we lost in 2021

Memories of Sport continues to remember the sports people we lost in 2021.

The first column of 2022 included members of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. The past year’s list is very long, but an effort has been made to recognize as many as possible.

Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame member Barry Fry skipped his Deer Lodge team to the Canadian men’s championship in 1979 after winning the Canadian mixed in 1973 with a team from the Maple Leaf. HOF member Hal Tanasichuk skipped the Canadian mixed champions from the Civic Cal in 1977.

Frank Gudz won the Canadian masters in 2005. Other provincial champions curling lost included Ross Murdock and Doug Strange, men; Ken Beatty, Jim Harris and Eldon McLean, senior; Jim Duncan and Kip Steeden, masters; and Arlene Bartley, mixed. The honorary life members who died were Earl (The Pearl) Stephenson, who won a Canadian stick curling championship in 2012, Fred Sutton and Jack Callum.

Remembering those we lost in 2021…

As we begin a new year that hopefully will be better than the past two, it’s time to remember those sports people whom we lost during 2021.

Three honoured members of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame (MSHOF) died this past year. Jim Ursel’s curling success from high school to the senior level — which included skipping teams to a Canadian men’s championship and two national senior titles — earned him induction in 1997. A 2009 inductee, Audrey (Haine) Daniels was just 17 when she left Winnipeg to pitch in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Dave Drybrough was inducted as an athlete/builder in 2009 for his success on the track and his contributions to athletics.

More than a dozen members of teams inducted into the MSHOF also passed. From hockey, George Robertson starred for the 1946 Canadian junior champion Winnipeg Monarchs. Harvey Fleming and Ron Hutchinson were linemates on the 1957 Memorial Cup champion Flin Flon Bombers, and Scotty Wales was a member of the 1959 Cup winning Winnipeg Braves.

Football lost Mort Corrin of the 1954 intermediate Winnipeg Rams, Bill Kehrer of the 1955 junior Rods, and Garth Day of the 1956 Rods. All three teams won Canadian titles. Ted Mikliechuk played for the 1958 and 1961 Canadian champion Blue Bombers and Len Amey was the equipment manager of the 1984 and 1988 Grey Cup-winning Bombers.

Walsh won Arena’s first curling championship

In this final column for 2021, Memories of Sport continues the story of the first season that the Winnipeg Arena was in operation.

Curling took over the ice in February 1956, when six sheets were used for play in the second week of the 68th annual Manitoba Curling Association bonspiel. Event playoffs were scheduled there as well as the British Consols competition for the right to represent the province in the Canadian men’s championship.

Eight teams had qualified for the Consols by winning Winnipeg zones and another 24 were rural zone representatives. Teams, or rinks as they were known in those days, also made it by reaching the 16s of the two major bonspiel events, Henry Birks and Sir John C. Eaton, making the final count 60. The Granite club led with nine foursomes. The event was a straight knockout, so a team went home after one loss.

The four teams that reached the semi-finals were 1952 Canadian champion Billy Walsh from the Fort Rouge club, the Granite’s Howie Wood Jr., Bruce Hudson of the Strathcona, and Archie Rea from Dauphin. Wood and Hudson were sons of former Canadian champions, Howard Wood and Gordon Hudson. Howie beat Bruce in one semi-final and Walsh won the other.

Sports books that will go nicely under the tree

Mid-December means it’s time for the annual column about Manitoba sports books that might make a perfect gift for the sports fan this holiday season.

At the top of the list is a very timely book titled A History of Excellence — The Untold Stories of Manitoba Indigenous Sport (Manitoba Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Council). Edited by Dr. Taylor McKee and Mel Whitesell, the writers are Carriera Lamoureux, Scott Taylor and Janice Forsyth. The book covers athletes, coaches, builders and teams from the late 1890s to today, along with sections on sport and residential schools, and the Tom Longboat Awards.

In addition to stories about well-known athletes such as Angela Chalmers, Reggie Leach, Theoren Fleury, and Jocelyne Larocque, readers will learn about many others, including some they wouldn’t have known had Indigenous roots. The book is an important addition to our provincial sports library.

The latest book from local author Ty Dilello, who churns out at minimum one hockey book each year, is titled Mosienko: The Man Who Caught Lightning in a Bottle (Great Plains). The life of Winnipeg’s Bill Mosienko, from outdoor rinks in the North End to the NHL with the Chicago Black Hawks and back to Winnipeg, where he helped the Winnipeg Warriors win the 1955-56 professional Western Hockey League championship is covered in great detail. His post-hockey life included running a bowling facility on Main Street.   

The first days of Winnipeg’s ‘old barn’

In two December columns, Memories of Sport will look back at highlights from the first year of the old Winnipeg Arena. The facility, which cost $2 million to build, was located in the City’s West End, across from the old Winnipeg Stadium, which had opened in 1953.

With a rink that seated more than 9,000 that was considered one of the best in Canada, Winnipeg was a prime candidate for admission into the professional Western Hockey League (which was then one of the best professional leagues that wasn’t the NHL).

Backed by the Perrin family of Winnipeg, a team called Warriors became a member of the league for the 1955-56 season. Winnipeg played in the Prairie Division with teams from Saskatoon, Calgary and Edmonton and a new franchise in Regina. Partway through the season, the Regina team was moved to Brandon. The Coast Division consisted of three B.C. teams in Vancouver, Victoria and New Westminster, along with a team in Seattle.

While the Warriors were not a farm team of an NHL franchise, an agreement was reached with both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens to supply some players.

WHSFL has produced nearly 100 pros

The history of the Winnipeg High School Football League history can be traced back to 1933. Daniel McIntyre, Gordon Bell, Kelvin and St. John’s, all schools within the boundaries of the city at that time, were the original four teams. Kelvin won the first championship.

This season, 42 teams from the various school divisions across the city. as well as teams from high schools in rural Manitoba and Dryden, Fort Frances and Kenora in Ontario, competed in seven different divisions.

The WHSFL has compiled a list of close to 100 former players who went on to play in the Canadian Football League. Of the original four schools, Daniel Mac and Kelvin each produced 14 future pros, St. John’s nine, and Gordon Bell eight. The Daniel Mac alumni include Lorne (Boom Boom) Benson and Harry Langford, who were inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame primarily for their football exploits, and Danny Summers, a pro hockey player who went into the provincial shrine in the multi-sport category.

The Kelvin list is headed by ex-Blue Bomber and Toronto Maple Leaf Gerry James (Sports HOF 1982) and Paul Robson, the former Bomber general manager who will enter the provincial HOF next April in recognition to his contributions to sport in various capacities. Kelvin product Bud Irving is believed to be the oldest living Blue Bomber.

Best in west shot it out at McCain SuperSpiel

From 1989 to 2004, the best male curling teams in Western Canada hoped to be in Portage la Prairie on the last weekend in October.

An invitation to the McCain SuperSpiel West in Portage guaranteed a shot at some of the biggest prize money available during that period.

An even bigger plum was the spot in the televised McCain TSN Skins Game that went to the winner.

McCain Foods sponsored a curling competition in New Brunswick for teams from Eastern Canada called the McCain SuperSpiel. The company felt it would be an excellent idea to mount the same type of event in the home of its Western potato processing plant, so the SuperSpiel West was born.

Women instrumental to building sport in Manitoba

With October being Women’s History Month in Canada, Memories of Sport continues the celebrate women builders who have made contributions to sport in our province and beyond. More than 20 individual sports halls of fame and honour societies have recognized their best , so not all will get their due here.

Many builders were also athletes and were honoured as athlete/builders or in an all-around category.

In 2009, coach Jill Mathez was the first woman inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame (a multi-sport athlete who was good at everything she played, Mathez is also in the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and the Softball Hall of Fame).

Dianne Woods, who spent 16 years as executive director of Hockey Winnipeg, joined Mathez in 2015. Jean Mayne, who was a minor softball builder, became the first female president of Softball Manitoba in 1984. She entered the softball shrine with its second group in 2003. Builders from the 1930s, Elizabeth McKenzie Haid and Mary Phillips went into the Manitoba Basketball HOF in 1984. Isabel (Duncan) Thomson has been recognized for her volunteer work by both the provincial basketball and softball halls.

Honouring strong sportswomen

Women’s History Month is celebrated annually throughout October in Canada. The idea is to give Canadians the opportunity to learn about notable women who made contributions in many different fields.

Readers don’t need to be reminded about the success of prominent women athletes such as Cindy Klassen, Clara Hughes, Jennifer Botterill, Jennifer Jones, and Tanya Dubnicoff on the international stage. The focus of this month’s two Memories of Sport columns will be on women who were builders of sport as coaches, managers, officials, administrators, and volunteers. Twenty-two have been inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in the builder category, and what jumps out when you read their biographies is that almost all served in a variety of roles.

Joan Whalley, who served as president of both the Manitoba and Canadian ladies curling associations, was the first female builder to be inducted when she went in with the second class in 1981. It wasn’t until 1987 that she was joined by artistic gymnastics coach and international judge Elfriede Goermann. Zlatica Stauder, considered the founder of rhythmic gymnastics in Manitoba, became the third female builder in the Hall when she entered in 1988. In later years artistic gymnastics judge Kathy Stoesz and coaches Barbara Heaps and Lorie Henderson were honoured.

Figure skating had three early inductees in Dodie Wardle from Flin Flon in 1991, Pat Ball in 1994, and Valerie Davies from Brandon in 1995. Gail Adamson served as president of Synchro Canada and Marjorie Simpson was president of Synchro Swimming Manitoba and an international judge.

More memorable St. James sports figures

With St. James 100 years old in 2021, Memories of Sport once again wants to recognize individuals and teams from St. James-Assiniboia who made their mark on Manitoba sport and beyond.

Many have been honoured by the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame or their specific sport shrine. In earlier columns, several of the best were recognized along with championship curlers from the area.Beginning with builders of sport, Peggy Colonello (MSHOF1994), who started golfing at the long-gone Bourkevale course, served as president of both the Manitoba and Canadian Ladies Golf Associations.

Herb Embuldeniya, an international boxing judge and administrator, was inducted in 1999. His wife Nieva, who judged at the 2012 Olympics in London, joined him in the HOF in 2018. Gordie Kerr (2007), a top hockey official, headed the growth of registered officials during his tenure as referee-in-chief of the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association.

Tom Miller (HHOF2013) was the driving force behind the St. James Canucks of the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League. A 2010 Curling HOF inductee, Rick Mutton was the youngest president of the Manitoba Curling Association. Al Mayer, a 2003 Softball HOF inductee, who served as president of the Optimist Club of Assiniboia and the Winnipeg Men’s Industrial Fastball League, coached and managed for 30-plus years including with the junior Colonels and Optimists and the St. James Teachers. Jane Seal was the founding president of the Cavalier Fencing Club, now in its 47th season.

A look back at local water-skiing legends

Regular reader Terry Aseltine suggested a column on water-skiing, a sport that never had been covered in Memories of Sport.

Water-skiing in North America can be traced back to Lake Pepin in Minnesota in 1922. According to a history of the sport in our province produced by Water Ski Manitoba, a version of the sport was enjoyed in the Lac du Bonnet area later in the decade.

Water-skiing was mentioned on the society page of the Winnipeg Free Press in 1932. A photo of a water-skier had the cutline: “Introducing Water Skiing; a new aquatic sport; Miss Jane Carruthers, a prominent member of the younger set shown riding behind a fast moving motor boat.”

In 1957, water-skiing was described as “Manitoba’s Fastest Growing Sport” in a full-page Free Press story.

Manitoba’s many baseball pros

Minor-league affiliated pro baseball is changing dramatically this season. More than 40 communities have lost their teams due to restructuring by Major League Baseball organizations and opportunities to turn pro for young players coming out of high school and college have diminished. The minor league season began this week with teams in AAA, AA, A+ and A divisions.

A major change that affected Winnipeg saw the Goldeyes long-time rival, the St. Paul Saints, leave independent ball after 28 seasons. The Saints have become the across-the-Mississippi-River AAA farm team of the Minneapolis-based Minnesota Twins.

For many seasons, the minors had leagues classified from AAA down to D. At the lower levels, teams were located in communities with populations as small as 1,000 people.

Here in Manitoba, it wasn’t much different as almost every community fielded a baseball team of some sort. Small places such as Belmont, Chatfield, Eden, Lyleton, McConnell, Siglunes and Snowflake fielded teams that have been honoured by the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame. If a team wasn’t in a league, tournament ball on the weekend was an option.

Flying out of the North End

The North End Flyers were champions on both the softball field and the hockey ice.

The softball team played in a blooper ball league at the Red River Community Club off  north Main Street. In the summer of 1978, the Flyers entered the Manitoba Softball Association first men’s slo-pitch championship and earned the right to represent the province in the Western Canada championship. When the Flyers joined the Winnipeg Men’s Slo-Pitch League the next season, the team won two titles that summer.

With Bill Hasiuk the winning pitcher and tournament MVP, Flyers beat Place Louis Riel Raiders in the final of a MSA tournament to represent Manitoba in the Canadian championship in London, Ont. Hasiuk was better known for his ability on the football field, which included quarterbacking the junior Winnipeg Hawkeyes. The Flyers later captured the WMSPL title, beating Raiders in the final game. Playing manager Orest Horecko was the winning pitcher and Norm Tesluck had four hits.

Several players had played minor hockey in north Winnipeg and a number of them, including Hasiuk and Tesluck, were alumni West Kildonan North Stars junior team. In the spring of 1978, a Flyers team that played in the Manitoba Assiniboine Intermediate Hockey League lost the provincial intermediate championship to Thompson. The next year, the Flyers won the Manitoba intermediate title and began a four-season journey to a national championship. In a Western Canada semi-final against Asquith Canadians, the Saskatchewan rep proved to be too strong, winning three straight.

When Manitoba teams ruled the court

Winnipeg teams dominated in the early years of the Dominion junior men’s basketball championship that was once held every April.

Stellars from the city’s North End won the Ebbie Bowering trophy in 1950 and defended it the following year. Winnipeg Light Infantry made it four in a row for our province with victories in 1952 and 1953.

The successful out-of-province run began on April 5, 1950, when Stellars captured the Western championship with a 54-46 victory over Vancouver YMCA. The best-of-five national final against Windsor AKO’s was played in Winnipeg at the University of Manitoba field house.

Led by Paul Granovsky with 21 points, Stellars took the opening game 47-41. Mitch Baryluk Jr. added 10 for Stellars. Close to 1,500 fans saw the home team win game two 43-41. Free throws by Rich Bevan and Granovsky were the difference. Any chance of a sweep ended when the visitors won the third game 50-45. The championship then came to the North End, when Stellars easily won game four, 46-30. Granovsky scored 15 while Charlie Brower and Borden Cerka each hooped nine.

Spring training memories are made of this

In a normal March, Winnipeg baseball fans would be in Florida visiting major league spring training sites.

Being unable to make the trip this year got this columnist remembering the times I have been able to enjoy Grapefruit League games with other Winnipeggers. Talking with friendly fans from across the U.S. was also part of the fun.

The spring training experience has changed in recent years. In my early visits, in the mid-1980s, a fan could walk up to the box office at an old-style ball park and purchase a ticket for less than $10. Since then, most Florida-based teams have moved or expanded their facilities into smaller versions of major league parks. Other teams relocated to new facilities in Arizona and the Cactus League.

At The Ballpark of The Palm Beaches, which the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros now call home, or the Boston Red Sox' Little Fenway in Fort Myers, a fan will be hit with ticket prices that are closer to the regular season in the major leagues. And forget about buying a walk-up ticket for the Red Sox or the New York Yankees in Tampa. You’ll be at the mercy of the scalpers.  

Duguid done darned good in 1970 and ’71

Winning 17 games in a row in two world curling championships is an accomplishment that deserves to be remembered some 50 years after it happened.

When Don Duguid and his team of Rod Hunter, Jim Pettapiece and Bryan Wood did that at the 1970 and 1971 Air Canada Silver Broom events, the foursome became our province’s greatest men’s curling team.

Before the 1969-70 curling season began, the team didn’t exist. Hunter, Pettapiece and Wood needed a fourth for their team at the Granite Curling Club, so Rod approached Duguid, who said yes, and the rest is history. Duguid had reportedly retired after winning the 1969 MCA bonspiel grand aggregate trophy and Henry Birks main event with a different Granite squad of Terry Braunstein, Gord Lowry and Paul Ridd.

The road to world supremacy began at the 1970 MCA bonspiel, where the team won the grand aggregate and earned a berth in the provincial Consols championship in Dauphin. Team Duguid rolled to the final where they ran into the surprisingly tough Bob Friesen team from Elmwood. The teams split the first two games of the best-of-three final with Duguid winning the rubber match 12-5 over the former Manitoba high school champion.  

This flat prairie town was once a skiing hub

This winter more Winnipeggers than usual have been enjoying outdoor activities such as skating, sliding, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in our parks and on our trails and rivers. You can attribute this to a combination of nice weather in January and the desire to get some kind of exercise during COVID-19 restrictions.

It may be hard to believe in 2021, but skiing once was one of our fastest growing sports. By the mid-1940s, there were 15 ski clubs in the Winnipeg area. Downhill skiing was a popular sport within the city — and that included ski jumping.

The Winnipeg Ski Club, whose roots can be traced back to 1912, first operated near Elm Park Bridge in St. Vital, where ski jumps were located. In 1934, the club moved up the Red River to River Park at the end of Osborne Street. A clubhouse was opened in 1948 and a few years later, a 40-foot ski jump tower was added.  

Older residents of Wolseley and River Heights will remember the days when the Puffin Ski Club was located on the north bank of the Assiniboine River and east of the present St. James Bridge. A clubhouse opened in 1939 and a ski ramp was built the following year to extend the downhill runs. By 1940, the club had 1,200 members and, like the WSC,was a popular social club. Property at Bronx Avenue and Kildonan Drive was donated to the Kildonan Ski Club by the municipality of East Kildonan in 1946. Floodlighting allowed for evening skiing and instruction.

Ah, the dog days of … the Trappers’ Festival

This year’s Northern Manitoba Trappers’ Festival in The Pas, which is slated to run Feb. 17 to 21, is going to be a virtual event.

Festival organizers said the events include sasquatch calling, snow flea and ice worm creation, bannock baking, and a family talent show. Missing will be the yelping and anxiety of the sled dogs awaiting the start of the dog derby that has been a highlight of the northern celebration since 1948.

The 1948 festival booklet shows that the initial dog race was a 20-mile freight race with a team of not more than five dogs pulling a weight of 150 pounds. The course ran for 10 miles down the Saskatchewan River and then 10 miles back to the starting point. The first winner was conservation officer Jack Heard, who won $100 and a silver cup.

A 10-mile race with any number of dogs and junior dog and ski races also were part of the program.    In 1949, the major race ran over two days and was titled the Canadian Open Championship Dog Race. Any number of dogs could be used, but the musher had to complete the course with all his dogs. Injured dogs would have to ride in the sleigh.

Robertson was the last Monarch standing

Manitobans lost their last connection to one of our province’s most beloved hockey teams when George Robertson died on Jan. 9, owing to COVID-19.

Robertson, who was 93, was the last living member of the Winnipeg Monarchs team that won the Canadian junior hockey championship and the Memorial Cup in 1946. Underdogs going into the best-of-seven final in Maple Leaf Gardens, the Monarchs beat the best in the east, Toronto St. Michael’s College, in seven games. In the deciding contest, which the Monarchs took 4-2, Robertson scored the winning and insurance goals in the third period.

St. Mike’s was loaded with future NHL players including Red Kelly, Tod Sloan, Fleming Mackell, Ed Sandford, and Ed Harrison. Les Costello, who later chose the priesthood over pro hockey, was one of the team’s leading scorers.

But Manitoba hockey fans knew that the local team also had plenty of talent. In an interview with Ty Dilello for his 2020 book, Manitoba Hockey: An Oral History, Robertson said, “One of (the) things that put us where we were had to be the play of Red McRae and Harry Taylor. And guys like Bill Tindall and Tom Rockey were pretty good too.”  

Remembering sports people we lost in 2020

The new year is a time to remember those Manitobans with a sports connection who died during the previous 12 months. The list is long, but an effort is made to include as many as possible. Last week’s Memories of Sport column mentioned members of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, as well as those we lost from the hockey and curling shrines.

Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum manager Joe Wiwchar in Morden is the go-to guy for baseball information. His those-we-have-lost list includes HOF individual inductees Lloyd Brown, Irv Powers, and Dale Hunter. Brown, of the Brandon Cloverleafs, was named second baseman on our province’s all-century team. Powers coached the Cloverleafs for 23 seasons. For 21 years, Hunter was a slugging outfielder for the Riverside Canucks and led the Manitoba Senior League in home runs and runs batted in eight times. Ross Graham, Peter Rybuck, Sonny Orr and Peter Andreychuk were players who were inducted to the hall with their teams. Duane Boutang was a tireless volunteer for both baseball and softball. Pro baseball lost Rick Hacker, who played for the Winnipeg Whips of the International League in 1971 and later coached in the majors for eight seasons, including three with the Toronto Blue Jays. Former Winnipeg Goldeyes outfielder Charles Peterson lost a battle with COVID-19.

Helen McFarlane played senior softball for many years with the Tigerettes and was a pickup by CUAC Blues when that team won the first Canadian women’s championship in 1965. Vinie Glass went into the Manitoba Softball HOF with the 1949-1954 Tigerettes and was an ardent downhill skier. Guent Salzmann was the Tigerettes manager. Keith King was inducted in the softball hall for his roles as a player, coach, and Softball Manitoba umpire and administrator. In addition to umpiring softball, Rod Peppler was a top basketball official.

Also from the basketball community were Don Leyden of Paulins and the Varsity Grads, and Zoe (Robinson) Albi, who played for the Canadian women’s team in three Pan Am Games while living in B.C. Charles Douthit played for the Brandon Bobcats in the early 1980s, and Jack Maw was a Bobcats official. A strong advocate for youth sports, Lew Taylor coached in Swan River for more than 30 years and served on the Sport Manitoba board.   

Remembering those we lost in 2020

The New Year is the time to remember those Manitobans with a sports connection who died during the previous 12 months.

The list is long, but an effort is made to include as many as possible. A place to start is with the individual honoured members of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and the players and builders from teams inducted in the shrine.

Isny (Johnson) Gallimore was 101 when she passed in late November. A multi-sport athlete who was inducted in 1996, her best sports were softball and five-pin bowling. Elfriede Goermann, a 1987 builder inductee, was an integral part of Manitoba’s artistic gymnastics community and an international coach and judge. A 1994 builder inductee, Peggy Colonello served as president of both the Manitoba and Canadian ladies golf associations. In 2003, she was an inaugural inductee into the provincial golf HOF.

A top table tennis player who became an international administrator, in 2013 Art Werier became the first inductee from that sport. Werier also was a founder of the Manitoba Sports Federation. In 2015, Dr. Gordon Cumming was recognized for his sports medicine career and his speed skating contributions which included serving as the longtime president of the provincial association. A 2009 inductee, Roy Williams was a basketball star at the University of Manitoba and with Paulins and the U Grads; he played for Canada in the 1952 Olympics.

Local sports books to put under the tree

While staying close to home during the holiday season, readers have the time and opportunity to enjoy several new sports books with a Manitoba connection.

The big sports book of the year should be Iconic Stories from 150 Years of Sport in Manitoba that Winnipeg author Sean Grassie wrote for Sport Manitoba to celebrate our province’s 150th anniversary. Funding support came from the 2017 Canada Summer Games Legacy Fund. With advice from members of the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association and Sport Manitoba heritage manager Rick Brownlee, Grassie made an effort to include a cross-section of events and personalities. As might be expected, Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame honoured members are highly represented. Copies are available from Sport Manitoba for the price of $20.20.

Fans will be reminded of some of the best Winnipeg Jets teams in Geoff Kirbyson’s second book, Broken Ribs & Popcorn. The book covers the period from when the Jets entered the NHL in the 1979-80 season through the Dale Hawerchuk years.

The author’s extensive interviews produced many illuminating stories about both players and management. Kirbyson’s first book, The Hot Line, earned him the 2020 Ed Sweeney Award from the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame for work that contributed to knowledge of our province’s hockey history.

Remembering the long-lost Hockey Spectator

Before the World Hockey Association hit the ice in October 1972 with two divisions of six teams, a new hockey newspaper appeared on newsstands that summer.

Tim Beever, a hockey collector in Indianapolis, Ind., provided us with a copy of the first issue of The Hockey Spectator. The front page headline read “Hull Joins WHA, Jets” and the paper was filled with stories and photos of Bobby Hull. Another headline read “Hatskin Building Jet Powerhouse.”Alton White was featured in an article as the first black player in the WHA after he agreed to join the New York Raiders from the Providence Reds of the American Hockey League. He also was a guest in NBC’s Today Show. White lasted 13 games in New York City before moving to Los Angeles to play 57 more for the Sharks in the inaugural season.

White was known as Junior when he played his minor hockey at Earl Grey Community Club and two seasons with the Winnipeg Rangers of the MJHL. Ken Block from Steinbach, Sherridon’s Gene Peacosh, Craig Reichmuth from Russell and Bob Winograd from River Heights also were Raiders that season.

Not long after the advent of the WHA, a Canadian version of The Hockey Spectator, based in Winnipeg and titled The Hockey Spectator (Canada) was introduced. The plan was to publish weekly during the season and monthly the rest of the year. The publisher was L.R. (Bud) Sherman, who at the time was the MLA for Fort Garry. With the growth of professional hockey as well as at the junior and college level, the belief was that there would be a demand for expanded coverage. The first Canadian issue, priced at 35 cents, was published on Nov. 10, 1972 with the story of the Jets’ first-game victory in New York written by Vic Grant, who at the time was a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Tribune.

Local halls of fame delay induction ceremonies

The Manitoba Rugby Hall of Fame is the latest provincial sports hall of fame to announce its 2020 induction class.

Entering the hall will be Clint Evans as a pioneer and builders Scott Harland and Colleen Holton. Evans was a player, founder and first president of the Assassins Rugby Football Club, which was originally made up of players from Churchill High School and the Riverview area. In 1987, Harland began coaching and refereeing. He coached 14 provincial women’s teams and officiated nationally and internationally. Holton coached the Brumbies women’s team and served in administrative positions with the Wasps, the Winnipeg Women’s Division and Rugby Manitoba.

Like other halls whose inductions have been derailed by COVID-19, rugby plans to honour its 2020 class next year. President Ray Hoemsen said the goal is to induct three more in 2021 and hold an induction dinner on Oct. 30.    

When the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame announced its class of 2020 in late July, organizers said the group would not be inducted this year. The class consists of athletes Baxter Humby of muay thai/kickboxing, curler Ed Werenich, racquetball’s Jennifer Saunders, volleyball star Ruth Klassen, multi-sport athlete Ralph Lyndon, builder Marilyn Fraser, and Paul Robson, the former Winnipeg Blue Bombers player and general manager whose building efforts touched most sports. Hockey player and advocate Sheldon Kennedy will be recognized as an athlete/builder. The 1996-1997 University of Manitoba women’s basketball teams will be inducted in the team category.

CUAC athletes were among the city’s best

My last Memories of Sport column examined the history of the Canadian Ukrainian Athletic Club, which made a major impact on sports in Winnipeg from 1925 into the ’70s.

This week, some of the best individuals and teams who represented the North End organization will be recognized.  

The senior men’s baseball team coached and managed by Stan and Nick Shaley had great success in the early 1940s, winning the city championship four straight years. The team also won four more titles between 1947 and 1954. In addition to Stan Shaley, those with connections to CUAC who have been inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame include Jack Raleigh, Harry Barchuk, Peter Thomson and Barry Swanton.  

On the ice, CUAC entered the North Division of the junior hockey league in 1939 and the juvenile league in 1941. The hockey program later was expanded with midget and bantam A and B teams. Johnny Arondeus, a Manitoba Lacrosse HOF coach, was a leading scorer in the first two junior seasons. Cal Gardner started the 1941 season with the juveniles before moving up to the juniors, and Nick Mickoski played in 1944-45, the junior team’s last season. Both went on to play in the NHL and be inducted into the Manitoba Hockey HOF. The 1944-45 team was coached by Walter Monson, who led Winnipeg Monarchs to the Canadian junior championship the next season.

Brushes with greatness in the great outdoors

What do former Blue Bombers coach Bud Grant, Jack Dempsey, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Ernest Hemingway, Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Annie Oakley, Damon Runyon, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller and Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco have in common?

Add to the list former Manitoba Lt.-Gov. Jack McKeag, prominent Winnipeg businessman Dick Bonnycastle, The Pas pilot and entrepreneur Tom Lamb, Cec Browne (who was named Manitoba’s athlete of the century for 1870 to 1970) and one-time Winnipeg Free Press sports editor Maurice Smith.

They all were friends or acquaintances of the late outdoorsman and journalist Jimmy Robinson. In most cases, they hunted, fished, shot traps or talked sports with the man who was inducted into four different halls of fame: the American Trapshooting Association, the National Skeet Association, the National Fishing Association and the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame. He also was honoured by Ducks Unlimited.

Robinson was known as the “Squire of St. Ambroise.” His hunting lodge at Delta Marsh on the south end of Lake Manitoba is where the big and not-so-big names came to hunt for canvasbacks, bluebills, mallards and Canada geese. His lodge was founded in 1935 and the present lodge, located in St. Ambroise — about an hour from Winnipeg — was built in 1958. It was probably the best-known duck camp in North America and the facility called Jimmy Robinson’s Famous Duck Lodge still is in operation.

Winnipeg’s history on the diamond

Who knows what the future of minor league baseball will be. The leagues that belong to the National Association of Professional Baseball are not operating this season due to the pandemic.

Before they were shut down, Major League Baseball (MLB) unveiled a plan that would see teams affiliated with the majors cut to a total of 120 with each MLB team operating four teams.

Forty-two teams would disappear from affiliated organized baseball ranks. Leagues also would be reorganized geographically for the 2021 season. If there is one.

Another question is whether independent leagues such the American Association where the current version of the Winnipeg Goldeyes play will thrive or disappear as a result.

Winnipeg hosted softball worlds 20 years ago

In late August of 2000, 93 slo-pitch softball teams from 20 American states, including Hawaii, and two Western provinces descended upon Winnipeg. They were in the city to play in the Senior Softball World Championships. Waiting for them were 25 teams from our province ready to do battle with the visitors.The championships ran from Aug. 24 to Sept. 4, with competition in two men’s levels, AAA and Major, plus a Major category for women. The men’s age groups were in five-year increments from 50-plus to 80-plus. The 14 women’s teams played in 45-plus and 55-plus divisions. The majority of games were played at the John Blumberg softball complex with a few overflow contests at Assiniboia Optimist Park just 10 minutes away. The event was hosted by the Canadian Polar Bear Classic, a group that had organized regional championships in Winnipeg from 1995 to 1999. The goal of those tournaments was to make it easier for Canadian teams to qualify to play in national championships in the U.S.A.Three members of the original committee, Ray Kuran, Ross MacIver and former city councillor Ray Brunka had the idea of bringing the championships to Winnipeg. They convinced the U.S. organizers to move the championships outside the continental United States for the first time. Winnipeg’s history of hosting major events was a selling point although there was concern about the number of teams that would travel north if the championships were held in Canada.To promote the championships locally, all-star charity games were held at Canwest Global Park (now Shaw Park) on July 31. A team called Sports Notables coached by Bob Essery, the main organizer of the evening, beat the Manitoba 60-plus to 70-plus Selects 10-8. The Notables lineup included former Goldeyes catcher Troy Fortin and several Blue Bombers, as well as racquetball champion Sherman Greenfield, Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame player Ray Brunel, and curlers Kerry Burtnyk and Cathy Gauthier. The latter four were experienced slo-pitch players.The Media All-Stars, whose lineup included Mike Beauregard and Paddy Slevin from the CBC, CJOB’s Kim Babij and Kelly Moore, Clayton Dreger of Radio Southern Manitoba, and journalists Dave Supleve, Kevin King, Jim Timlick, Bill Burdeyny and Gladwyn Scott, lost 16-6 to the 50-plus and 55-plus Selects. This preview to the World Championships attracted a crown of around 3,000 and gave fans a chance to see some of our best players in action. Many visitors commented that the championships in Winnipeg were the best they had ever attended. They were impressed by the six-diamond Blumberg complex, the opening ceremonies, the many welcoming volunteers, the 32-page free program that included the lineups of almost all the teams, and our province’s hospitality. MacIver served as co-chair of the local committee along with Kuran (in memoriam, as he passed away in 1999). A review of the program showed that the local lineups were filled with recognizable sports names. Ed Gilroy, Lloyd Penner, Dave Shyiak, Ron Toews and Barry Braun, all future Manitoba Softball Hall-of-Fame inductees, had played for the 1973 Western Major Fastball League champion Winnipeg Colonels. Along with MacIver, Steve Bergson, Dave Boch, Ab Deleau, Jim Slevin and Alda Tait would later be honoured by the provincial shrine. Manitoba Baseball Hall-of-Famers included Steve Derewianchuk, Gord Leduchowski, Roy Seidler, Peter Thomson and Hal Westberg. The list of past or future provincial curling champions involved included John Helston, Danny Hyrich, Bud Snarr, Gary Smith, Ron Westcott, Donna Gobeil, and Diane MacIver. On the field, the championships were not a success for Manitoba as no team won a division. A 50-plus team from Charleswood was our province’s best.Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com

In late August of 2000, 93 slo-pitch softball teams from 20 American states, including Hawaii, and two Western provinces descended upon Winnipeg. 

They were in the city to play in the Senior Softball World Championships. Waiting for them were 25 teams from our province ready to do battle with the visitors.

The championships ran from Aug. 24 to Sept. 4, with competition in two men’s levels, AAA and Major, plus a Major category for women. 

First person to swim Lake Winnipeg still going strong

Early on the morning of Aug. 19, 1955, Kathie McIntosh waded into the water of Lake Winnipeg and went for a swim. Nothing unusual about that. What was unusual was that she remained in the water for 16 hours and 42 minutes and became the first person to successfully swim across the lake.

Radio station CKRC had put up a prize of $1,000 for the first person to complete the swim. Five men entered the contest but McIntosh, a 20-year-old from Norwood, chose not to participate in the radio’s promotion.

The Winnipeg Tribune had secretly approached McIntosh and offered the same amount if she gave the paper the exclusive story. She started her swim from Grand Marais on the east side of the lake. The goal was to swim about 18 miles and reach the shore near Winnipeg Beach.Quebec servicemen Camile Filion and Antonin Belley, who were stationed at RCAF Gimli, and Jim Brennand and Norman Buckboro, both of Winnipeg, took off from Grand Marais ahead of McIntosh. The fifth swimmer, Al Sweet from Winnipeg Beach, chose to challenge the lake from the west to the east.

McIntosh proved to be the strongest and most determined swimmer. She was accompanied on her trek by her father, Bruce, and her boyfriend, Ed Sokol, paddling a canoe. She said she did not see any of the men during her swim. Buckboro dropped out after three miles, Belley after nearly three hours, and Sweet stayed in the lake for four hours. Brennand, who took an early lead, lasted five hours. Filion swam for 10 hours and made it about halfway across the lake.

‘How did you miss that one, ref?’

A reader suggested a column about sports officials, which goes against the adage that a good official is best not noticed.

That may be so in today’s sports world, but not the case in the long ago past when local officials known by nicknames such as No No, Windy and Rosie were ruling. No No was baseball umpire Jack Carrigan; Windy was hockey referee Lorne Lyndon; and Rosie was softball umpire Morris Simcoff. Each of the three were inducted into their respective sports halls of fame.

Manitoba has produced a long list of outstanding officials with national and international credentials.

A good place to start a search is the honour roll of athletes and builders in the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame as athletes often became officials when their playing days were done. That group would include hockey referees Vic Lindquist and Gordie Kerr; football officials Andy Currie, Bill Nairn, Cliff Roseborough, Kas Vidruk and Mel Wilson; and baseball umpire Bill (Snake) Siddle.

Cricket enjoying new life in Manitoba

It’s safe to say cricket is a sport that most Manitobans know little about.

Visitors to Assiniboine Park on a summer Sunday afternoon will have seen two or three matches underway on the field across from the pavilion. Some may have even stopped and watched for a few minutes. But there’s a good chance that sports fans used to the action of hockey, football and basketball would have moved on due to the slowness of the game.

Years ago, when children still played in back lanes and on open lots at the corner of their streets, they played a game adapted from cricket often called Canny Can. Three tin cans substituted for the wooden stumps used in the real game. If available, tall fruit juice cans were best, but smaller soup or vegetable cans would do. A rubber ball instead of the leather cricket ball was thrown by a player attempting to imitate the overhand technique of a cricket bowler.

The batter used a softball bat rather than the flat-sided cricket bat to hit the ball for runs or stop it from knocking over the cans.

Sports news from Canada Days past

In 1970 when Manitoba was celebrating its 100th birthday, the July 1 holiday was known as Dominion Day, not Canada Day.

Let’s look back at what was happening in the sports world in our province on that historical day. Holidays are always an important day for the horse racing crowd at Assiniboia Downs. Around 5,000 fans watched Merry’s Hi Note, with jockey Jimmy Anderson wearing the silks of Lorraine Jackson of Souris, Man., win the $5,000-added John W. Sifton Memorial Stakes. Merry’s Hi Note beat Day Question by two lengths. The purse was the richest in Downs history for Manitoba-bred horses.

At Brooklands Speedway, 4,200 car racing enthusiasts saw Jerry Harding of Lockport win the stock division and John Albrechtsen take the modified division. At Alexander Park (near Polo Park), West Kildonan, looking for its first win of the season in National Soccer League play, battled to a 1-1 draw with Thistle. Joe Steele scored for Thistle while Eric Isaacson tied the match for West K on a penalty kick.

The Winnipeg Whips, the city’s new AAA baseball team in the International League, was in Toledo to play the Mud Hens. With 19-year-old Baylor Moore, a future Montreal Expo, on the mound, the visitors lost 5-3. The Whips had been moved to Winnipeg from Buffalo and played their first game in their new home at Winnipeg Stadium on June 19 in front of 7,000-plus fans.

Manitobans also starred in the ManDak League

The story of the ManDak League becoming a haven for Black players from the Negro Baseball Leagues was told in the last Memories of Sport column. Left out was the part about Manitoba players who competed with and against the Black players in what arguably was the best baseball the fans in our province ever saw on a regular basis.

While the Winnipeg Buffaloes were an all-Black team, the Elmwood Giants and teams based in Brandon, Carman and Minot, N.D., were integrated.

Before the ManDak League was formed in 1950, the province’s top league was the Manitoba Senior Baseball League, for players 21 or older. In 1948, it was comprised of the Brandon Greys, Winnipeg Reos, Elmwood Giants and ANAF Vets. The Carman Cardinals joined the following season. The first players from the Negro Leagues came north in 1949.

In 1950, the ManDak season did not open on time in late May, owing to the Red River flood.Once the flood was under control, an all-star game was organized in support of flood victims, featuring two teams named after the local daily papers, the Winnipeg Free Press and the Winnipeg Tribune.

ManDak League was a home away from home

This summer the professional Negro Baseball Leagues are celebrating their 100th anniversary.

The Negro National League (NNL) was established in 1920 with eight teams primarily in the Midwest USA. The first game between the Indianapolis ABCs and the Chicago American Giants was played in the Windy City on May 2.

The Negro Southern League, the Eastern Colored League and the Negro American League (NAL) were formed later in the 1920s. These leagues were where the best African-American baseball players displayed their talents before organized professional baseball was integrated in 1946 when Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson.

Robinson had played a season with the NAL Kansas City Monarchs before joining the Montreal Royals of the International League. The next season, Robinson moved up to the National League with the Dodgers and former Newark Eagle Larry Doby became the first Black player in the American League with the Cleveland Indians.

Look to books for local sporting action

With no live sports action to read about, listen to or watch, let me offer an option.

Many books about sports in Manitoba written by local authors provide insight into our provincial sports history. Take the opportunity to delve into the sports you enjoy or learn more about the ones you don’t usually follow. Newer books are often available at McNally Robinson Booksellers and you can find many out-of-print books in the city’s used-book stores. Search their databases online by subject and author and check their pickup and delivery policies. Any purchases will support local businesses at a time they need it most.

The history of the Blue Bombers at different times is told in books by Vince Leah, Jack Matheson, Bob Irving, Nils Ling, Roy Rosmus and David Spector. Robert Young wrote about former Bomber general manager Lyle Bauer. Kid Dynamite is the story of Gerry James, who played for the Bombers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. While dining at home, check the recipes in What’s Cookin’ with the 1984 Grey Cup Champion Bombers or Our Jets at Home.

Golden Boys, Ty Dilello’s ranking of the top 50 Manitoba hockey players, and The Hot Line, by Geoff Kirbyson, about Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson, should be easy to find, along with books about the Jets by Randy Turner, Wayne Tefs, Scott Taylor, and Jon Waldman.

When Knudson nearly won the Masters

The Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga., that was scheduled for April 9 to 12 is one of the countless sporting events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That decision must have weighed heavily on the bigwigs at Augusta National Golf Club, who liken themselves to God in the golf universe. They still hope to play the event later in the year. For Manitobans, the highlight in Masters history came in 1969 when George Knudson finished in a tie for second place. Our province’s best golfer, Knudson learned the game at the St. Charles Country Club and won the Manitoba junior championship in 1954 and the provincial and Canadian titles the next summer, while playing out of the West Winnipeg course. His resume also includes Manitoba Open crowns of 1958, ’59 and ’60. The sport took him east to Toronto, so our province’s pride might have been hurt a little when the Winnipeg product was listed as being from the Ontario city during his days on the PGA Tour. Knudson opened the 1969 Masters by shooting 70. On day two, the slow play of playing partner Dr. Cary Middlecoff bothered Knudson, who scored 73. His two-day total of 143 left him tied for 14th place with Jack Nicklaus and Bruce Crampton. While playing with Nicklaus in round three on the Saturday, his 69 outscored the best player in the world by three strokes. Nicklaus had won three Masters at that point in his career. The leader after three rounds was Billy Casper, the leading money-winner on the tour in 1968. Knudson didn’t make his first appearance on the leader board until late in the round and at the end of the day he was tied for sixth.On Sun., April 13, when the final round was played, Casper ran into early trouble and George Archer grabbed the lead on the seventh hole. Knudson moved into contention during the round and a birdie putt on the 18th that stopped six inches short would have tied him with Archer, who shot 72 and a total of 281 for the four rounds. Knudson’s 70 left him tied with Casper, who shot 74, and Tom Weiskopf, who had a 71, at 282. Knudson won $12,333, a far cry from the winnings on today’s circuit. Before the Masters, his total for the year was $7,607.Putting was what let Knudson down throughout the tournament. He had 34, 33, 32 and 31 putts over the four rounds. “Every putt was an adventure, every time I got that rattlesnake in my hands,” he said.Knudson had only one bad drive in 72 holes and a reporter suggested that Knudson would have finished first from tee-to-green and last in putting. Knudson made an interesting observation following the final round. “I never really felt I belonged, now I do,” he said.When you examine his record, Knudson proved that he did belong with the best players in the world. He finished in the top 10 at the Masters on three separate occasions (10th in 1965 and sixth in 1966) and he won eight times on the PGA Tour as well as at international events in Australia, Venezuela, Panama and Puerto Rico. He was a member of the Canada Cup team in nine world competitions, was the individual winner in Tokyo in 1966 and partnered with Al Balding to win the doubles in Rome in 1968.Knudson was recognized in his home province in 1988 when he was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. Cancer took his life a few months later in January 1989. In 2000, the golfer was one of five finalists for Manitoba Professional Athlete of the 20th Century, an honour that went to hockey goalie Terry Sawchuk. That year, Knudson was named Canada’s Golfer of the Century by the Royal Canadian Golf Association. Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com 

The Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga., that was scheduled for April 9 to 12 is one of the countless sporting events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

That decision must have weighed heavily on the bigwigs at Augusta National Golf Club, who liken themselves to God in the golf universe. They still hope to play the event later in the year. 

When the Kopper Kweens ruled the court

n March across the United States, basketball reigns. The month known as March Madness sees 68 of the top-rated college men’s teams battle for the NCAA championship. The goal is to reach the Sweet 16, then the Elite 8, and finally the Final Four. This year play begins on March 17 and runs for 21 days. Over the weekend of April 4 to 6, the top four teams will play in Atlanta for the national title.In Manitoba, we have our own version of March Madness when the best boys and girls teams compete for the provincial high school championships. Teams are classified in four levels from AAAA down to A. This year the AAAA championships will be played in Winnipeg from March 13 to 23. The other three divisions will be hosted by five different schools March 19 to 21. Across the province, more than 5,000 student-athletes play high school basketball each year.  The girls team from Flin Flon’s Hapnot Collegiate — with a very appropriate name for a team from a mining community, Kopper Kweens — has the most impressive high school basketball record. Between 1950 and 1960, the Kopper Kweens won eight provincial championships including six in a row from 1950 to 1955. The consecutive run for Hapnot was actually seven as the team was known as the Legionettes when it won in 1949. At the time, there was only one level of play so the northerners came south and beat Winnipeg teams such as Kelvin, Isaac Newton and Glenlawn in the final. The Kopper Kweens also reached the final in 1956 but Tec Voc broke their streak. The Flin Flonners had to overcome many obstacles on the way to success. The girls had to learn the game on a small court in the Flin Flon community hall and practise against boys such as the high school Kopper Kings. Theirs was the only indoor court in northern Manitoba until 1953, when an even smaller court was set up in the basement of the new United Church in The Pas.The Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association inducted the 1950-1955 teams into its hall of fame in 2012. Several players played for three seasons during that run. Angie Kyba led the way from 1951 to 1953. Norma Duncan and Betty Nisbet played from 1952 to 1954 and Martha McKenzie, Jackie Masson and Claudine Perras the final three years. After high school, McKenzie and Masson along with Kweens Monica Vickery, Gaye Bogash, Mary Masson and Barbara Davidson brought their skills to Winnipeg and played  junior and/or senior ball with teams such as the Soo Line Millers and West End Orioles.While no team can match the record of the Kopper Kweens, the Lionettes from Glenlawn in St. Vital won the provincial championship in 1962, 1965 and 1966. A second St. Vital School Division team, Dakota Lancerettes, also earned three titles in 1976, 1977 and 1979. Most recently, the Oak Park Raiders girls won three AAAA titles in a row in 2017, 2018 and 2019.On the boys’ side, the Vincent Massey Trojans from Fort Garry won four championships between 1961 and 1966 and the Vincent Massey Vikings from Brandon took three straight in 1969, 1970 and 1971. The Dakota Lancers won the provincial crown in 1974, 1975 and 1977. All these teams (except for the recent Raiders groups) have been inducted into the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame. Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com

In March across the United States, basketball reigns. The month known as March Madness sees 68 of the top-rated college men’s teams battle for the NCAA championship. The goal is to reach the Sweet 16, then the Elite 8, and finally the Final Four. This year play begins on March 17 and runs for 21 days. Over the weekend of April 4 to 6, the top four teams will play in Atlanta for the national title.

In Manitoba, we have our own version of March Madness when the best boys and girls teams compete for the provincial high school championships. Teams are classified in four levels from AAAA down to A. This year the AAAA championships will be played in Winnipeg from March 13 to 23. The other three divisions will be hosted by five different schools March 19 to 21. Across the province, more than 5,000 student-athletes play high school basketball each year.  

The girls team from Flin Flon’s Hapnot Collegiate — with a very appropriate name for a team from a mining community, Kopper Kweens — has the most impressive high school basketball record. Between 1950 and 1960, the Kopper Kweens won eight provincial championships including six in a row from 1950 to 1955.

Celebrating 50 years of the MMJHL

The Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Jack McKenzie, the first president, says the league was formed in 1970 to fill a void in Winnipeg for players wishing to continue to play after completing juvenile in the Greater Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association system. At the time there were only four junior A teams in the city and players had to play for the junior teams in their geographic zone — for the Monarchs in the south or the West Kildonan North Stars in the north, for example.Discussions took place with the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association about forming a junior B league and the groups involved made it very clear they were not interested in becoming a developmental league for junior A clubs. The new league was formed without an agreement with the MAHA.When the MMJHL’s first season began in the late fall of 1970, the charter teams were River Heights Cardinals, Charleswood Hawks, Fort Garry Blues and Stonewall. Not long after, teams from St. James and Portage la Prairie asked to join so the schedule was revised to accommodate six teams. A key to the league’s success and longevity was the decision by the founding fathers to operate as an independent league with its own rules. At the time the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League allowed its teams to have three 21-year-old players, which was not the case for junior A teams. The MMJHL chose to adopt a similar rule but in its first season the teams were allowed as many 21-year-olds as they wanted. After that, the number was four. One important rule stopped players who had aged out of junior A from moving down to a MMJHL team as an over-aged player. League organizers realized that many of players were enrolled in post-secondary education. With this in mind, playoffs were completed early in the spring so there would be no conflict with exams.In the first season, three 15-year-old players, Ray Russell of Charleswood, Don Houston of River Heights, and future NHL defenseman Brian Engblom with Fort Garry, were allowed to play. The league later operated a team under the leadership of furniture baron Nick Hill, called Kern Hill Nationals. The rationale was that players 17 and under wishing to play in the league would play there before moving to a MMJHL team when they turned 18. Stonewall dropped out after two seasons but the league continued to grow with teams from Transcona, East and West Kildonan, St. Vital, St. Boniface and Selkirk. In his history of the early years, McKenzie, who served as president for six years, recognized Bob Fitzpatrick, Ed Rutherford, Richard Partridge, Gordon Marks and Ron Russell as volunteers who got the league “off the ground.” Bob Foulds was the first referee-in-chief and Len Cowie and Earl Ormshaw were experienced officials who worked games.On March 6 at the Eric Coy Arena, the Charleswood Hawks will celebrate five decades of hockey. The Hawks have won 16 MMJHL championships, including 12 under the leadership of the late Wayne Deschouwer, who is described in the anniversary program as the “most loved Hawk.” The evening will feature a game against the St. James Canucks. The plan is to bring back players from the past to join in the celebration. Among the talented players on the Hawks roster were those labelled as players of the decades —Wayne Gogal, Garth Bannatyne, Jeff and Blair Van Norman, Keith Potter, Matt Ring, Colin Hekle, Dillon Smith, Riley Gilmore and Matt Hearn, who was the team’s all-time leading scorer with 300 points. Blue Bomber Nic Demski played for the Hawks from 2011 to 2013 and Winnipeg Jets senior communications director Scott Brown was team captain in the 1995 championship year. Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com

The Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. 

Jack McKenzie, the first president, says the league was formed in 1970 to fill a void in Winnipeg for players wishing to continue to play after completing juvenile in the Greater Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association system.

At the time there were only four junior A teams in the city and players had to play for the junior teams in their geographic zone — for the Monarchs in the south or the West Kildonan North Stars in the north, for example.

Celebrating 50 years of the MMJHL

The Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Jack McKenzie, the first president, says the league was formed in 1970 to fill a void in Winnipeg for players wishing to continue to play after completing juvenile in the Greater Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association system. At the time there were only four junior A teams in the city and players had to play for the junior teams in their geographic zone — for the Monarchs in the south or the West Kildonan North Stars in the north, for example.Discussions took place with the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association about forming a junior B league and the groups involved made it very clear they were not interested in becoming a developmental league for junior A clubs. The new league was formed without an agreement with the MAHA.When the MMJHL’s first season began in the late fall of 1970, the charter teams were River Heights Cardinals, Charleswood Hawks, Fort Garry Blues and Stonewall. Not long after, teams from St. James and Portage la Prairie asked to join so the schedule was revised to accommodate six teams. A key to the league’s success and longevity was the decision by the founding fathers to operate as an independent league with its own rules. At the time the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League allowed its teams to have three 21-year-old players, which was not the case for junior A teams. The MMJHL chose to adopt a similar rule but in its first season the teams were allowed as many 21-year-olds as they wanted. After that, the number was four. One important rule stopped players who had aged out of junior A from moving down to a MMJHL team as an over-aged player. League organizers realized that many of players were enrolled in post-secondary education. With this in mind, playoffs were completed early in the spring so there would be no conflict with exams.In the first season, three 15-year-old players, Ray Russell of Charleswood, Don Houston of River Heights, and future NHL defenseman Brian Engblom with Fort Garry, were allowed to play. The league later operated a team under the leadership of furniture baron Nick Hill, called Kern Hill Nationals. The rationale was that players 17 and under wishing to play in the league would play there before moving to a MMJHL team when they turned 18. Stonewall dropped out after two seasons but the league continued to grow with teams from Transcona, East and West Kildonan, St. Vital, St. Boniface and Selkirk. In his history of the early years, McKenzie, who served as president for six years, recognized Bob Fitzpatrick, Ed Rutherford, Richard Partridge, Gordon Marks and Ron Russell as volunteers who got the league “off the ground.” Bob Foulds was the first referee-in-chief and Len Cowie and Earl Ormshaw were experienced officials who worked games.On March 6 at the Eric Coy Arena, the Charleswood Hawks will celebrate five decades of hockey. The Hawks have won 16 MMJHL championships, including 12 under the leadership of the late Wayne Deschouwer, who is described in the anniversary program as the “most loved Hawk.” The evening will feature a game against the St. James Canucks. The plan is to bring back players from the past to join in the celebration. Among the talented players on the Hawks roster were those labelled as players of the decades —Wayne Gogal, Garth Bannatyne, Jeff and Blair Van Norman, Keith Potter, Matt Ring, Colin Hekle, Dillon Smith, Riley Gilmore and Matt Hearn, who was the team’s all-time leading scorer with 300 points. Blue Bomber Nic Demski played for the Hawks from 2011 to 2013 and Winnipeg Jets senior communications director Scott Brown was team captain in the 1995 championship year. Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com 

The Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. 

Jack McKenzie, the first president, says the league was formed in 1970 to fill a void in Winnipeg for players wishing to continue to play after completing juvenile in the Greater Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association system. At the time there were only four junior A teams in the city and players had to play for the junior teams in their geographic zone — for the Monarchs in the south or the West Kildonan North Stars in the north, for example.

‘Got any doubles to trade?’

The Red River Sports Collectors’ Association (RRSCA) may not be very visible to the sporting community, but its members are hoping to change that. On Sat., Feb. 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Chalmers Community Centre (480 Chalmers Ave.) the group will have 25 tables set up at which its members will be displaying and selling memorabilia collected for many years. There is no admission charge. The goals are to generate more interest in the hobby and to gain new members for the club whose membership currently numbers around 20.The origin of the RRSCA can been traced back to January 1982 in the basement of onetime Winnipeg Free Press sportswriter Jack Knight. A collector himself, he wanted to find others who were interested in collecting items related to the world of sports so he placed a notice in the paper. Sixteen collectors discussed the idea of forming a non-profit organization that would provide members with a forum for exchanging information, trading memorabilia, and promoting the hobby. The RRSCA is believed to be Canada’s oldest continually operating sports collectors’ club. Over the years, it has donated more than $7,000 to charities. During the peak period of sports collecting in the late 1980s, the RRSCA membership reached 120. Those were the days when many people got into the hobby with a belief that the hockey and baseball cards they purchased would increase so much in value over the next 20 years that selling them would pay for their children’s post-secondary education. That was an illusion. Over the years the hobby has changed and once-popular trading among collectors has evaporated. With so many different types of sports cards on the market, it’s tough to find people collecting the same items. In 2002, the RRSCA published a 20th anniversary commemorative program with brief bios of active members. Several members listed CFL memorabilia as an interest. Another said he collected oddball food issues. A charter member wished he could find peanut butter glasses and Post cereals marbles. One was searching for additions to his baseball library.MLB and NHL schedules were on the want list of a past-president of the club. A former hockey scout admitted he was “totally anti-Leafs” and collected Montreal Canadiens material. A Pope card apparently was the highlight of one collection. Did he make saves for the Vatican all-stars?The true collectors have maintained their membership and charter members Wayne Scott, Jack Van Den Bossche and Dorrie Keisman will be exhibiting at the Feb. 29 show as will current president Warren West, who joined in 1994, and past-presidents Gord Buchanan and Henry Warkentin.Scott is co-ordinating the show with Mike Bergmann of Lower Level Sports Cards & Collectibles on Henderson Highway, who has been collecting since 1981. Scott said that, while current hockey cards will be available at some tables, the focus will be on older sports collectibles. Visitors can expect to see vintage CFL cards, Beehive hockey photos, Colgate miniature hockey player heads, 1950s and ’60s baseball and hockey cards, singles and sets from the 1970s and ’80s in which you might find a Wayne Gretzky rookie card, programs and guides, bobbleheads, and a variety of Winnipeg Jets collectibles. Scott is putting together team boxes full of cards from the ’70s to the ’90s for collectors who have a favourite team. Allan Sharpe will have a 1964-65 Topps Tall Boys hockey set at his table.Anyone wishing to join the RRSCA should contact Scott at 204-475-1256. The annual membership fee is $10 and the club meets on a regular basis — usually on the second Monday of the month.Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com

The Red River Sports Collectors’ Association (RRSCA) may not be very visible to the sporting community, but its members are hoping to change that. On Sat., Feb. 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Chalmers Community Centre (480 Chalmers Ave.) the group will have 25 tables set up at which its members will be displaying and selling memorabilia collected for many years. There is no admission charge.

The goals are to generate more interest in the hobby and to gain new members for the club whose membership currently numbers around 20.

The origin of the RRSCA can been traced back to January 1982 in the basement of onetime Winnipeg Free Press sportswriter Jack Knight. A collector himself, he wanted to find others who were interested in collecting items related to the world of sports so he placed a notice in the paper.

‘Got any doubles to trade?’

The Red River Sports Collectors’ Association (RRSCA) may not be very visible to the sporting community, but its members are hoping to change that.

On Sat., Feb. 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Chalmers Community Centre (480 Chalmers Ave.) the group will have 25 tables set up at which its members will be displaying and selling memorabilia collected for many years. There is no admission charge. The goals are to generate more interest in the hobby and to gain new members for the club whose membership currently numbers around 20.

The origin of the RRSCA can been traced back to January 1982 in the basement of onetime Winnipeg Free Press sportswriter Jack Knight. A collector himself, he wanted to find others who were interested in collecting items related to the world of sports so he placed a notice in the paper. Sixteen collectors discussed the idea of forming a non-profit organization that would provide members with a forum for exchanging information, trading memorabilia, and promoting the hobby.

The RRSCA is believed to be Canada’s oldest continually operating sports collectors’ club. Over the years, it has donated more than $7,000 to charities.

Ah, the roaring days of the MCA bonspiel

The first Manitoba Curling Association (MCA) bonspiel was held in 1889, with 62 teams entered. By 1947, entries had reached the 400-mark, and for the 100th anniversary spiel in 1988, the number was 1,280.  The MCA bonspiel yearbook, which was published annually until a few years ago, was a treasure trove of information about the association’s history, as well as the results of the previous year. Photos with the names of the team members who had won trophies as well the names of the skips who had led their teams into the semifinals of each event were featured. In many cases those games were the highlights of many players’ curling careers. The free yearbook was available to both curlers and fans in clubs across the city. To learn who had success during a particular bonspiel, this columnist went into his archives and pulled out the bonspiel yearbook from 1981. In 1980 when the bonspiel ran from Jan. 24 to 30, 728 teams competed, the same number as the previous four winters. Rural Manitoba did well, with Brian White and his team of Gerald Gourley, Bill Schneider and Murray Mullin from Swan River winning the bonspiel grand aggregate and one main event, the Sir. John C. Eaton. White beat Kerry Burtnyk of Assiniboine Memorial in the final. In 1984, White became the MP for Dauphin-Swan River. The Free Press main event went to Bill Paterson’s Portage team of Bob Warburton, Arnold Bachalo and Jim Pallister, who beat Harold Hamilton of Rossmere in the final. The Free Press became a main event after the Henry Birks Trophy was retired following the 1979 bonspiel.Other events winners were Errol Klinck from Assiniboine Memorial, Arnold Asham of Strathcona, Alex Mowat and Ed Tipping from Elmwood, Bob Jones of the Grain Exchange, Jed Mendella of Rossmere, and Ken Peters from Heather, who was better known as a fastball pitcher with Black Knights and the Winnipeg Colonels. Greg Fines from Balmoral, Orest Meleschuk curling out of Lac du Bonnet, and Stony Mountain’s John Kroeker were other trophy winners from outside the city.Also featured in the yearbook were the previous year’s provincial champions. Earle Morris and his team of Clare and Garry DeBlonde and Winston Warren from CFB Winnipeg won the Labatt Tankard Trophy, emblematic of the provincial men’s title, for the first time. The brewery took over sponsorship after the British Consols Trophy was withdrawn from competition. White was the runner-up. Garth Strachan from Hamiota won the senior final over Bruce Hudson of Strathcona and Greg Blanchard from Emerson skipped the junior champs. Jim Dunstone from Heather led the mixed championship team of his wife Carol, Del Stitt and Elaine Jones, which later went on to win the Canadian title that winter. Unlike today, when the men and women curl under the unified Curl Manitoba umbrella, women had their own association titled the Manitoba Ladies’ Curling Association (MLCA), which was formed in 1924. They had their own yearbook and the 1980-81 book pictured the best from 1980. Donna Brownridge and her team of Patti Vande, Carolyn Hall and Connie Laliberte from East St. Paul Business Girls won the provincial championship.  They also won the Lady Eaton Trophy in the annual MLCA bonspiel. The grand aggregate was captured by Chris Pidzarko’s Granite Business Girls team of Joan McCartney, Sharon Ostermann and Shannon Burns. They also won The Bay Trophy, beating prominent golfer Marg Homeniuk from Selkirk in the final.Also winning trophies were teams skipped by Bev Behnke of the Fort Garry Business Girls, Pat Brunsdon of the Grain Ex Business Girls, Dorothy McKenzie of Heather, Sharon Litzenberger of Bison Business Girls, Carol Rey of Pembina Business Girls and a junior team from St. Vital skipped by Wanda Kirby. Listed as second on the junior team was Cathi Tardi, known today as TSN curling broadcaster Cathy Gauthier. Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com

The first Manitoba Curling Association (MCA) bonspiel was held in 1889, with 62 teams entered. By 1947, entries had reached the 400-mark, and for the 100th anniversary spiel in 1988, the number was 1,280.  

The MCA bonspiel yearbook, which was published annually until a few years ago, was a treasure trove of information about the association’s history, as well as the results of the previous year. Photos with the names of the team members who had won trophies as well the names of the skips who had led their teams into the semifinals of each event were featured.

In many cases those games were the highlights of many players’ curling careers. The free yearbook was available to both curlers and fans in clubs across the city. To learn who had success during a particular bonspiel, this columnist went into his archives and pulled out the bonspiel yearbook from 1981.

Ah, the roaring days of the MCA bonspiel

The first Manitoba Curling Association (MCA) bonspiel was held in 1889, with 62 teams entered. By 1947, entries had reached the 400-mark, and for the 100th anniversary spiel in 1988, the number was 1,280.  

The MCA bonspiel yearbook, which was published annually until a few years ago, was a treasure trove of information about the association’s history, as well as the results of the previous year. Photos with the names of the team members who had won trophies as well the names of the skips who had led their teams into the semi-finals of each event were featured. In many cases those games were the highlights of many players’ curling careers. The free yearbook was available to both curlers and fans in clubs across the city.

To learn who had success during a particular bonspiel, this columnist went into his archives and pulled out the bonspiel yearbook from 1981. In 1980 when the bonspiel ran from Jan. 24 to 30, 728 teams competed, the same number as the previous four winters. Rural Manitoba did well, with Brian White and his team of Gerald Gourley, Bill Schneider and Murray Mullin from Swan River winning the bonspiel grand aggregate and one main event, the Sir. John C. Eaton.

White beat Kerry Burtnyk of Assiniboine Memorial in the final. In 1984, White became the MP for Dauphin-Swan River. The Free Press main event went to Bill Paterson’s Portage team of Bob Warburton, Arnold Bachalo and Jim Pallister, who beat Harold Hamilton of Rossmere in the final. The Free Press became a main event after the Henry Birks Trophy was retired following the 1979 bonspiel.

Manitoba’s women are leading the way

As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, let’s look back at highlights in our province during the past 20 years.

Most sports fans would rate the return of a NHL team to Winnipeg in 2011 as the major highlight. The Jets reaching the NHL’s Western Conference final in 2018 would be another.

In 2017, Winnipeg hosted the 50th anniversary of the Canada Summer Games. More than 4,000 athletes participated in 20 sports and a volunteer crew of  6,000 helped make the Games a great success.

A fourth highlight came just recently — on Nov. 24, when the Blue Bombers won the Grey Cup for the first time since 1990.

Wesley skating rink remembered in new book

On Dec. 8, 1906, the Winnipeg daily newspapers published stories about a man falling through the canvas roof of a Winnipeg rink.

While searching for information on hockey logos, Jeff Nelson, who lives in Reading, England, found the stories, which piqued his interest in finding out more about the rink.

After several years of research, he has published a book about a long-forgotten piece of Winnipeg sports history — the Wesley skating rink, which was located at the corner of Ellice Avenue and Balmoral Street.

Nelson recently donated a copy of The Wesley (College) Skating Rink 1897-1913 to the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.

A look at the Blue Bombers’ Grey Cup history

In its long football history, the Winnipeg Football Club has won 10 Grey Cups, emblematic of the Canadian football championship. In 1935, the Winnipeg Rugby Football Club, then known as the Winnipegs, won Western Canada’s first title by beating the hometown Hamilton Tigers 18-12.

The last victory happened 30 seasons ago, in 1990, when the team, nicknamed the Blue Bombers in 1936 by sportswriter Vince Leah, beat Edmonton Eskimos 50-11.The club’s other national championships came in 1939, 1941, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1984 and 1988.

To the Bombers faithful, the Bud Grant era is seen as the glory years of the team. Grant took over as head coach in 1957 and led the team to four Grey Cups in five years between 1958 and 1962. The lineup of that team included a long list of Bomber greats including imports Kenny Ploen, Leo Lewis, Buddy Tinsley, Herb Gray, Ernie Pitts, and Frank Rigney; as well as Canadians Gerry James, Henry Janzen, Pepe LaTourelle, Ed Kotowich, Cornel Piper, Steve Patrick, Gordie Rowland, Norm Rauhaus and Roger Savoie.

Grant’s Bombers could have been on a five-year run in the Grey Cup game if the Edmonton Eskimos hadn’t upset them in the best-of-three Western final in 1960. Bombers won the first game in Edmonton, 22-16, but lost game two at home, 10-8. In the third game played on Nov. 19 at Winnipeg Stadium, the final score was 4-2 Eskimos.

Rugby Manitoba inducts hall-of-fame class

The Rugby World Cup just wrapped in Japan, and our province has a rich history with the game that can be traced back to 1879. The earliest matches were played on a vacant lot at the corner of Broadway and Hargrave Street. The Winnipeg Rugby Club was formed in August 1880, and two seasons later the players were divided into two groups, the Cricketers and the Footballers. In 1890, in the first matches against a team from outside the city, the Winnipeg team played the Northwest Mounted Police from Regina.  In September, 1929, at the Royal Alexandra Hotel, Winnipeg hosted the first annual convention of the Rugby Union of Canada  Representatives from four provinces attended the meeting where a body to govern the sport throughout Canada was established. That season in Winnipeg matches were played at the Norwood Grounds and Fort Osborne Barracks. Wanderers, Garrison, Grain Exchange and St. John’s played in the top division.The intermediate division had a Grain Exchange B team, along with Morse Place, East Kildonan and Roughriders while four teams competed at an under-18 junior level. The next year the Winnipeg School Board recognized rugby as a sport. Rugby Manitoba has a current registration of approximately 4,500 players, with nine men’s and six women’s teams competing at the senior level. The 2019 championships were held at Maple Grove Park on Oct. 5 with Wombats A beating Assassins in the senior premier final and Wasps downing Wombats B in the senior D2 playoff. Assassins won the women’s title over Wasps. With more than 40 schools running rugby programs, the sport appears to be in a healthy position with just under 1,100 school-age girls playing and about 1,300 boys. On Oct. 5, at The Gates on Roblin Boulevard, the local rugby community honoured its 10th Hall of Fame class by inducting three players and two builders. Sid Roberts spent 30 years with the Winnipeg Wasps and represented Manitoba nationally and Canada on the international pitch. He also played in the Canada Super League where he won a MVP award. Shannon Ploegman-Smith was the most valuable player for the Wanderers women during her 11 seasons with the club. She played for Manitoba teams nationally four times and twice for Canada.A graduate of St. Johns High School, Brian (Benji) Marchak was a Rugby Manitoba all-star with the Saracens from 1980 to 1984 before taking a break to build his career as a firefighter. He returned to the team as a player in the late 1980s and coached Saracens to the provincial premier championship in 1990 and 1992.The two builder inductees have very lengthy resumes. Arleigh Mackenzie has spent nearly three decades as a player, coach, referee and administrator. She coached or helped develop teams at Kelvin, Shaftesbury and Tech Voc high schools as well as provincial teams. She served as president of the Sturgeon Creek Rowdies and held several executive positions with Rugby Manitoba. Randy Dilk, meanwhile, was a six-time MVP with Assassins, a team he later co-coached. During his coaching career, which included time at his alma mater, Churchill High School,as well as at the provincial team level — his teams won more than 20 championships. He also became a high-level referee.☐ ☐ ☐Did world-renowned actor Richard Burton play rugby when he was stationed in Manitoba with the RAF during the Second World War?As a youth in Wales, Burton was more interested in becoming a rugby player than an actor. Legend has it that he did play here, but Ray Hoemsen, the Manitoba Rugby Hall of Fame chair and historian, said they haven’t found proof. It is probably safe to say, however, that Burton would have participated in the partying that rugby players are noted for.  Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com

The Rugby World Cup just wrapped up in Japan, and our province has a rich history with the game that can be traced back to 1879.

The earliest matches were played on a vacant lot at the corner of Broadway and Hargrave Street. The Winnipeg Rugby Club was formed in August 1880, and two seasons later the players were divided into two groups, the Cricketers and the Footballers. In 1890, in the first matches against a team from outside the city, the Winnipeg team played the Northwest Mounted Police from Regina. 

In September, 1929, at the Royal Alexandra Hotel, Winnipeg hosted the first annual convention of the Rugby Union of Canada. Representatives from four provinces attended the meeting where a body to govern the sport throughout Canada was established. That season in Winnipeg matches were played at the Norwood Grounds and Fort Osborne Barracks. Wanderers, Garrison, Grain Exchange and St. John’s played in the top division. The intermediate division had a Grain Exchange B team, along with Morse Place, East Kildonan and Roughriders while four teams competed at an under-18 junior level. The next year the Winnipeg School Board recognized rugby as a sport. 

Accessible sports figures honoured with HOF

H.E.A.R.T. was the title of a special event at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum on Oct. 5, when the Manitoba Accessible Sport Council held its first awards ceremony — Honouring, Excellence, Achievement and Recognizing Togetherness.

Kirby Cote, the vice-chair of the council, said the event brought the accessible sport community together to celebrate and meet their peers, and to induct the first members of its Hall of Fame.Several Manitoba para-sport pioneers were honoured. But before that happened, the ceremony started by acknowledging the place where it all began, the Deer Lodge Centre.

Deer Lodge Centre’s history can be traced back to 1916, when it started as a convalescent hospital for First World War veterans. In 1947, it hosted the first organized accessible sport competition, which was the first documented account of wheelchair sports in Canada.

Allan Simpson, who had great vision when it came to wheelchair sports, was the first builder inducted into the Manitoba Accessible Sports Hall of Fame. He led the way by approaching and encouraging the organizing committee of the 1967 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg to include a wheelchair basketball event.

100 years since the Black Sox scandal

One hundred years ago today, on Oct. 9, 1919, the Cincinnati Reds won the World Series by beating the Chicago White Sox 5-3 in game eight of the playoff between the National and American League champions.

Chicago had been heavily favoured and the upset victory led to what is considered the biggest scandal in baseball history.

In 1920, eight members of the White Sox were accused of taking money from gamblers to throw the Series. The players were never found guilty in a court but the commissioner of baseball, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned them from playing organized ball. The White Sox became known as the Black Sox.

After Cincinnati won game one 9-1 and game two 4-2, rumours of a fix began to circulate. Dickie Kerr pitched the White Sox to a 3-0 win in the third game and then the Reds shut them out 2-0 and 5-0. With the Chicago players appearing to make more of an effort, the Sox won the next two games 4-1 and 10-5. The disgraced players included star outfielders Shoeless Joe Jackson and Happy Felsch, the league’s top pitcher Eddie Cicotte, who lost twice, and Lefty Williams, the loser of three games.In 1963, Eliot Asinof wrote Eight Men Out, a book that examined the story by interviewing some of the participants and digging through newspaper files. Since then, researchers have continued to search for the truth and in Chicago on Sept. 25 to 27, a Black Sox Scandal Centennial Symposium was hosted by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

How Black Knights became Winnipeg Colonels

The week of Sept. 8 to 15 was Mennonite Heritage Week in Canada, so let’s remember the Black Knights, a Mennonite men’s softball team that made a major impact in our province in the 1960s and early 1970s.

The original Knights were a group of young men connected to the First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg. Many came to the city from communities in south-central Manitoba and it wasn’t until 1967 that a player not connected to the church joined the team.

The Knights got their start in a Winnipeg church league and during the 1950s played primarily in the Mercantile League with some success but no championships.

In 1956, when a new sports field was built at Headingley jail, the Knights were the first team ever to enter the jail to play the inmates. In 1961, 1963 and 1964, the team won Cloverleaf League titles. Moving up to Winnipeg Men’s Industrial Fastball League, the Knights won the consolation final in 1965 and again in 1966 behind the pitching of John Hamm, who was in his 14th season with the team.

Manitoba’s most memorable paddlers

In the 40-year history of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, just two paddling teams have been inducted. The 1967 Manitoba Centennial Voyageur canoe team was honoured in 2010. In June, at a special 40th anniversary veteran induction ceremony, the 1937 Winnipeg Canoe Club paddling team was recognized.

In 1967, as part of Canada’s centennial celebration, teams from eight provinces and two territories competed in a race called the Centennial Voyageur Canoe Pageant. It began in Rocky Mountain House, Alta., on May 24 and finished on the St. Lawrence River in Montreal on Sept. 4.

Over the 104 days, the competitors paddled more than 5,100 kilometres and portaged another 97. Team Manitoba had the lowest total time and beat British Columbia by more than two hours. In Manitoba, they paddled down the Saskatchewan River past The Pas, across Cedar Lake and south on Lakes Winnipegosis and Manitoba. The Assinboine and Red Rivers took them to Lake Winnipeg and then on the Winnipeg River to Lake of the Woods.

Our province’s most decorated paddlers, Norm Crerar and Gib McEachern, headed the nine-man team. The 27-year-old friends from Flin Flon had nine amateur and pro wins in the Flin Flon Trout Festival canoe derby and won several other major races across the country. Northern Manitoba also supplied Wayne Soltys and David Wells from the mining community, John Norman from next door in Creighton, Sask., Roger Carriere from Cranberry Portage, and Joe Michelle from just across the Saskatchewan border in Sturgeon Landing. University student Blair Harvey was an alumnus of the Flin Flon Canoe Club  The ninth member was Winnipeg’s Don Starkell. Jim Rheaume from the Flin Flon club was the team’s chief voyageur. Six men paddled each day with captain Crerar, McEachern, Carriere, Michelle, Soltys and Norman carrying the major load.

Examining Manitoba’s basketball history

Interest in basketball in Canada may be at its highest level in history as a result of the Toronto Raptors winning the NBA championship in June.

While our province can’t claim huge success in the pro ranks, Manitoba has a rich history on the courts. Visit the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame and Museum located on the second floor of the Duckworth Centre at the University of Winnipeg to learn about it.

Winnipeg dominated national junior basketball in the early 1950s, with the Stellars from the North End winning the Canadian championship in 1950 and 1951 and Winnipeg Light Infantry taking the title the next two years. The next season, Paulins won the senior championship.

From 1972 to 1982, local club teams also had national success. The St. Andrews Super Saints won the Canadian title in 1972, 1975 and 1976. The University of Manitoba Bisons took the national university championship in 1976. With several ex-Bisons leading the way, Nicolett Inn won three senior titles in 1979, 1980 and 1982.

Remembering the 1999 Pan Am Games

The 2019 Pan American Games opened in Lima, Peru, on July 26 and will run until Aug. 11, with more than 6,600 athletes competing in 39 sports.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years since Winnipeg hosted the international event. Between July 23 and Aug. 8, 1999, more than 5,000 athletes from 42 nations participated in 35 sports at 28 Manitoba venues. Canada finished third behind the U.S.A. and Cuba in the medal race.  You can still occasionally see someone wearing a salmon-coloured volunteers’ jacket from the 1999 Games and the question you ask yourself is whether the individual found it in a local thrift shop or if he or she is still proud to have been one of the more than 20,000 volunteers who played a major role in the success of the Games.

A highlight for Manitobans was cyclist Tanya Dubnicoff. The 1993 world sprint champion carried the Canadian flag in the opening ceremonies at Winnipeg Stadium. Then, on the temporary velodrome track at Red River Exhibition Park, she won gold medals in the 500-metre time trial and the sprint. Dubnicoff deserved the title “Queen of the Games” not only for her victories on the bicycle but also for her visible support for the Games in her home province.    

Fifty-one Manitobans competed and 24 won medals, a number with teams. Swimmer Kelly Stefanyshyn won gold in the women’s 100-metre and bronze in the 200-metre backstroke. Kelly Hand from Carman sailed to gold in the women’s laser radial competition on Lake Winnipeg. On Lake Minnedosa, Emma Robinson from Winnipeg won a rowing gold with her pairs partner Theresa Luke from Vancouver. Nikki Jenkins captured the silver in the 78-kilo judo event. Dominique Bosshart in tae kwon do, Henry Gerow in the prone rifle competition and badminton’s Kara Solmundson earned bronze.

What were the sports headlines 50 years ago?

The headline stories in newspapers around the world between July 17 and 21, 1969 were all about the United States attempting to put the first man on the moon.

Neil Armstrong took that first giant leap for mankind on Sun., July 20. On the 50th anniversary of this historical event, your columnist thought it would be interesting to look back and see what was happening in the local sports world around that time.

When the Winnipeg Free Press banner headline on July 21 shouted “Man On The Moon,” the main headline of the sports section read “Fire N Desire Had Enough of Both.” The sub-headline was “Icy Song Beaten By A Nose in Record Low Quinella.” The story was about the 21st running of the Manitoba Derby, our province’s answer to the Kentucky Derby and Queen’s Plate, in front of a crowd of more than 6,600 at Assiniboia Downs on July 19. The quinella payout for Fire n Desire and Icy Song was $3.10. Ice Palace, owned by former Edmonton Eskimos quarterback and future Alberta premier Don Getty, finished third.

The headline writer was really stretching with the baseball headline “Goldeyes Hammer A Few Moon Shots.” The story, by Gord Sinclair Jr., was about the Northern League team splitting a doubleheader on July 19 with the St. Cloud Rox at Winnipeg Stadium and then beating the Duluth-Superior Dukes the next day in Duluth.

Sports hall of fame honours veteran athletes

Some of the forgotten history of sport in Manitoba was brought to the forefront on June 6 at Club Regent Event Centre. At a special 40th anniversary veteran induction ceremony, the Manitoba Sports

Hall of Fame inducted 28 individuals and 15 teams. Some of the honourees were active in the first decade of the 20th century, while the evening’s most recent inductees had success in the 1960s. A group of... let’s call them ‘more mature’ HOF volunteers researched  a long list of candidates who had been overlooked or forgotten in order to make the final selections.

The accomplishments of the inductees were recognized in a video presentation and by master of ceremonies Matt Leibl, a HOF board member. While most were being honoured posthumously, many were represented by family members or friends. Track and field star Mary (Pitts) Dopson, lacrosse player and builder Harry Nightingale and Russ Jackman, the lead on Ab Gowanlock’s 1953 Brier champion curling team, were there to receive their well-deserved recognition.

A highlight for those in attendance came when Dopson spoke about her career. Now 100 years old, she arrived in Winnipeg from Scotland as a baby in 1919. She started competing in track and field at Lord Roberts School and the sprints and the running broad jump became her specialties. In 1936, the teenager qualified for the Summer Olympics in Berlin but was unable to attend due to lack of funds.

Sports hall honours boys of summers past

When the Winnipeg Maroons played in the Northern League from 1933 to 1942, the team won three league championships. When the Winnipeg Goldeyes played in the league from 1954 to 1964, the team also won three titles. That version of the Northern League was part of the organized baseball farm system, not the independent league in which the present version of the Goldeyes has played for several seasons.

On June 6 at the Club Regent Event Centre, these six championship teams will be inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame as part of a 40th anniversary veterans induction.

In 1935, the Maroons led by colourful manager Bruno Haas finished the regular season in first place with a record of 80-38. Pitcher Lloyd Sterling had a terrific season with 24 wins and only two defeats. In a playoff for the championship, Winnipeg prevailed in six games over the Fargo-Moorhead Twins. The Maroons were back at the top of the standings in 1939, but finished only a 1/2 game ahead of the Duluth Dukes. In the playoffs, Winnipeg eliminated the Twins and knocked off the Eau Claire Bears in the final. Local all-around athlete Hugh Gustafson, a 1997 Hall of Fame honoured member, was named to the league all-star team at first base that season.

The third title came during the Maroons’ final Northern League season in 1942. The team finished the regular season in second place, five games behind the pennant-winning Bears. In the playoffs an interesting situation arose. The Wausau Lumberjacks upset Eau Claire in five games but then disbanded. When this happened, the other semi-final between Winnipeg and the Sioux Falls Canaries was tied at two games each, so the league ruled that series would determine the champion, and the Goldeyes went on to win in nine games.

Falcons were the first world hockey champions

Nearly 100 years have passed since the Winnipeg Falcons hockey club brought glory to our city and province.

On May 22, 1920, the Falcons arrived home from Europe as the first official world hockey champions. The team earned this designation by winning the hockey competition at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium.

It was the first year winter sports were part of the Olympics. The hockey and figure skating competitions began in April with the traditional Olympic sports taking place throughout the summer.Along with Canada, Sweden, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and the U.S.A. competed in the hockey competition.

Following wins of 15-0 over the Czechs and 2-0 over the U.S., the Falcons beat Sweden 12-1 in the final. While it may appear that the Falcons had an easy road to the world title, that wasn’t the case. To begin the 1919-20 season, the primarily Icelandic team from the West End had to find a place to play. They weren’t welcome in the Winnipeg league and had to play in the Manitoba senior league with teams from Portage la Prairie and Selkirk.

Finally getting their due

When Manitoba celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1970, a panel of 24 men selected five finalists for athlete of the century from a nomination slate of close to 100.

The feeling was that candidates must have excelled in more than one sport and the five finalists did just that.

Today just one or two of those athletes would be familiar to the sporting crowd.

Gerry James starred in the Blue Bombers backfield and played in the NHL with Toronto Maple Leafs. Fred Dunsmore’s career included playing with the Winnipeg Maroons senior hockey club and with the junior Rosedales and senior St. Boniface Native Sons baseball teams.

When the Bombers battled the Jets

Let’s look at the junior hockey battles between Winnipeg and Flin Flon as a follow-up to a recent column about their many provincial final meetings in midget and juvenile.

Flin Flon did not enter a team in junior hockey until 1948-49, when the Bombers joined the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL). By that point, Winnipeg area teams had won nine Canadian championships, with the last captured by the Winnipeg Monarchs in 1946. When Flin Flon made its first Memorial Cup playoff appearance in 1957 and went on to win the Canadian title, the Bombers did not play the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) champions along the way. The Monarchs had lost a Western semi-final in eight games to Fort William Canadiens.

The spring of 1959 saw the first major confrontation between Winnipeg and Flin Flon. Led by Sir John Franklin Community Club product Cliff Pennington, who had set a SJHL scoring record, the Bombers cruised through the season and met the Winnipeg Braves in the Western final.

Flin Flon was heavily favoured and won the first two games, but the Braves outskated and outchecked the northerners en route to four straight victories. Flin Flon product Ernie Wakely starred in the Winnipeg net in the clinching 3-1 win. Underdogs once again in the Memorial Cup final against Peterborough Petes, Braves prevailed in six games. Leading the way was the L line of Bobby Leiter, Laurie Langrell and Al LeBlanc (who died in Calgary just this past January).

Sports scene’s luminaries to be honoured

April 13 will be a big night on the Manitoba sports scene when Sport Manitoba presents its Night of Champions at the Club Regent Casino and Event Centre. A highlight will be the induction of two individuals and a hockey team into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. Harold Mauthe coached Winnipeg Light Infantry to the Canadian junior basketball championship in 1952 and 1953 and the St. Vital Bulldogs to the national intermediate football  title in 1960 and 1962. The late Alf Pike was a former Winnipeg junior and NHL hockey player who later coached for two decades. The Winnipeg Warriors, the team Pike led to the Western Hockey League and Canadian minor pro titles in 1955-56, will be honoured in the team category. The team was owned by the Perrin family of Winnipeg and had a large Manitoba component on its roster, which included defensemen Bill Burega, Mickey Keating, Fred Shero and Danny Summers and forwards Bill Mosienko, Cec Hoekstra, Eddie Mazur, Eric Nesterenko and Gary Aldcorn.Manitoba’s open male and female athletes and the team of the year for 2018 also will be honoured, as will our province’s best juniors. The male finalists are football players Andrew Harris and David Onyemata, golfers Todd Fanning and Justin McDonald, and triathlete Tyler Mislawchuk. Olympic curling gold medalist Kaitlyn Lawes heads the female list. The other finalists are golfer Rhonda Orr, basketball’s Emily Potter, swimmer Kelsey Wog and perennial contender Jennifer Saunders from racquetball. In the running for team of the year are Team Jennifer Jones from curling, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Jets, and the University of Manitoba Bisons women’s hockey team. In the past, Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportcasters Association conducted the voting for the three open categories under the direction of secretary Bob Picken. With Picken’s recent passing, the MSSA turned it over to Sport Manitoba.☐ ☐ ☐The Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association will induct two athletes and three builders into its Hall of Fame on May 11 at the Holiday Inn Winnipeg South. The athletes are Missy (McNeil) Penner, a graduate of Miles Macdonell Collegiate who excelled in badminton and volleyball in the late 1970s, and volleyball star Megan Cyr from Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive Secondary School, who was the province’s top high school player in 2007. Mike Babb, whose resume includes coaching basketball, soccer, rugby, volleyball, football and track and field for more than 115 teams, primarily at the high school level, will be inducted as a builder. Joining him will be Phil Hudson, who retired after 38 years of teaching, mostly at Dakota Collegiate, where he took his volleyball teams to 25 Final Four appearances and seven provincial titles. The third builder is Mark Diboll from Portage Collegiate, who developed a successful track and field program at R.D. Parker Collegiate in Thompson and helped bring back the hockey and football programs in Portage la Prairie.☐ ☐ ☐Janis Kelly, whose volleyball career began at Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute, will be inducted into the Volleyball Canada Hall-of-Fame on June 6 in Ottawa. Kelly helped the University of Winnipeg win a national championship in 1993 and played for the Canadian national team in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 1999 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg.☐ ☐ ☐To honour Bob Picken, curlers are organizing a new fall bonspiel called the Bob Picken Valour Road Masters Bonspiel. It will be played at the Thistle Club, now located at the former Valour Road Club on Burnell Street, that was the curler and broadcaster’s second home. The daytime event for master curlers 60 and over will be played from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4  and entries should go to Brian Kushner at 204-786-5944 or bkushner@mymts.net                                                                                                                  - # -             Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com

April 13 will be a big night on the Manitoba sports scene when Sport Manitoba presents its Night of Champions at the Club Regent Casino and Event Centre. A highlight will be the induction of two individuals and a hockey team into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. 

Harold Mauthe coached Winnipeg Light Infantry to the Canadian junior basketball championship in 1952 and 1953 and the St. Vital Bulldogs to the national intermediate football title in 1960 and 1962. The late Alf Pike was a former Winnipeg junior and NHL hockey player who later coached for two decades. The Winnipeg Warriors, the team Pike led to the Western Hockey League and Canadian minor pro titles in 1955-56, will be honoured in the team category. The team was owned by the Perrin family of Winnipeg and had a large Manitoba component on its roster, which included defensemen Bill Burega, Mickey Keating, Fred Shero and Danny Summers and forwards Bill Mosienko, Cec Hoekstra, Eddie Mazur, Eric Nesterenko and Gary Aldcorn.

Manitoba’s open male and female athletes and the team of the year for 2018 also will be honoured, as will our province’s best juniors. 

Provincial hockey battles revisited

During the 1950s and 1960s, teams from Winnipeg and Flin Flon met in many provincial midget and juvenile A hockey championships.

When Winnipeg had a small juvenile league of sponsored teams in the early 1950s, the Canadiens and Monarchs each won two provincial championships. The Flin Flon Bombers then won the juvenile title three straight years, from 1954 to 1956. Brandon Wheat Kings took the next two before Flin Flon won again in 1959. Dauphin won in 1960.

In Flin Flon minor hockey, every player who wanted to play got equal ice time under a system implemented by community club manager Pinkie Davie, a former Winnipeg junior and NHL player. Every two minutes a whistle was blown and complete lines were changed, which future Philadelphia Flyers star Bobby Clarke suggested gave him the chance to develop. An all-star team was chosen to represent the community provincially. Except for school activities, a school ruling only allowed “one trip out” each year. As a result, high school students usually chose to play minor hockey and not join the junior Bombers until after graduation.   

The minor hockey scene in Winnipeg changed when the Great Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association was formed before the 1956-57 season.

When Wesmen women ruled the courts

The University of Winnipeg Wesmen women’s basketball team won 88 consecutive games from 1992 to 1995. The streak tied the North American collegiate record for wins held by the UCLA men’s team and earned the Winnipeg squad the title of Manitoba Team of the Century in 2000. Somewhat lost among the accomplishments of the basketball women at the U of W is what the women’s volleyball team did in the 1980s.

On March 12, 1983, under coach Mike Burchuk, the Wesmen women won the first of six straight Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union championships. Playing at the University of B.C. in Vancouver, tournament most valuable player Jamie Hancharyk and all-star Ruth Klassen led the Winnipeg team to a 15-1, 15-12 , 15-0 victory over the University of Calgary Dinosaurs.

The following March in Montreal, where Hancharyk captured her second MVP award, the Wesmen beat Dalhousie Tigerettes in five sets. In 1985 in Toronto, the Dinosaurs were the victims in the final with Klassen the MVP and Hancharyk an all-star in her final season.

Would the winning streak continue in 1986 in Moncton when the Wesmen faced the University of Manitoba Bisons in the final?

When Pappy Wood won a hometown Brier

The Canadian men’s curling championship came to Western Canada for the first time in 1940. The competition for the Macdonald’s Brier Tankard was played from March 4 to 7 at the Amphitheatre rink at Colony Street and Whitehall Avenue in Winnipeg, where hockey had been king since 1912.

Often called a “barn” the Amphitheatre was opened as a horse show building in 1909 but it was also one of the first hockey rinks in Canada to have artificial ice.

The championship known as the Brier had been played in Toronto at the Granite Club since its inception in 1927. A team from Manitoba made its first appearance the next winter and Gordon Hudson and his Strathcona rink captured the championship.

Hudson won again the following year and Winnipeg teams skipped by Howard Wood, Bob Gourley and Jimmy Congalton took the next three. Alberta ended the run in 1933, but teams skipped by Leo Johnson and Ken Watson, both from the Strathcona, and Glenboro’s Ab Gowanlock won three more Briers for Manitoba in the next six years.

When snowshoeing was a popular sport

Snowshoeing once was a major sport in Manitoba. A call-out across the top of the main sports page of the Manitoba Free Press often read “Boxing - Hockey - Football - Snowshoeing - Curling - Ring.”

Snowshoeing race results were reported in the daily papers going back to the 1870s. The La Voyageurs club from St. Boniface was formed in 1875 and the St. George’s club can be traced to the 1880s. According to an 1879 report, C. W. Bell won both a 100-yard dash and a hurdle race, which is difficult to picture on snowshoes.

Snowshoeing wasn’t limited to competitions. Clubs held what were called ‘tramps’ on a regular basis. Members would meet at a designated location in the city and follow a planned route. In January 1911, the union tramp committee organized a big tramp and invited members of various clubs and interested men to sign up. The goal was to have about 300 snowshoers leave the Drill Hall on Broadway where the Legislative Building now is located and embark on a 105-minute tramp that would finish at the Amphitheatre Rink on Colony Street. The committee promised that the evening would end with refreshments and plenty of stories from snowshoers who had been enjoying the sport for decades.

The Manitoba Snowshoes Association was formed in 1910. At the first MSA championships, held in the winter of 1911, Walter Hill won the one-mile challenge cup race and the championship trophy donated by the Hudson’s Bay Co. K.C. Blair, better known as a track runner, won the 100-yard dash. M. Riley, described as “a promising young and swift runner on the shoes,” took the half-mile trophy.

Curling, softball announce HOF inductees

While curling and softball are played in different seasons, the two sports traditionally hold their annual hall-of-fame inductions during the same week in the spring.

This year the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame’s 32nd ceremony will be held May 5 at CanadInns Polo Park. The 18th Manitoba Softball induction dinner will go May 11 at the Victoria Inn.

Curling announced its 2019 class of  four individuals and two teams at a media conference on Jan. 22. A highlight was the announcement of a new category, Olympic Curler. The first inductee will be Kaitlyn Lawes, who combined with John Morris to win gold in mixed doubles at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Lawes earlier went into the Hall with the Jennifer Jones team that won gold in the 2014 Olympics.

Rob Meakin, who will be inducted as a curler, won a world championship in 1995 as the second on Kerry Burtnyk’s team. He also won a Canadian mixed title in 1988 with Jeff  Stoughton. Garry DeBlonde will be honoured as a curler-builder. His lengthy resume  includes national mixed titles with Ernie Boushy in 1964 and 1966, provincial men’s championships with his brother Clare and Earle Morris, as well as many roles as a curling instructor. Former Manitoba Ladies Curling Association president Isla Hagborg will be inducted as a builder.

Remembering those we lost…

This week’s column continues with recognition of Manitoba sports people who died in 2018. Part one ran on Jan. 2, 2019, and can be read online at canstarnews.com.

Several Manitoba junior players went on to play pro hockey. The list includes Cec Hoekstra, Max Labovitch and Jack Borotsik from Brandon, who had brief stints in the NHL, as well as Adam Calder, Walter Melnyk, Doug Orvis, Bill Ostwald and Bernie Strongman.

Hoekstra, late Sports Hall of Fame member Ab McDonald and Ken Busby all played for the St. Boniface Canadiens team that lost in the 1953 Canadian junior final. Busby was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball HOF in 2000 with the senior St. Boniface Native Sons. Bruce Bell played for the 1951 Western Canada junior champion Winnipeg Monarchs and then played pro in England. Dan Maloney coached the Winnipeg Jets in the late 1980s. A 2005 Hockey HOF inductee as an official, Joe Vinet also worked as a golf pro at Clear Lake.

Wayne Deschouwer was the president of the MMJHL Charleswood Hawks and the Tiger Hills and Southeast hockey leagues. The Hawks will raise a banner in his honour at the Eric Coy Arena on Jan. 27. He was inducted into the Manitoba Softball HOF in 2010. Clark Hicks was a Manitoba Lacrosse Hall of Fame goalie, a Canada Summer Games softball coach and managed a provincial midget hockey championship team. Dr. Bill Lindsay, who played both basketball and hockey for the U of M Bisons, was inducted into the University’s hockey shrine in 2017. More than 60 other members of the hockey community are listed in The Final Face-Off column compiled by this columnist that can be read on the website mbhockeyhalloffame.ca

When the rowers hit the ice

A long-forgotten piece of Manitoba hockey history took place at the end of December 1903 and early in January 1904.

The Winnipeg Rowing Club, whose beginning on the Red River can be traced back to 1881, iced senior, intermediate and junior teams that winter. The senior Oarsmen challenged the Ottawa Silver Seven club for the Stanley Cup emblematic of the hockey championship in the Dominion of Canada. Ottawa had won the Cup in March 1903 by beating the Montreal Victorias in a two-game series. Later that year the Rat Portage Thistles from the Kenora, Ont. area lost a challenge to Ottawa.

The best-of-three series between the Rowing Club and the Silver Seven was played at the Aberdeen Pavilion in the nation’s capital. Prior to the first game on Dec. 30, 1903, the first goal line in hockey history was painted on the ice when a red line was drawn from goal post to goal post. Playing in front of a crowd of 2,500, the home team hammered the visitors 9-1. Frank McGee and Alf Smith had hat tricks. The game was vicious with a series of crosschecks and butt ends. Rowing Club captain Billy Breen, who had his team’s lone goal, called it the dirtiest game he had ever played in.

The Oarsmen definitely got the worst of the battle and a Manitoba Free Press report on Jan.1 said several players were on the casualty list. Breen was cut on the nose and forehead, Clint Bennest had a broken thumb and other injuries, Joe Hall was cut on his head and his arms were bruised, and Harry Kirby took three stitches to his head. Billy Bawlf had been unconscious overnight and was suffering from the effect of a tumble. A boil on his leg would keep cover point Crawford Richards out of game two so the Rowing Club got permission to replace him with Eric Hamber from the Toronto Argos. Hamber, who was born in St. Andrew’s, played for the Winnipeg Hockey Club before going East. In Toronto he was the captain of the Argos football, hockey and rowing teams.

The origins of Red River College athletics

In December 1969, Manitoba’s provincially operated vocational centres in Winnipeg, Brandon and The Pas were rebranded as community colleges. Red River Community College became the new name for the combined Manitoba Institute of Technology/Manitoba Institute of Applied Arts. The Brandon location became Assiniboine and The Pas, Keewatin.

Business administration graduate Rick Thain recently gave this columnist a collection of the RRCC student newspaper, The Projector. Articles and columns, many written by sports editor Dave Komosky, provided a look at what was happening sports-wise in the early years. Komosky went on to cover sports for several newspapers in Western Canada and headed National Post sports coverage at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Instructors Roy Pollock, Jack Kaplan and June Graham ran an active physical education department at the college.

RRCC hosted its first major event in March 1970 when the Canadian volleyball championships were held in the new north gym at the college’s Notre Dame campus.

In April, the school’s men’s volleyball team coached by Kaplan captured the Winnipeg senior B championship by beating the University of Manitoba in the final. Captain Bob Edwards, Wayne Christensen, Ron Lowe and Gary Vickery, who also starred on the men’s basketball team, were team leaders.

Golden years of the Blue and Gold

Football fans remember the late 1950s and the early 1960s as the glory years of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

After the 1956 season, Bud Grant, a 29 year old with no coaching experience, was given the head coaching position. Under his leadership, the Bombers reached the Grey Cup final in 1957 but lost 32-7 to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

In 1958, the team had a record of 13-3 and finished 12-4 the next season. Winnipeg went on to win the Grey Cup both years with victories over Hamilton.

It looked like more of the same in 1960. The Bombers had their best-ever regular season with 14 wins and just two losses, which included a streak of 10 victories. In order to reach a fourth straight Canadian final, the team had to eliminate the Edmonton Eskimos in a best-of-three Western final.  The Eskimos had built a dynasty in the mid-1950s and superstars Jackie Parker, Johnny Bright, Normie Kwong and Rollie Miles were still around.

The Golden Boy’s big bout

Nov. 7 is the 30th anniversary of the most-hyped match in Manitoba boxing history  — when Golden Boy Donny Lalonde fought  Sugar Ray Leonard at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

At the time, Lalonde held the World Boxing Council light heavyweight title, which he had won in November 1987 with a second-round knockout of Eddie Davis.

Leonard, then 32, came out of his third self-imposed retirement to fight the younger Lalonde, then 28. The estimated payday of $12 million may have had something to do with it. Leonard’s last fight had been a middleweight championship victory over Marvelous Marv Hagler in April 1987. At that point in his illustrious career, his resume showed a gold medal from the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and world title victories over the best of the era, Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran and Tommy Hearns.

Lalonde’s road to Las Vegas was much different. As an amateur, he had an undistinguished record of 11 wins and four losses and failed to make the Canadian team for the 1980 Olympics. He turned pro at 19 and during the early 1980s was fighting on undercards at the International Inn, a far cry from Caesars Palace.

Sports Hall of Fame exhibit honours veterans

Remembrance Day this year will recognize the centenary of the end of the First World War. The Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum has mounted an exhibit titled Reflections of the Great War: Manitoban Athletes in Arms that honours those who served.

Sports heritage manager Rick Brownlee says they expected to find 30 to 40 inducted individuals or team members but some 70 connections were uncovered.

The research also unearthed several athletes who need to be looked at by the Hall of Fame veterans committee for possible induction. Brownlee said visitor interest and traffic has run the gamut from seniors who can relate to parents and grandparents who served in the Great War to schoolchildren learning about the hardships and horrors the athletes endured. The exhibit will run in its gallery at 145 Pacific Ave. until January 2019.

Also on the HOF events calendar is the 2018 induction banquet on Nov. 3 at the Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre, where five athletes, two builders and one team will be honoured.

News and updates from the notebook…

Winnipeg’s Maureen Orchard has been honoured with the title of honorary secretary general of the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation.

She also received the Gold Medal Triad award at the IWBF World Congress, which took place in September during the 2018 wheelchair basketball world championship in Germany, and is only the second Canadian to receive the sport’s highest honour.

Orchard has spent more than 50 years as a basketball and wheelchair basketball volunteer, including 12 years as IWBF president. A past-president of Basketball Manitoba, she was inducted into its hall of fame in 2015. She also became an inducted member of the Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2017.

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Goldeyes won title in inaugural season

Winnipeg had been without professional baseball for 22 seasons until the Winnipeg Goldeyes returned in the summer of 1994.

A Triple A team in the Montreal Expos system called the Whips had a short stint in Winnipeg after arriving from Buffalo partway through the 1970 International League season, but soon moved to Virginia after the 1971 season.

An earlier version of the Goldeyes had called Winnipeg home from 1954 to 1964 and again in 1969. They played in the Northern League that was part of organized baseball. Except for 1969, when the team was in the Kansas City system, the Goldeyes were a St. Louis Cardinals farm club. Steve Carlton, Dal Maxvill, Ray Sadecki, Harry Fanok, Jim Schaffer, Julio Gotay and Walt (No Neck) Williams were some of the Cards prospects who reached the majors.

The new Goldeyes played in the independent Northern League, which was formed in 1993. Being independent meant that players were not supplied by major league teams and independent ball became a place for young players who had not been drafted and older ones who hoped to return to organized ball or who were playing out the string.

Ukrainian-Manitoban athletes to be honoured

Ukrainian-Canadians have made a major impact on the Manitoba sports scene as well as nationally and internationally.

Just check the list of personalities who for more than 50 years have been named Ukrainian Sportsman of the Year by the St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church Men’s Club. Hockey’s Bill Mosienko, Bill Juzda, Nick Mickoski, and James Patrick; football’s Cornel Piper, Bud Korchak, Steve Patrick, Gene Lakusiak, and Dennis Hrycaiko; the golfing Homeniuk brothers — Stan, Ted and Wilf — and pro Gene Hnatiuk; curlers Kerry Burtnyk, Orest Meleschuk and Hal Tanasichuk; softball’s John Shaley; distance runner Chris Glowach and volleyball’s Scott Koskie and Dale Iwanoczko.

A tri-sport star in baseball, football and hockey, the late Wayne Chernecki was only 18 when he was honoured in 1968. In recent years the focus has been on builders, including hockey’s Greg Lacomy and Don Kuryk, baseball’s Joe Wiwchar, soccer’s Peter J. Manastyrsky, basketball’s Michael Ruta and Doug Krochak from lacrosse.

The Canadian Ukrainian Athletic Club (CUAC) was formed in 1925 to promote sports among Ukrainian youth in Winnipeg.

Do you remember the Argonaughts lacrosse team?

The Manitoba Lacrosse Hall of Fame is seeking help from the sports community.

The 1932 Argonaughts Athletic Association senior team, which won the Western Canadian lacrosse championship, will be inducted into the Manitoba shrine this year. Finding family members for a team from the past is always difficult and, to date, the HOF committee has only found the relatives of Charles and Harold Benson, Ben Chivers and Sam Thompson.

The other team members were president and coach Had McKinley, coach Bill Bowman, Fred Allan, Cliff Crowley, Frank Hawkins, Ross and Whit McElheran, Dave Oliver, Hugh Penwarden, Jim Smith, Bun Stephenson, Elmer Wilson and Wally Woolner.

If you can help, contact Doug Krochak at 204-223-8152.

Will this year’s Can-Am Games be the last?

Manitoba men’s slo-pitch softball teams are off to Fargo to play in the Can-Am Games tournament on Aug. 25 and 26.

This year marks the 40th annual tournament between Canadian and U.S. teams that began back in 1979. Over the years it has evolved into a very popular and fun event for local teams near the conclusion of their seasons. Twelve Canadian and 12 U.S. teams will be competing against each other at the Southwest Complex near downtown Fargo.

The Touring All-Stars, who will be making their 40th straight appearance, will play in the 55+ division with Winnipeg teams Shortstops and Gasoline Alley.

The All-Stars lineup will include veterans Rick Varnes, Pat Carson, Guy Morin, Mike Bobko, one-time Manitoba mixed curling champion Tom McGimpsey, Winnipeg Men’s Slo-Pitch League commissioner Terry Wolowiec and Sport Manitoba’s Rick Brownlee.

Winnipeg’s long junior football history

The Winnipeg Rifles have been battling to keep high-level junior football alive in Winnipeg for more than 15 years.

The team’s 2018 season opener is scheduled for Aug. 18 at Maple Grove Park against the Edmonton Wildcats.

Junior football in the city can be traced back to the 1920s. Winnipeg teams had their greatest success from the mid-1950s until 1961. During this period the Rods captured our province’s only Canadian junior titles, winning three times.

In 1953 the Rods and the Winnipeg Weston Wildcats joined forces with the Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Rams to form the Manitoba-Saskatchewan Junior League. The battles were epic among the four opponents. The Rods were known as the “Clenched Fisters” for their aggressive style of play. The Rods first reached the Canadian final in 1954, losing to Windsor AKOs. The team’s initial title came on Nov. 19, 1955 at Winnipeg Stadium. The Rods hosted the defending champion AKOs, and triumphed 19-13.

Get a summer hockey fix at Manitoba Museum

Hockey lovers looking for a summer fix need look no further than the Manitoba Museum. A new exhibition titled Hockey: The Stories Behind Our Passion, developed by the Canadian Museum of History,  opened on July 6 and will run through Jan. 13, 2019.  

Visitors will need to give themselves plenty of time to tour the exhibit. One walk around the large area in the Alloway Hall won’t be enough to see all the treasures. More than 300 artifacts are on display with excellent signage that explains what they are.

You will see jerseys, sticks, goal pads, helmets and other equipment used by many of the greats of the game. The featured items include Paul Henderson’s jersey from the 1972 Canada/Russia Summit Series, a hockey stick from the 1830s, and a goal mask worn by Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Jacques Plante.

Look for Foster Hewitt’s microphone and HOF ring, a Rocket Richard soup can,  long-playing records featuring Bobby Orr, Frank Mahovlich, Pocket Rocket Richard and Guy Lafleur, and the camouflage suit jacket Don Cherry wore when he visited troops in Afghanistan. In the large stick display, you’ll see how much longer Mario Lemieux’s stick was than those used by other scorers.

Manitoban stars of the AAGPBL

Seventy-five years ago this summer play got underway in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL).

Chewing gum tycoon Philip K. Wrigley had the idea to form a girls league, which he felt would fill a gap with many professional male players involved in the Second World War. The first games on May 30, 1943 saw the South Bend Blue Sox meeting the Rockford Peaches and the Kenosha Comets visiting the Racine Belles.

Recruiters had come north to Manitoba and Saskatchewan in search of softball players. Following tryouts, players were assigned to the four teams. Olive (Bend) Little from Poplar Point, a star pitcher for Norwood and CUAC Blues, played for the Peaches. Dodie Barr from Starbuck, who had pitched for Ramblers, won 15 games for the Blue Sox and 79 games in her eight AAGPBL seasons. Dottie Hunter played the first season for Racine and then spent the next 11 as a league chaperone. By 1948, the league had expanded to 10 teams.

They were followed to the AAGPBL by Audrey (Haine) Daniels, Dorothy (Ferguson) Key, Evelyn (Wawryshyn) Moroz, Eleanor (Knudson) Callow and Ruth (Middleton) Gentry. All but Hunter have been inducted into the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame. Yolanda (Teillet) Shick, Mary (Kustra) Shastal and Doris (Shero) Witiuk also spent time in the league. The players as a group were inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.

Hall of Fame class led by Stoughton, Daley

The Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame announced its induction class for 2018 at a media conference on June 18 in the Hall of Fame gallery at 145 Pacific Ave.

Seven individuals and one team will be honoured at the 39th annual induction on Nov. 3. What’s most impressive is not only their strong credentials, but the fact that they represent eight different sports.Five athletes will be inducted. Kirby Cote is a blind Paralympic swimmer who competed in three Paralympic Games, where she set two world records and filled her trophy chest with seven gold medals and six silver.  

During the 1960s and ’70s. Donna (McCannell) Keating was seven-time Canadian speed skating champion from juvenile through senior and skated for Canada in the 1972 Winter Olympics. She will join her sister Doreen, a 1995 inductee, and her late father Donald, who was inducted in 2001, in the HOF.

Three male athletes will join Cote and Keating in the hallowed Hall. Joe Daley won his first hockey championship at Bronx Park Community Club before a long career that saw him play goal from the junior Winnipeg Rangers and then professionally in the NHL and the WHA. He played more WHA games 308, and won more, 167, than any goalie and helped the Jets win three AVCO Cups.

40 years of Manitoba Marathons

The 40th Manitoba Marathon will take place on Father’s Day, June 17.

The first one was held on June 17, 1979 so let’s take a look back. The official name was the Manitoba Marathon for the Mentally Retarded.

Well-known Winnipeg broadcaster John Robertson served as chairman and Charlie Paille was the race director. Jim Daly, the respected 1967 Pan Am Games executive director,  took on the job of race talent organizer and he was successful in attracting top runners from Australia, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, Sweden and the United States. The committee was aiming for 12,000 runners.

On race day, more than 4,000 entrants began their run at the Winnipeg Stadium near Polo Park. The route took them east on Portage Avenue to Maryland Street, across the Assiniboine River on the Maryland Bridge, west on Wellington Crescent and Roblin Boulevard to Headlingley, then back east to the stadium.

Sports Hall of Fame remembers the Great War

This summer the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War with a new exhibit.

Called Reflections of the Great War: Manitoba Athletes-In-Arms, it showcases Manitoba athletes and teams or the battalions to which they belonged.

In undertaking research for the exhibit, Hall of Fame staff learned that more than 80 individuals who have been inducted into the provincial shrine for their accomplishments had served during the war. Many names were familiar: Cec Browne, Eddie Cass, Red Dutton, Frank Fredrickson, Gordon Hudson, Dick Irvin, Joe Keeper, Conrad Riley, Bullet Joe Simpson.

Collections manager Andrea Reichert said digitized First World War personnel records, ancestry records and publications were searched in order to learn which honoured members had served.

Recalling the children’s games of our youth

Two recent incidents got me thinking about the sports and games that kids used to play but which you seldom or never see today.

The first thing was when I spotted a hopscotch diagram chalked on the sidewalk as I walked down my street. My impulse was to start hopping but I came to my senses before I went head-first onto the concrete.

Earlier that day I had run into a man in a thrift store clutching a bag full of marbles. He was excited to find them as he hadn’t owned any for many years.

Spring always brought out the marbles on the block when I was young. A player might shout out “no pooning,” which meant no throwing your larger shooter at your opponent’s  marbles and your knuckles had to touch the ground when trying to knock a marble out of a circle.

Western Canada wasn’t kind to Scotty Bowman

When Scotty Bowman was beginning his Hall of Fame coaching career, Western Canada was not welcoming.

In 1957, Bowman came west with the Ottawa Canadiens as general manager and Sam Pollock’s assistant coach. The powerful Montreal Canadiens-sponsored team was highly favoured to beat the upstart Flin Flon Bombers in the Canadian junior final but the Bombers prevailed in a series that went seven games.

The next season, when the Memorial Cup final was played in the east, the pair were in charge of the renamed Ottawa-Hull Canadiens. After knocking off the Toronto Marlboros in the eastern final, Ottawa-Hull met another Montreal farm squad, the Regina Pats, and won the Canadian junior championship in six games.

In 1959, the 25-year-old Bowman was in charge of a different Habs farm squad, the Peterborough TPT Petes. The Ontario champions — with future NHLers Wayne Connelly, Jimmy Roberts, Barclay Plager and Denis DeJordy — in the lineup beat Pollock’s Ottawa-Hull squad in the Eastern final. Bowman then had to bring his team west to Winnipeg where a somewhat surprising opponent was waiting for them.

Hall of fame season for the sports community

Spring means it’s hall of fame induction time in Manitoba.

The Squash Manitoba Hall of Fame started the run in March when it honoured its first group of inductees.

Even if you don’t follow the sport closely, the names of the inductees will be familiar — Rick Borland, Marnie Baizley, Charlie Ives, Alana Miller, Michael Nesbitt, Carolyn Russell, Henry Thiessen and Gene Turk.

Getting it right the first time is always an issue for any selection committee, and the squash committee did just that.

The tragic Toilers plane crash of 1933

One of our province’s major sports tragedies happened 85 years ago this week. Early on the morning of March 31, 1933, a plane carrying the Toilers men’s basketball team crashed into a farmer’s field near Neodesha, Kan.

Two players, Joe Dodds, 21, and Mike Shea Jr., 26, were killed and several members of the Toilers contingent were injured. The accident took place on the second anniversary of a crash into another Kansas field that killed famous Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne.

The 1932 Canadian senior champion Toilers were returning home from Tulsa, Okla., where they had played two games against the Diamond Oilers, the U.S. Amateur Athletic Union champions. The plan was to complete a five-game series with three games in Winnipeg in April. The team had won the provincial championship a few days before leaving for Tulsa.

The Toilers’ season record was 28-0 while the Oilers had won 27 straight. Playing under American rules, the Canadians were no measure for the Oilers losing 32-13 and 41-19.

The early days of the GWMHA

A long-retired referee recently suggested a column about the Greater Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association. He said this columnist, as bantam B referee-in-chief, assigned him to his first game back in the 1960s.

The GWMHA was formed in August 1956 under the direction of City of Winnipeg recreation director Charles Barbour. The goal was to keep more players involved in hockey as they grew older.In the 1955-56 season, more than 1,000 players 14 and under played bantam hockey. At the time, there were only seven midget and six juvenile teams in the city, so only one in eight players had the opportunity to jump to a higher category. The bantam teams played in their own districts while the older boys played for teams with a connection to junior teams.

Under the GWMHA, the same zones were adopted for midget and juvenile and no pro-sponsored teams could be allowed. City playground hockey remained under the jurisdiction of the Parks Board until 1959, when the GWMHA took over and unified the city and suburban leagues. Playground had three divisions, A for age 12, B for 11 and C for 10.     

The new system led to major rivalries between community clubs in the same region: Bronx Park/Kelvin, CUAC/CPAC, Earl Grey/River Heights, Lord Roberts/Riverview, Norwood/Norwood Falcons, West End Memorials/West End Orioles, Silver Heights/Deer Lodge, Norberry/Glenwood, Fort Garry/Victoria, Isaac Brock/Weston.

The glory days of playground hockey

Ask older local hockey players or fans what the term Booster Night means to them and the answer  will invariably will be “playground hockey.”

Booster Night was a special event when the top two playground teams in the city of Winnipeg competed for the championship. It was played either in the Amphitheatre, where Great-West Life now sits or the old Olympic rink off Main Street in the North End.

For some players, it was their first game on indoor ice.

That was the case for Len Morrow, who still has the program his mother saved from the 10th annual Booster Night played at the Amph on Jan. 25, 1949, when Norquay Park from Point Douglas squared off against Thames from Elmwood, with the Norquay squad winning 3-2 in front of 4,000 fans.

Manitobans starred at 1932 Winter Olympics

Manitobans aren’t expected to make a major impact at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, that start Feb. 9.  

That wasn’t the case in early February 1932 at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., where Manitoba athletes played a very important role on the Canadian team.

The Winnipegs won the gold medal in hockey and Winnipeg speedskater Frank Stack won a bronze in the men’s 10,000 metres and took fourth place in the 500 and 1,500-metre races. This was Stack’s first Olympics and 20 years later, in 1952 in Oslo, Norway, he finished 11th in the 500 metres at age 46.       

The Winnipegs had earned the right to represent Canada by winning the Canadian senior hockey championship in 1931. Four nations entered the Olympics, where they played a double round-robin tournament. Canada won five games with its only blemish a 2-2 tie with the U.S. in the final game. Romeo Rivers tied the game with 33 seconds left. The teams then failed to score in three 10-minute overtime periods. Having beaten the U.S. 2-1 in overtime in the first game on a goal by Vic Lindquist, the draw was good enough to ensure gold. The final was played in an arena, while most of other games were outside. The U.S. finished 4-1-1, Germany was 2-4 while Poland lost six straight. Winnipegs iced a strong team with goalie and team captain Bill Cockburn and the forward line of Walter Monson, Lindquist and Rivers all future members of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame. Monson led the team in scoring with seven goals and four assists.

Fabro was a giant on the local sports scene

Manitoba lost a sports icon on Jan. 2 when Sam Fabro died at age 97.

Small in stature but big in heart, Fabro contributed in countless ways to the community. Sticking just to sports, the list includes major roles with Winnipeg Enterprises, the 1967 Pan-Am Games, the Manitoba Games from 1974-78, the Manitoba Baseball Association, the Manitoba Hockey Foundation and the Manitoba Marathon.

That work, along with his involvement with the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, earned him induction into the provincial shrine as a builder. He also was a builder member of the Manitoba Hockey HOF.

I had the pleasure of serving with him in both organizations. When I took on the role of chair of a Hockey HOF committee charged with getting automated external defibrillator (AED) units into Manitoba rinks, I was honoured when he volunteered to serve on the committee. His knowledge of the sports scene and how to get things done was unparalleled.

Sports greats we lost in 2017

The first Memories of Sport column of the new year is the time to remember the members of the sports community we lost in 2017.

Golfer Ted Homeniuk was inducted as an athlete into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. Herb Embuldeniya for boxing, Jim Mutcheson for baseball and Ray Turnbull for curling were honoured as HOF builders.

Sports HOF team members who passed were Irv Hanec of the 1972/75/76 St. Andrews basketball teams, soccer’s Midge Pennington of the 1954 ANAF Scottish and Ben McKinlay of the 1962 Scottish, and Marty Roy and John Starkell of the 1963 St. James Rams intermediate football team. Eddie Marchant played for the 1946 Canadian junior hockey champion Winnipeg Monarchs and Ted Knight played for the 1959 Canadian champion Winnipeg Braves. Don Collins played goal for the 1964 Allan Cup champion Winnipeg Maroons. He also was an outstanding catcher with the St. Boniface Native Sons teams inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame. John Buffie was the treasurer of the 1973-74 Centennial Cup champion Selkirk Steelers. Pat Riddell had served on the Sports HOF board and spent more than 30 years as a track and field volunteer.

The hockey community lost Billy Sutherland and Dunc Rousseau, who were members of the original WHA Winnipeg Jets. Inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame, Sutherland played pro for 19 seasons that included time with five NHL teams and later coached the Jets. Dave Semenko, who also is a HHOF member, won two Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers. Roy Forbes was a member of the RCAF Flyers team that won gold at the 1948 Winter Olympics. Gus Bohunicky and Tom Hanneson both played for the Dauphin Kings intermediate teams inducted into the HHOF in October and were outstanding football players. Dusty Durston coached the 1956-57 intermediate Poplar Point Memorials inducted in 2009. Ken Kronson, who had served as president of the Winnipeg South Blues junior hockey team, chaired the YMHA sports dinner for more than 30 years. The 50-plus members of the hockey community who died in 2017 are listed in The Final Face-Off column on the website www.mbhockeyhalloffame.ca

Books for the sports fans in your family

If you are still looking for a gift for the sports fan in your family, consider a book. In our annual book column, the focus is on books that should be of special interest to Manitobans. This year, the choices include volleyball, hockey, football and Canadian sports writing.

Garth Pischke was named Manitoba amateur athlete of the century for his volleyball ability. Since he ended his playing career, he has been a successful coach at the University of Manitoba. Now his story, which began in junior high in St. James, is told by Christopher H. Jones in Pischke Power (Westview Creative Communications). Former National Basketball Association star Wilt Chamberlain, who was an outstanding volleyball player, once called Pischke the best player in the world.  

A hockey book that should be popular is Golden Boys: The Top 50 Manitoba Hockey Players of All Time by Ty Dilello (Great Plains). You might wonder why a young Winnipeg writer and curler would take on this subject, which is bound to lead to arguments but Ty did what he called “endless” research and the book is a must for any Manitoba hockey fan.

Brandon Wheat Kings: The First 50 years in the WHL (Leech Printing) was compiled by Rick Dillabough, the team’s director of business operations. It covers the period from 1967 to 2017 and supplements an earlier, Brandon-area hockey history written by former referee Andy Gurba.

The history of Manitoba figure skating

On Sun., Dec. 10 a free public skating session is being offered at the Dakota Community Centre from 2:15 to 4:45 p.m. Skate Canada Manitoba is the local host of a Canada 150 Skating Day being held in 17 locations across the country.

Shauna Marling, executive director of Skate Canada Manitoba, encourages people to come out even if they don’t have skates or helmets. Equipment will be available from the Canada 150 Skating Day Skate Bank. Activities will include an exhibition by local skaters and free instruction by Skate Canada coaches. While figure skating is the major program offered by the provincial organization, other programs include synchronized skating and power skating.

To learn more about the history of the organization, this columnist went digging through the skating archives located in the Sport Manitoba storage area on Alexander Avenue.

Our province has produced two figure skaters who have been inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. Mary Rose Thacker-Temple won three Canadian and two North American championships and was named Canada’s female athlete of the year in 1939 and 1941. Lyndon Johnston, from Hamiota, skated in pairs at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics and won a silver medal at the 1989 worlds. In the 1940s and ’50s, a highlight of the winter was the annual Ice Club of Greater Winnipeg skating carnival held at the Amphitheatre. Hall of Fame builder Rupert Whitehead — who was a skater himself and donned the blades well into his 90s —produced the carnival.

Choosing 50 best players not an easy task

Manitoba has produced a lengthy list of outstanding hockey players and who were the best players is a never-ending argument.

If you were asked to name the top 50 players where would you start?

First, limit the candidates to those born in Manitoba or who played here during their developmental years. Next, look at the individuals meeting that criteria who have been inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. There you will find more than 50 who played the game at a high level — and that doesn’t count Jets in the HOF who don’t qualify such as Bobby Hull, Thomas Steen and Dale Hawerchuk. Now add another 200-plus who are honoured members of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame. And you’re still not finished, as your list doesn’t include current NHLers such as Jonathan Toews, Alexander Steen and Travis Zajac.

Winnipeg writer Ty Dilello has taken on the challenge of selecting the top 50 in his book, Golden Boys (Great Plains Publications), which will be launched tonight, Nov. 22, at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers in the Grant Park Shopping Centre.

Goldeyes GM Collier leads hall of fame class

The Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame announced its 2018 induction class at media conferences in Winnipeg and Brandon on Oct. 30.

Director Al Kinley chaired the Winnipeg conference while HOF chair Morris Mott handled arrangements in his hometown of Brandon. Kinley said holding two conferences allows any inductees from western Manitoba to attend an announcement in the Wheat City rather than travel to Winnipeg. In past years, some honourees failed to make it due to bad weather conditions.

The Winnipeg Goldeyes were front and centre at the Winnipeg conference. General manager Andrew Collier and former catcher Troy Fortin will be inducted in the individual category. Collier has worked for the club since 1994 and since then has won five Northern League executive of the year awards and one American Association executive award. Fortin, from Lundar, played three seasons with Goldeyes, hitting .332. Before that he played organized ball in the Minnesota Twins system from 1993 into 1998.

A Goldeyes team also will be honoured in the special category but this will be the Carman Goldeyes team that won four straight Manitoba Junior Baseball League and provincial championships from 1971 to 1974.

Collectors bring local trophy home

The Abbie Coo trophy has returned home.

In November 2015, Memories of Sport reported that an engraved chime clock which had been presented to Coo in May 1958 was for sale at Canada’s largest sports collectibles show in Toronto. The asking price was $600. The clock was given to Coo at a dinner organized by the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association to recognize 40 years of service. A member of both the provincial sports and hockey halls of fame, Coo was involved with several sports and served as a Canadian team manager at the 1932 and 1936 summer Olympic Games.

At the time, we asked if someone locally might purchase the clock from the Montreal dealer and donate it to the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.

A member of the track and field community suggested a fundraising project but nothing happened. Local memorabilia expert Adam Mordarski was the person who first spotted the trophy. When he saw that it was still for sale at the Toronto show this spring, he and collector Don Thomson bought it and presented it to the HOF a couple of weeks ago.

When the Buffaloes roamed the outfield

Professional baseball in Manitoba can be traced back to 1902 when the Winnipeg Maroons entered in the Northern League.

In the early years Winnipeg had teams in the Northern-Copper Country, Western Canada and Central International leagues. After being out of organized baseball since 1942, Winnipeg was back in the Northern League in 1954 with a Class C team named Goldeyes.

The highest level of organized ball in Winnipeg was played in 1970 and 1971. Partway through the 1970 season, the Montreal Expos Triple A International League team was moved from Buffalo to the Winnipeg Stadium and became the Winnipeg Whips. Travelling expenses doomed that franchise. Arguably the best baseball Manitobans ever saw was played in the “outlaw” ManDak League, which was formed in 1950 with two teams based in Winnipeg, the Buffaloes and Elmwood Giants, along with the Brandon Greys and the Carman Cardinals. North Dakota was represented by the Minot Mallards. The league operated until 1957, when the Greys were the only Manitoba team.

In 1946, the face of baseball began to change when Jackie Robinson broke the race barrier with the Montreal Royals. This led to the eventual demise of the Negro American and National Leagues as the top black players were signed by teams in organized baseball.

When softball became an indoor sport

Softball was originally an indoor sport. Its history has been traced back to the 1800s and the first games were played with a broomstick and a balled-up boxing glove. Women participated in its early days even before it moved outside.

In Winnipeg, senior women’s softball received extensive coverage in the newspapers from the 1920s through the 1950s. Large crowds showed up at Sherburn Park and Osborne Stadium to watch the Victorias, Tigerettes, Ramblers, St. Boniface Athletics, Norwood, and CUAC.

The names of Bea Hall, Olive Bend, Mary Cooperband, Mary Goshulak, Evelyn Halshall, Greeta Neal, Freda Goodman and her twin sisters, Babe and Goodie, were as familiar to the sports crowd as the top local hockey players.

In 1939, the St. Boniface Athletics won a battle among eight teams for the opportunity to travel to New York City and play inside Madison Square Garden.

The days of Michigan Ike and High-Ball Kelly

Assiniboia Downs race track is celebrating its 60th anniversary this summer.

On Aug. 7, the most important race of the season, the Manitoba Derby, will be held. It’s the 69th running, with the three-year-olds competing for a purse of $75,000.

The history of the race can be traced back to 1930 when it was called the Manitoba Stakes and the prize money was $2,000. Reviewing the list of champions, you see that Johnny Longden, one of the greatest jockeys of all-time, rode the winner, Lady Mamock, in 1932. In the 1970s, two more of Canada’s best, Ron Turcotte and Sandy Hawley, had mounts on Derby-winning horses.

Before the Downs opened in 1958, horse racing had been held at Polo Park, where the shopping centre now is located. Home to the Manitoba Derby, it opened in 1925 and operated through 1956. From 1924 until 1942, horses also ran at Whittier Park in St. Boniface.

Women lead the way to Sports Hall of Fame

Three outstanding female athletes head the 2017 induction class of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.

Going into the provincial shrine on Nov. 4 will be speed skater Cindy Klassen, basketball star Sandra Carroll and all-round athlete Jamie (Hancharyk) Jones. Joining them in the athletes’ category are badminton’s Jaimie Dawson and Bob Kraemer, another multi-sport star.

Coleen Dufresne and Dr. Wayne Hildahl will be inducted as builders along with golf’s Art Johnston, who will be honoured posthumously.

Dufresne had a long career at the University of Manitoba where she served as the women’s basketball coach and athletic director. Hildahl was a pioneer in the field of sports medicine and the founding president of Manitoba Special Olympics. Johnston was a rules expert who served as president of the Royal Canadian Golf Association.

Learning the provenance of an old trophy

Former CFL quarterback Frank Cosentino recently asked for help in identifying an old Winnipeg trophy. The search led to an interesting and forgotten piece of Winnipeg sports history that could be traced back 110 years.

The engraving on the trophy reads “Badge Challenge Trophy Presented By The Badge Publishing Company For Annual Competition Winnipeg North End Amateur Athletic Club.” No dates or names are shown.

Cosentino said a friend, Kathleen Taylor, now has the trophy in Ottawa.

She had inherited it from her grandfather Michael Provenski, a West Kildonan realtor, who died in February. Provenski had been given the trophy by a client, whose name Taylor never learned. The bronze trophy of a runner is 23 inches tall, including its wooden base. The artist was Salesio, who died in 1926.

Charlie Krupp was a Winnipeg sports legend

Word out of City Hall is that a new police station likely will be built on the Old Exhibition Grounds in the North End, with the west side, across from the McPhillips Station casino being the preferred location.

This area presently is used by the North Winnipeg Nomads minor football organization. News reports have called it Charlie Krupp Stadium.

In reality, Charlie Krupp Memorial Stadium no longer exists. The facility was built for the 1967 Pan Am Games, in which softball was to be a demonstration sport. In the rush to get it completed in time, the city installed the light standards in front of the grandstand rather than behind, and they later were relocated.

Outfield fences also were built and Winnipeg finally had a park strictly for softball. In 1969, it was officially named Charlie Krupp Memorial Stadium and became home to senior A men’s and women’s fastball and to the Winnipeg Colonels when the Western Major Fastball League was formed in 1973.  

The origins of slo-pitch softball in Winnipeg

A phone call in the spring of 1978 led to a major change in the Winnipeg softball scene.

The caller was Phil Quinn, an American who worked for the City of Winnipeg recreation department. Quinn had played slow pitch softball in the U.S.A., where it had surpassed fastball or baseball as the game of choice.

He wondered why the Manitoba Softball Association had no affiliated slow-pitch teams. There was no right answer and Manitoba had not been represented in the first Western Canada men’s slow-pitch championship the previous summer.

To determine if there was interest in this different version of the sport, an informational meeting was held on May 2, 1978. Based on the turnout, a second meeting was scheduled for May 10 to see if enough teams wanted to form a league.

When Flin Flon won the Memorial Cup

The Memorial Cup was first put up for grabs in 1919 and winners of the Canadian junior hockey championship have almost always have come from urban centres.

Winnipeg-area teams have taken the title 10 times, with the last being the Winnipeg Braves in 1959. Manitoba also produced two teams that were from some of the smallest communities to ever capture the national junior hockey championship.

In 1942, the Portage la Prairie Terriers beat the Oshawa Generals three games to one in the national final played at the Winnipeg Amphitheatre. Portage had a population of slightly more than 7,200 people at the time. The team actually was called the Portage and District Terriers and several players qualified as hometown boys.

That group included leading scorer Joe Bell, his goalie brother Gordon, Jack O’Reilly, Bud Ritchie and Lin Bend from Poplar Point. Captain Jack McDonald was born in Swan River and Bobby Love came from Dauphin. Winnipeg contributed Bill Gooden, Bill Heindl and Wally Stefaniw. The Bell boys’ father, Addie Bell, was the coach.

Botterill leads the way into Manitoba hockey hall

A large and impressive group of inductees make up the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame induction class for 2017. At a media conference on April 18, HOF vice-president Jordy Douglas announced that eight players, four builders, one official and one media personality will enter the provincial shrine on Oct. 7.

The HOF also will honour three teams.

Jennifer Botterill will become the first woman inducted as a player. The Fort Garry product starred at Harvard University, where she twice was named top female player in NCAA hockey and also won three gold medals with Canada’s Olympic team.

Winnipeg native Barney Holden was a three-time all-star with Portage Lake in the International Hockey League, hockey’s first pro loop. He is credited with scoring the first goal in professional hockey on Dec. 4, 1904, in Pittsburgh.

Curl Manitoba to honour hall of famers on May 7

Calling former members of the Bide-A-Wee Mixed Curling Club!

The matriarch of the club, June McTavish, will be posthumously inducted into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame as a builder on May 7. Some Bide-A-Weers are hoping for a large turnout of the curlers who enjoyed their days in the club that operated from the early 1950s into the 1970s. The Bide-A-Wee was believed to be the largest mixed club in the world in the 1960s when it had around 100 teams curling on weekends at several city clubs.

The 30th annual hall of fame induction dinner will be held at Canad Inns Polo Park. It will be a perfect time for the Bide-A-Wee crowd to join in honouring June as a mixed curling pioneer and remember the fellowship that was such an important part of the club. Ticket information is available from Curl Manitoba at curlmanitoba.org or by calling 204-925-5723.

Alex Mowat from the Elmwood Curling Club also will be recognized as a builder for his more than three decades of involvement with his club, Curl Manitoba and Curl Canada.

Lacrosse teams to enter sports hall of fame

The weekend of April 22-23 will be an important one for the local lacrosse community.

The Manitoba Lacrosse Alumni has scheduled its annual alumni stag for April 23 at Elmwood Legion #9 (920 Nairn Ave.). This get-together is always one of those at which more games are won, more goals are scored and more fibs are told. All former lacrosse players are encouraged to join the alumni group and the crowd always includes familiar faces from other sports.

This year, the lacrosse bunch will have a special reason for celebrating. On March 18, the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame announced that the 1954 and 1955 Manitoba junior all-star lacrosse teams that reached the Canadian junior A final will be inducted into the provincial shrine.

The induction will take place on April 22 during Sport Manitoba’s Night of Champions at Club Regent Event Centre.

When “car spiels” ruled the bonspiel circuit

In the days before cash bonspiels, the biggest prize available to curlers was a car. Nipawin, Sask., hosted the first car bonspiel in 1947 with brand new Hudsons, valued at $2,400, awarded to the winners.

In the final, Howard Wood Sr. and his Winnipeg Granite team of Al Derrett, Howard Jr. and Robby McFarlane beat Dalt Henderson of Saskatoon in 13 ends.  

In Winnipeg, the Charleswood Curling Club hosted its first car spiel in 1960. Held in March, the event often was called the “little car bonspiel” as winners took home a small car, such as a Datsun. Each team had to have at least one female player. Charleswood Collegiate teacher Norm Houck and his Strathcona team of Jim Ursel, Ross Murdoch and Doreen Matheson beat Stan Topolniski from Transcona in the final. At the time Matheson didn’t have a driver’s licence, let alone own a car.

Teams from the Strathcona dominated the first few years, with Bruce Hudson winning in 1961, Lloyd Orris (with Harvey Mazinke throwing skip’s rocks) in 1962, and Bobby Goodwin with Matheson at lead in 1965. Buck McKennitt of Morden beat Dave Reid from Strathcona in 1963. Playing out of Elmwood with a new team of Barry Effler, Al Macatavish and Jan Russell, Houck won his second car in 1964 over “old garbage mitts” Bill Sharpe of Manitou. Rinks were required to break up after they won the bonspiel.

The dog sled racing fame of Emile St. Godard

The warm weather in February played havoc with the Festival du Voyageur in St. Boniface and the 70th Northern Manitoba Trappers’ Festival in The Pas.

In the northern community, the organizers were forced to cancel the final day of the World Championship Dog Derby. With more water and grass than snow, the safety of the dogs became a concern as it was deemed the conditions would be too hard on them.

Dog sled races in The Pas can be traced back to 1916. When the initial Trappers’ Festival was held in 1948, the dog race was a short competition and the mushers carried freight in their sleds. The following year it became a four-day race of approximately 200 miles. The legs were The Pas to Cranberry Portage, Cranberry to Flin Flon, back to Cranberry with the final run to the finish line on the Saskatchewan River at The Pas. Edwin Lambert was the winner of the first derby. In 1976, the race was shortened to 105 miles over three days. Bad weather has seldom been a problem.

During the 1920s and the early 1930s, dog sled racing was a very popular sport in Canada and the northeastern United States. The Pas produced several of the best dog mushers in the world in Emile St. Godard, Shorty Russick and Earl Brydges. When dog sled racing was a demonstration sport at the 1932 Olympic Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., St. Godard won the two 50-mile races and Russick was third. He became the first individual from Manitoba to win an Olympic event.

It’s been 40 years since Monarchs won Quebec tourney

Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, Steve Yzerman, Pat Lafontaine, and former Winnipeg Jet Andrew McBain all played in the Quebec International peewee hockey tournament in February 1977. A total of 43 teams competed in the top AA Bolduc Division of the single-knockout tournament that had been operating since 1960. Many had major sponsorships.

The surprise champions were the Winnipeg South Monarchs, who played in the new AAA Winnipeg league, where teams were sanctioned to compete in national tournaments. The Monarchs entered the tournament ranked 38th. Coach Brian Dixon said some parents were concerned about the cost of the trip and worried about the team’s ability to compete.

In the Monarchs’ first game against Thetford Mines, Brian McDonald scored the winner in the 4-3 victory. Monarchs and Montreal Mercier were tied 4-4 in the third period of game two before Paul Buchanan, Peter Derksen and Todd Leroux gave the Winnipeg team the win. McDonald had the winner again in a 5-3 win over the hometown Quebec DNSCO.

Next up was a matchup with the Boston Braves, a team subsidized by the Boston Bruins of the NHL. Buchanan fired the goal that gave the Monarchs a 2-1 win in sudden-death overtime and a berth in the final against Detroit S.A. The two teams battled to a scoreless tie until late in the third period when Kenny Strong scored the tournament winning goal. Eric Esslemont, who played well throughout the entire series, had the shutout.

So, what was going on in sport 50 years ago?

As we begin to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017, I thought it would be interesting to see what was happening in the world of sport 50 years ago.

The Metro Winnipeg curling zone playdowns were the feature story on Jan. 18, 1967. Winning a zone was a way into the provincial Consols championship and meant that the seven zone winners didn’t have to battle for one through the tough grind of the MCA bonspiel.

Looking at the names of the competitors was a trip down the curling memory sheet.

After losing his first game to the Granite’s veteran Clyde Allan, defending provincial champion Hersh Lerner stayed alive with a win over the Heather’s Jim Dunstone. Jack Grassie, 19, was skipping a Valour Road team. Now he coaches his son Sean’s competitive team.

Sports figures gone but not forgotten

The first Memories of Sport column of the new year is the time to remember the athletes, coaches, builders, officials and volunteers from the Manitoba sports community we lost in 2016.

Several had success in more than one sport. Andy Bathgate was named as a forward when the province’s all-time all-star hockey team was selected in 2000. After his NHL career, he ran a golf facility in Mississauga, Ont.

Vic Peters won the Canadian men’s curling championship and played for Steinbach A&W Stealers in the Canadian men’s fast pitch softball championship. Bob Kabel played pro hockey for 15 seasons. A catcher, he was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame with its first group in 1997.

Bruce Hudson is in both the baseball and curling shrines. He played for the Rosedales and St. Boniface Native Sons teams and was inducted for his catching ability. He also skipped his team to two provincial men’s curling championships and served as president of the Manitoba Curling Association. Bill Johnson played junior baseball for the Rosedales and hockey for the 1964 Canadian senior men’s champion Winnipeg Maroons. George Konik’s hockey career earned him induction into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame. The Flin Flon product was also an outstanding catcher who led the Polar Baseball League in hitting one season with a .537 average. Jan Kreutzer will be remembered for his ability in both basketball and volleyball. Violet (Pollock) Tittler played the CUAC Blues that are in the softball HOF. She moved to B.C. and became one of the top hurdlers in Western Canada.

The night the Pistons and Lakers came to play

Reader Neil Taylor remembers that the Minneapolis Lakers and the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons came to Winnipeg to play a regular-season NBA game nearly 60 years ago.

On Jan. 8, 1957, 5,841 fans paid a high of $2.50 down to $1 to see the pros show their stuff at the Winnipeg Arena. The crowd was about three times as many as the Lakers were averaging at home in the Minneapolis Auditorium.  

The Pistons won 87-86 to remain in second place in the league’s Western Division. George Yardley led the winners with 23 points while Clyde Lovellette matched him for the Lakers. Fort Wayne had won their last meeting 104-102, and it was suggested that having to play on the slick, composite surface at the Arena, rather than the usual wooden floor, led to the lower score.   

The basketball game wasn’t the biggest story on the Winnipeg Free Press sports pages the next day. That honour went to the ninth annual B’nai Brith curling bonspiel at the Maple Leaf Club on Machray Avenue in the North End. Along with a lengthy article by Ralph Bagley, photos of the four teams that won events were printed. The first event went to the team of Lloyd Wolch, Bill Abrams, Harvey Levy and Norman Shore, who were described as “all young — 27 or 28 — all bachelors.”

This year’s Manitoba sports books shine

The time has come to take our annual look at recent sports books of special interest to Manitobans looking for a holiday gift.

Right at the top of any list should be The Hot Line, by Winnipeg journalist Geoff Kirbyson (Great Plains). The author tells the story of  how the Winnipeg Jets line of Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson had a major impact on hockey through their teamwork and style of play.

Readers who saw the trio play with the WHA Jets will be reminded once again how talented they were and how enjoyable the hockey was to watch. The positive comments of the many hockey people Kirbyson interviewed should convince readers who didn’t see them in action.  

Prolific Winnipeg author Ty Delillo has produced Hockey Hotbeds Volume 2 (McNally Robinson) as a follow-up to his first book about hockey communities around the world. This time Flin Flon and The Pas are included. Flin Flon is represented by Eric Nesterenko, who played in the northern mining community as a young boy, and goalie Ernie Wakely. After moving south, Wakely helped the Winnipeg Braves win the 1959 Memorial Cup and later played for the Jets. Murray Anderson was interviewed about playing in his hometown of The Pas and his junior and pro career.

Wesmen volleyball teams honoured by HOF

In the early 1970s, the University of Winnipeg Wesmen dominated men’s volleyball in Canada. Starting in the 1970-71 season, the Wesmen won four consecutive Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union championships. The team had won its first national title in 1968-69 but lost the following season when the University of Montreal beat them in the final. The Wesmen also won the CIAU championship in 1976-77.

On Nov. 5, during the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame’s 37th annual induction ceremony, the Wesmen teams from 1970-71 through 1973-74 finally took their rightful place in the provincial shrine. Joining them in the team category was the 1985 world champion junior men’s curling team from the Granite of skip Bob Ursel, third Brent Mendella, second Gerald Chick and lead Mike Ursel. Also inducted were all-round athlete Jim Heighton, track’s Alanna (Yakiwchuk) Hinrichsen, Joey Johnson from wheelchair basketball, hockey’s Mike Keane and swimmer Rhiannon Leier-Blacher.

Sports medicine’s Dr. Cal Botterill and Brandon’s John Reilly from rugby were honoured as builders. Reilly, who died in 2009, is the first person from his sport to be recognized by the HOF.

The Wesmen began their four-year CIAU championship run in the spring of 1971 with a two-set victory over the University of Western Ontario Mustangs in the final played at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont.

Remembering Winnipeg’s old outdoor rinks

The Heritage Classic played at Investors Group Field on Oct. 23 led to lots of stories about playing hockey outdoors.

Everyone who grew up on the Prairies seems to have  memories of skating on ponds, rivers and lakes where the ice was clear as glass. Some are probably true.

Here in Winnipeg players spent more time playing outside on school grounds and at community clubs than rural kids did on the ponds. Until the early 1960s, there were only two indoor rinks in the city, so most minor hockey was played outside until the ice melted. A covered rink, often with natural ice, was the focal point of most rural communities. In The Pas, where this writer grew up, we skated on Halcrow Lake at the edge of town for a week or two when it froze over. Once the snow came, hockey and skating went inside.

Frank Mathers was inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto in 1992. Mathers, who grew up in the Wolseley area, never forgot his roots in Winnipeg. Not long before he died in 2005, he sent a photo that captures a somewhat forgotten outdoor hockey facility. What follows are Mathers’ own words:   

Mixed curling was initially a social sport

Mixed curling became an officially recognized competition in 1964 when the first provincial championship was held in Morden.

Ernie Boushy and his team from the Heather club won the title and went on to capture the first national mixed event in Toronto. Up until that point, mixed curling was seen as more of a social sport with the Bide-A-Wee club in Winnipeg leading the way.

June McTavish along with her brothers Bill (a.k.a. Junior) and Neil had formed the Bide-A-Wee in 1952 with seven teams. In Scottish vernacular, Bide-A-Wee means stay a little while. The club grew into the largest mixed club in the province and maybe in the world.

In the 1963-64 season, 54 teams curled on the weekend at the Eaton, Elmwood, Fort Garry, Granite, Rossmere and Thistle clubs. Peter Eby and his team of wife Diane, Tom Gavronski and Peter Read won the club championship. Charlie Douglas, Gerald Bedford, Eileen Saunders and Francis Douglas won the annual club bonspiel.

Lacrosse honourees to be inducted Oct. 2

Seven well-deserving members of the lacrosse community will be honoured on Oct. 2 when the Manitoba Lacrosse Hall of Fame inducts its class of 2016.

The ceremony will take place at the Canad Inns Club Regent Casino at 1 p.m. Sport Manitoba heritage manager Rick Brownlee, a former Manitoba Lacrosse Association executive director, will serve as MC.   

Bill Crook and Jack Kirby will be inducted as players. The top goaltender in Winnipeg during the 1960s and 1970s, Crook led his teams to five provincial titles and played in four national championships. Described as a rugged defensive player with teams from West End Memorials, Isaac Brock and Deer Lodge, Kirby won the Winnipeg Senior Box League scoring title in 1953. Crook is coming from Vancouver and Kirby from Sarnia, Ont., for the induction.

John Guzej will be honoured as a player/builder. A top scorer while winning three provincial championships with Nor’Wester teams, he moved into coaching where he won several provincial titles and the national midget crown in 2007.  The second player/builder inductee is Joey Harris, who has contributed to Manitoba lacrosse as a player, coach and administrator for more than 40 years. Since 2001, Harris has served as president of the Canadian Lacrosse Association.

Remembering Winnipeg’s Industrial softball league

A reader suggested that the Industrial Men’s Fastball League would be a good subject for a column.

While growing up in the West End, north of Portage Avenue, he spent many evenings hanging around the softball diamonds at Sargent Park. From the late 1950s through the 1970s, fans could watch two or three Industrial League games there on any weekday night. The diamonds at the Old Exhibition Grounds were also used and double-headers were played at Charlie Krupp Memorial Stadium in the 1970s.

By 1955, the Industrial League claimed to be the city’s largest fastball league with 16 teams. Over the years, other leagues called the Mercantile and Commercial operated in the city, along with leagues with closed memberships such as Greater Winnipeg Transportation, insurance, law, and both the federal and provincial governments.

For many years, Industrial League teams also had direct connections to their organization but no one remembers the exact rule.

The day the Cardinals came to town

To younger fans, the Winnipeg Goldeyes are the professional baseball team that plays at Shaw Park.

When pro ball returned to the city in 1994, the team was a member of the independent Northern League and had a home field squeezed into the north end of the late and perhaps lamented Winnipeg Stadium.

Older fans fondly remember the original Goldeyes, a team in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system. That version began play in the Northern League in 1954 when the Class C league was part of organized baseball. Home was an excellent baseball field in the south end of the Stadium.

The Cardinals were the first bona fide major league team to visit Winnipeg for an exhibition game when they came to play the Goldeyes on Aug. 20, 1962.

Manitoba’s Olympians through the ages

With the Olympics winding down in Rio, now is a good time to remember some Manitobans who have represented our province in the Summer Games.

Going all the way back to Stockholm in 1912, Joe Keeper from the Norway House Cree First Nation ran in both the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres events and finished fourth in the latter final. Army Howard of Winnipeg also was on the Canadian track team. The North End Amateur Athletic Club sprinter won his heat in the 100 metres but lost in the semi-final. Howard is believed to be Canada’s first black Olympian. His grandson, Harry Jerome, from North Vancouver, B.C., won bronze in the 100 metres for Canada in 1964.

In 1928, in what was described as the most exciting race of the Olympiad in Amsterdam, Jimmy Ball finished inches behind American Raymond Barbutti in the 400-metre final. Ball also won bronze as a member of the 4x400 metres relay team. Jim Trifunov competed in wrestling in three Summer Games, winning a bronze medal in 1928. The long-time Winnipeg Free Press promotions and circulation manager also coached at the 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympics. Lightweight boxer Frankie Battaglia fought for Canada in 1928 before he embarked on a pro career as a middleweight contender.  

John Loaring is a name that few if any Manitobans will recognize. Born in Winnipeg, Loaring attended  La Verendrye and Grosvenor schools and took up running after he moved to Windsor, Ont. at age 10. At the 1936 Games in Berlin, Loaring finished second in the 400-metre hurdles, sixth in the 400 metres and ran a blazing anchor in the 4x400 metres relay for the Canadian team that was fourth.

Hard to believe it was 50 summers ago…

Fifty summers ago Winnipeg hosted the Pan-American Games, to that point the most prestigious international sporting event in its history.

Twenty-nine nations competed at the first Games held in Canada, which ran from July 23 through Aug. 6. New facilities had to be built and, when it opened, the Pan-Am Pool rated with the best in the Western Hemisphere. This summer the pool is closed for repairs.

A velodrome for cycling near the old Winnipeg Arena, where basketball and volleyball were played, is long gone. Portage la Prairie and Carman hosted baseball and sailing took place on Lake Winnipeg at Gimli. The Red River Floodway was used for rowing. Joe Finlay, coxswain on Canada’s four-man crew described it “like rowing in a big bathtub.”

In looking at the results, the names of several athletes jump out at you.

Remembering the AAGPBL’s greats

In 1992, the movie A League of Their Own, put the focus on women who played professional softball and baseball in the 1940s and 1950s.

Starring Geena Davis, Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell, it told a fictional story about the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) that operated in the U.S. Midwest. Eleven players from Manitoba and 25 from Saskatchewan played in the league.

At the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, author Maureen Ulrich brings the league back to life with her play, Diamond Girls. Fringers can enjoy the story of Mary “Bonnie” Baker, Arlene (Johnson) Noga, the slugging stenographer from Saskatchewan, and other prairie gals in a celebration of their time in the AAGPBL. Baker was the inspiration for catcher Dottie Hinson, the role played by Davis. The final three performances are July 21, 23 and 24 at the U of W Asper Theatre.

On the diamond, players wore short skirts and lipstick to emphasize their femininity. They were provided with rules of behaviour and the summing up read, “be clean and wholesome in appearance, be polite and considerate in your daily contacts, avoid noisy, rough and raucous talk and actions and be in all respects a truly All-American girl.”

2016 Sports Hall of Fame inductees named

A wise member of the sports community has often said that, in order to be considered for induction into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, a candidate needs to have a doctorate in his or her sport.

He felt that having the equivalent of a bachelor’s or master’s might earn induction into the hall of fame of an individual sport but wasn’t enough to gain entrance into the provincial shrine.

That wise man has been inducted into two individual sport halls as an athlete.

The Sports Hall of Fame recently announced the names of the five athletes, two builders and two teams that will receive the province’s highest sports honor in 2016.

Who’s Ray Fennell and why is a field named after him?

Three recent happenings have had this writer thinking about the facilities, parks and streets in the city that have been named after members of the sports community.

On June 12, the Winnipeg Soccer Complex on Waverley Street was renamed the Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex after a most-deserving builder of the sport.

On the previous Saturday, at a Riverview Community Centre sale, a couple of men were trying on old Riverview Rangers hockey jerseys. When asked if they were attempting to turn back the clock, one suggested that the rather snug jersey he was trying on might be the one he wore the day the arena at Fort Rouge Recreational Centre was named after Sam Southern.

That happened in 1978 and the remark led to the speculation about who today even knows why it carries the Southern name.

Flood of 1950 nearly swamped first Little League

Next week is National Little League Week in Canada. Roy Bergerman, the president of Little League Baseball Canada, suggests the week will both celebrate the kids and recognize the volunteers who participate in the program.

But it won’t be happening in Manitoba, as we are one of three provinces that doesn’t have Little League. At one point, 25 programs operated across the province. Today, all youth baseball programs are run under the umbrella of Baseball Manitoba.

Little League  began in the U.S.A. in 1947. In March 1950, the Bantam Sports League of Winnipeg announced that a four-team Little League would begin play that spring.

The Optimist Club and Winnipeg Tribune sportswriter Vince Leah, who organized minor hockey and soccer teams, would be involved with the operation. To be eligible, players could not have reached their 13th birthdays before Aug. 1 of that year.

Manitoba Dream Team to be honoured by HOF

The Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame will honour the province’s Dream Team of the 20th Century at its 20th annual induction banquet on June 4.

The team was named in 2005 in response to a request from Toronto sportswriter Bob Elliott. Elliott felt his book, The Northern Game: Baseball the Canadian Way, needed to include the best players from each province.

From that group an all-time, all-Canadian team was named. The only Manitoban selected was third baseman Corey Koskie from Anola, the DH on the provincial team. Elliott will be the guest speaker at the banquet in Morden.

Canadian Baseball HOF builder member Gladwyn Scott of Carberry, Gerry MacKay of Brandon and the late Winnipeg umpire Sam Tascona picked the Manitoba team.

When the Warriors won the nation

For Winnipeg hockey fans, the spring of 1956 was much better than the spring of 2016.

That year their professional team made the playoffs. The pro game had returned to the city for the 1955-56 season with a Western Hockey League franchise owned by the Perrin family. The team was named Warriors and the new Winnipeg Arena was its home. Winnipeg-born Alf Pike, who had played in the NHL for the New York Rangers, was hired to coach.

Stocked through working agreements with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens, the lineup had a nice mix of local talent and NHL prospects. General manager Jack Perrin purchased veteran AHL defenceman Danny Summers from Eddie Shore to complete an all-Winnipeg defence with captain Fred Shero, Mickey Keating and Bill Burega. Forward Eddie (Spider) Mazur was sent home by the Canadiens as was former St. Boniface junior Gary (Boomer) Blaine, who played 40 games with the Warriors before Montreal moved him back east to the Quebec League. Montreal also provided Regina’s Paul Masnick, who had played parts of five seasons with the NHL club.

Before the season began, Toronto shipped goalie Ed Chadwick west along with young forwards Barry and Brian Cullen, Hugh Barlow, Mike Nykoluk and Winnipeg’s Gary Aldcorn. The first three were linemates on the 1954 Canadian junior champion St. Catharines TeePees. Nykoluk and Aldcorn played for the 1955 Memorial Cup champion Toronto Marlboros.

Ukrainian Sportsman’s Dinner a longstanding tradition

Manitoba — in particular Winnipeg’s North End — has produced a long list of exceptional Ukrainian athletes, coaches and sports volunteers.

For more than half a century, the St. Nicholas Men’s Club has been honouring the Ukrainian Sportsman of the Year at a spring dinner held at the St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church on Bannerman Avenue at Arlington Street. The dinner catered by the church’s female members always sells out, with the perogies and holubtsi the highlight.

Len Kozak, who has been involved with the dinner for more than 25 years, confirmed that all 350 tickets for the 51st annual dinner on May 6 are gone.

Kozak mentioned that nonagenarian Peter Kwasny, who has attended all 50 events, sold 60 tickets himself. For the first dinner in 1966, when all Ukrainian sportsmen were recognized, men’s club members went door-to-door in the North End selling tickets.

Vying for senior amateur hockey supremacy

The Allan Cup will be presented in Steinbach on Sat., April 16. Six teams, including the defending champion South East Prairie Thunder, are battling this week for the trophy emblematic of the Canadian senior AAA hockey championship.

To be accurate, the winner will receive a replica of the historic cup that was first put up for competition in 1909. The original Allan Cup is in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

When the trustees of the Stanley Cup determined that it would be awarded to the professional hockey champion, Sir Montague Allan donated a new trophy for amateur competition.

Like the Stanley Cup, teams could challenge for the Allan Cup. After the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association was formed in 1914, the national body decided that a series of playoffs should replace the challenge system. Beginning in 1920, the Allan Cup champion represented Canada in amateur play at the Olympics and world championships. This continued until Canada’s national team was formed in the 1960s.

Winnipeg’s own basketball heroines

Manitobans enjoying a winter break in the sunny southern United States know that March Madness is real. College basketball rules, with fans filling out their 64-team brackets in the hope of picking the winner of the NCAA Division I men’s championship.

Having been whittled down over four rounds of play over the past two weekends, the Final Four will play in Houston on April 2. The national final will go on April 4 in NRG Stadium.

In Manitoba, basketball always has taken a back seat to hockey and curling in the late winter. That even happened the day after the  University of Winnipeg Wesmen women, a team later named Manitoba’s Team of the 20th century, won its third consecutive national basketball championship. On March 12, 1995 in Thunder Bay, the U of W beat the third-ranked University of Manitoba women 72-61 to capture what was then called the CIAU title. Tournament MVP Sandra Carroll led the way with 24 points and player-of-the-game Andrea Hutchens scored 16. The pair, along with star point guard Pam Flick, were playing the final game of their illustrious five-year careers.

The next day the headline on page 1 of the Winnipeg Free Press sports section was “Victory Day.”Kerry Burtnyk’s 10-8 win over Saskatchewan’s Brad Heidt in the Canadian men’s curling championship in Halifax on March 12 was the feature story.

Women’s hockey was big long before the modern era

Hockey fans have the opportunity to see some of our country’s top young female players at MTS Iceplex when nine Canadian teams and the Shattuck-St. Mary’s U19 team from Minnesota will compete in the fourth annual Female World Sport School Challenge from March 10 to 13.Winnipeg will be represented by the Balmoral Hall Blazers, Shaftesbury Titans and host St. Mary’s Academy Flames.

Dwayne Gylywoychuk, head coach of Canada’s national women’s development team, will be the keynote speaker at the tournament banquet March 12. The tournament’s bronze medal game will face off at 10:15 a.m. on March 13 with the final at 1:30 p.m.

Female hockey first began to gain popularity in the modern era of the game when the first World Women’s Championship was held in 1990. Women’s hockey became an Olympic sport in 1998. When many U.S. colleges formed teams, players from our province leapt at the opportunities available to them. Fort Garry’s Jennifer Botterill was twice named the top female hockey player in the U.S. when she played for Harvard.

Dakota Collegiate grad Danielle Bilodeau played four seasons at Cornell, where she now is the associate head coach.

Jets, Moose take part in I Love to Read Month

February is I Love to Read Month. To encourage children to develop an interest in reading, the Winnipeg Jets, along with Esdale Printing are taking part in the annual  Reading Takes Flight program. On Feb. 22, members of the Jets will visit schools in Winnipeg and read from the team’s official children’s storybook, The Home Team. Manitoba Moose players will also visit 10 schools on March 1 as a part of a Stick to Reading program presented by McNally Robinson Booksellers. While the schools the Jets will visit have been determined through a contest, students and teachers still have time to tell the Moose the Top 5 reasons they should visit their school by visiting moosehockey.com/sticktoreadingThe deadline for submissions is Feb. 19.If the Moose are looking for a book to read, let me suggest The Bulliest Dozer, an illustrated story about issues related to bullying. Winkler native Eric Fehr, who played for the Jets in 2011-12 and now is with the Pittsburgh Penguins, co-wrote the book with Pamela Duncan Edwards. Kate Komarnicki did the artwork.☐ ☐ ☐There are several hockey books with a connection to our province that would be appropriate for young readers. One-time Winnipeg Free Press sports reporter Scott Young wrote the juvenile novels Scrubs on Skates and Boy on Defence, about Winnipeg high school hockey. The books, which were published in the 1950s, might seem dated, but they are worth a read. It’s believed that Young based one of his main characters, Bill Spunska, on East Kildonan’s Bill Juzda, who played defence for the Toronto Maple Leafs. A later Young book featuring Spunska was titled A Boy at the Leafs’ Camp. University of Manitoba public affairs director John Danakas has written several Winnipeg-based hockey novels for readers aged eight to 13. Brothers on Ice is about brothers competing to play goal for the St. James Cougars while the title of Hockey Night in Transcona is rather self-explanatory. He also co-authored a juvenile book with Richard Brignall titled Small Town Glory about the Kenora Thistles’ quest for the Stanley Cup in the early 20th century. The story of the Winnipeg Falcons team is told in Falcons Gold: Canada’s First Olympic Hockey Heroes. Written for juvenile readers by Kathleen Arnason, the illustrations by Luther Pokrant are a highlight. Older readers should enjoy When Falcons Fly by David Square. His fictionalized story tells of the racial prejudice the mostly Icelandic team received here in Winnipeg in the years before Olympic glory. In Twenty Miles, a novel published in 2007, Cara Hedley wrote about university women’s hockey in Winnipeg. In Canadian Hockey Literature, Jason Blake credits the  former University of Manitoba player with being the first woman to write a hockey novel about women. In his novel The ’Tobanz, Edgar Danny Desjarlais from St. Laurent tells the story of an all-native hockey team from Manitoba that competes in the world bantam championship in England. Flin Flon’s Bobby Clarke gets his story of growing up in that northern mining community told in two books for juveniles, Something To Prove by Nicole Martillaro and Bobby Clarke, Pride of the Team, by Jim Wright. A list of books and other reference material for fans of all ages that have a connection to hockey in our province can be found on the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame website atmbhockeyhalloffame.ca/asset_library/ManitobaHockeyBibliographyandReferenceMaterialUpdatedJanuary2016.pdf You will be surprised by the amount and variety, as well as what is waiting to be researched and written.Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com 

February is I Love to Read Month. To encourage children to develop an interest in reading, the Winnipeg Jets, along with Esdale Printing are taking part in the annual Reading Takes Flight program. 

On Feb. 22, members of the Jets will visit schools in Winnipeg and read from the team’s official children’s storybook, The Home Team. Manitoba Moose players will also visit 10 schools on March 1 as a part of a Stick to Reading program presented by McNally Robinson Booksellers. While the schools the Jets will visit have been determined through a contest, students and teachers still have time to tell the Moose the Top 5 reasons they should visit their school by visiting moosehockey.com/sticktoreading

Chawla joins select company in badminton hall

The Badminton Canada Hall of Fame is a very exclusive group. Only two coaches and four builders have been inducted plus Wayne Macdonnell from Vancouver, who was honoured as both a player and builder.

On Feb. 6, the group will welcome another member in Winnipeg’s Pal Chawla. The induction ceremony will take place at the Winnipeg Winter Club during the closing banquet for the 2016 Canadian badminton championships. The national finals are scheduled for that afternoon at the Winter Club, where Chawla served as the badminton pro for nearly four decades. When Chawla’s induction was announced in mid-January, Badminton Canada president Anil Kaul said

“Pal Chawla has made an important contribution to the development of our sport. Whether as a coach, volunteer or event director, Pal has demonstrated the leadership in growing our sport that our organization deeply values.”

Chawla joins the late Jack MacDonald in the builder category. MacDonald, who was inducted in 2008, served three different terms as president of Badminton Canada as well as heading the Winnipeg Badminton Club and the provincial association.

Manitoba’s top athletes to be honoured

The Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association (MSSA) is holding its 60th Athletes of the Year dinner at the Delta Winnipeg Hotel on Jan. 22.

Usually held on a Sunday evening, the dinner was moved to Friday this year and a guest speaker was added in Winnipeg Jets owner Mark Chipman. Jets TV voice Dennis Beyak will MC. Rather than speculate about this year’s winners of the male, female and team awards, looking back at the winners and their sports seemed more appropriate for a Memories of Sport column.

For the first 11 years, the Ches McCance Memorial Trophy was awarded to the top athlete, male or female. Bill Mosienko, who  led Winnipeg Warriors to the 1955-56 Western Hockey League championship, was the first winner. Curler Billy Walsh, five-pin bowler Norm Shanas and golfers Wilf Homenuik and George Knudson were the finalists. Back then the event was known as Sportsmen’s Night.

Distance swimmer Claudia McPherson in 1963 and speed skater Doreen McCannell in 1965 did beat out the men but the sexes were separated for 1967, when Blue Bomber Ken Nielsen and Irene Miller from wheelchair sport were the winners. Since then, the male athletes have come from 17 different sports with football, golf and hockey each producing nine winners. If Jonathan Toews wins on Friday for the fifth time since 2007,  hockey will lead the way.

Those we lost in 2015

The first column of the new year is the time to recognize the athletes, builders and volunteers the Manitoba sports community lost during 2015.

Let’s begin with those who received our province’s highest sports honour, induction into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. The individual athletes are golfer Dan Halldorson, speed skater Eileen (Whalley) Richards and hockey player Wally Stanowski. Frank McKinnon was an excellent athlete and a true builder of sport, who also was inducted into a number of individual sport halls. Other builders were George Phillips in the all round category, Wezer Bridle from volleyball and Joan Whalley of curling. Softball builder Gerry Howard, who died Dec. 1, also chaired the Manitoba Section of the Canadian Figure Skating Association.

Doug Gresham starred for the 1954 Paulins basketball team. Bruce Palmer quarterbacked the 1955 Canadian junior football champion Winnipeg Rods. Tom Armstrong was with the 1962 and the 1968-69 Canadian champion St. Vital Bulldogs. Joe Williams was a member of the 1962 Grey Cup champion Blue Bombers. Glen Sonmor, who died Dec. 14, played for the Brandon Wheat Kings that lost the 1949 Canadian junior hockey final. Lynn Davis was a goalie for the 1957 Memorial Cup champion Flin Flon Bombers. Ray Landkamer coached the 1967 Winnipeg mixed five-pin bowling team. Their teams have been inducted into the Manitoba HOF.

For her accomplishments in 1967, Irene (Miller) Howard from wheelchair sports won the first Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association female athlete of the year award. Speed skater Jennifer Jackson-Jones competed in the 1972 Winter Olympics. Paget Stewart was a member of the Canadian biathlon team at the 1988 Winter Olympics. Todd Hinds was the assistant coach for the Canadian women’s wrestling team at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Teulon-born Sheldon Galbraith, who coached champion figure skaters including Barbara Ann Scott and Donald Jackson, was inducted into the Canada’s Sports, Canadian Olympic and World Figure Skating shrines.

Sports book choices are many this season

This holiday season readers can choose from a variety of sports books with Manitoba connections. Hockey tops the list and 100 Things Jets Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die by Jon Waldman (Triumph) will fit nicely into that hockey-stocking hung by the fireplace. The title tells it all and the book is part of a series about professional teams. Earlier in the year, the River Heights resident had a second book, He Shoots, He Saves: The Story of Hockey’s Collectible Treasures (ECW), published.

Competitive curler Ty Dilello from River Park South also has two books out this year. Hockey Hotbeds is a collection of stories about more than 40 communities across the globe. The players interviewed include 2015 Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Curt Ridley, West Kildonan product Andy Bathgate, Blaine Stoughton from Gilbert Plains and former Jet Ulf Nilsson. His latest, Mr. Zero, is the biography of goalie Frank Brimsek, who was born in Eveleth, Minn.

Dilello, who is curling in B.C. this winter, will be in Eveleth on Dec. 17 signing his book at the US Hockey Hall of Fame. Both books are published by McNally Robinson.  

The Riverton Rifle (Greystone) is the autobiography of Reggie Leach, who went from Riverton in the Interlake to the Flin Flon Bombers and on to stardom with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Let’s bring home a Manitoba sporting treasure

While attending Canada’s largest sports collectibles show in Toronto, Nov. 6-8, Adam Mordarski spotted a unique piece of sports memorabilia that belongs here in Manitoba.

On sale for $600 was an engraved chime clock presented to A.E.H. Coo at a testimonial dinner at the Fort Garry Hotel on May 3, 1958.

The name Albert E. Horsemah Coo won’t be a familiar one to the sporting community. Known as Abbie, he died at age 82 in 1967 after a distinguished career as a journalist and sports administrator. Coo worked as a reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press and was the managing editor from 1944 until he retired in 1950. He had served as president of both the Winnipeg and Canadian lacrosse associations. At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, he was assistant manager of the Canadian team and was team manager at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. He also served on the executive of the  Amateur Athletic Association of Canada.  

Coo’s testimonial dinner was organized by the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association to honour his 40 years of service. He became a director in 1918, served two terms, totalling nine years, as president, and later was the secretary-treasurer and registrar.

Halls of Fame fill up with worthy inductees

Fall is Hall of Fame time in Manitoba. The provincial golf hall of fame held its annual induction ceremony on Sept. 28 at the McPhillips Station Casino. Both basketball and hockey followed up later that week with induction dinners on Oct. 3. The Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame dinner was at the Victoria Inn while the hockey shrine honoured its class of 2015 at the Canad Inns Polo Park.

Next up is the annual Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner, Nov. 7 at the Victoria Inn. The athletes in the 2015 class are Trevor Kennerd, football; Ken Opalko basketball; Ken Peters, track; Jeff Powell, rowing ;and Bill Ranford, hockey.

Dr. Gordon Cumming from sports medicine and speed skating and Archie Chawla from badminton, squash and tennis are the builders being honoured.

Rick Brownlee of Sport Manitoba says all the individual inductees will be in attendance. Ranford lives in New Westminster, B.C., but works in Los Angeles and on the road as goalie coach for the NHL Kings. He received permission from the team to attend the ceremony. The dinner crowd should expect plenty of noise when Chawla is inducted. Brownlee said “Archie’s Army” will be filling nine tables, and that doesn’t count his family table.     

Tales of high school football heroics

Each fall the Winnipeg High School Football League presents the Harry Hood Memorial Trophy to a top player. The league’s most prestigious individual award goes to the player who best exemplifies the standard of playing ability, school citizenship, fair play and scholastic standing.

Harry Hood helped Kelvin High School win the provincial championship in 1943. After serving in the Second World War,  he had a fine pro career as a halfback and defensive back with the Blue Bombers and the Calgary Stampeders. Hood died of cancer in May 1954. A group of Winnipeg businessmen received permission from the Winnipeg School Board to establish the award in his name and the first winner that November was Bert Aikens of the St. John’s Tech Tigers. The Tigers captain, Aikens played both ways at tackle and linebacker and also kicked converts.

When the Winnipeg High School Football Hall of Fame was formed in 2008, Hood was inducted as part of the first group, along with Bob Whitlaw of Gordon Bell, who won the trophy in 1960, and Jerry Novak of Tec Voc, the 1962 winner. Hood winners Bill Drozda (1955) of Isaac Newton and Jamie Horne (1967) and Bob Sokalski (1973) of Churchill were honoured in 2009. Aikens joined them in 2010.

In 1964, Kelvin fullback Vilnis Vulfs won the Harry Hood Trophy and the River Heights school won the city championship by beating St. Paul’s 29-7. Kelvin then shut out St. James 26-0  in the Metro championship game and added the provincial title with a 44-7 victory over Rivers.

Lacrosse upsets, made in Manitoba

Junior box lacrosse in Canada has been dominated by teams from Ontario and British Columbia. Since the Minto Cup was put up for junior play in 1937, teams from those  two provinces have failed to meet in the final only three times.

That happened in the 1950s ,when Manitoba was represented by an all-star team of junior-age players who played for teams in the Winnipeg senior league. Compared to Ontario and B.C., the player pool here was minuscule.

Every September, the best team from Ontario would travel west or the best from B.C. would go east (they alternated years). Each would have to stop in Winnipeg and beat Manitoba in order to continue the journey.

In 1951, that didn’t happen as the All-Stars earned the province’s first Dominion final berth by beating B.C. 12-9 in the deciding game of a best-of-three Western playoff.

McDonald amazed many with his skills

A recent column about the legendary Satchel Paige pitching in the first baseball game at Osborne Stadium in 1935 generated a number of responses.

Joe Psooy remembered playing for a Manitoba senior league all-star team against Paige at Provencher Park in the mid-1960s.

Jack Shuba also said he played in that game. That sent this columnist into the daily newspaper archives with a promise to track down the details.

Played on Aug. 14, 1964, the rain-shortened game ended in a 4-4 tie after six innings. Paige pitched three innings for the touring Kansas City Monarchs, giving up three runs in the first. Paige’s age was often questioned but his National Baseball Hall of Fame plaque shows his birth date as July 7, 1906, which would have made him 58 at the time.

Breezy Bend takes 2015 Mundie Putter title

Golfers from the Breezy Bend Country Club are the 2015 Mundie Putter League champions. The club won its ninth championship by beating Elmhurst Golf and Country Club seven points to five in the final match played at Rossmere Country Club on July 13.

The victory for the Headingley club was its fifth in the past seven years. The run began in 2009 and only was interrupted by Southwood in 2012 and Niakwa in 2014. The 2015 lineup included Garth Collings, Justin Hayes, Eric Johnson, Allan, Justin and Neil McDonald, Peter More, Jesse and Lucas Skelton, Bobby Wiebe and Chris Wren.Golf clubs in the Winnipeg region have competed in the inter-club competition since 1957. That June, Winnipeg Free Press golf reporter Ralph Bagley wrote that four clubs were going to play in a new event patterned after one in Glasgow, Scotland.

John McLennan, who had come from over the pond four years earlier, suggested to Southwood’s Roy Macdonald that a similar league might work here. Macdonald ran with the idea and recruited Herb Foster at Pine Ridge, Dick Quinton and Otto McKush at Niakwa and Harry Critchley at Charleswood to help make it happen. Jim Mundie, who Bagley called a fine sportsman and a lover of competition, donated an old putter as a trophy and that’s how the Mundie Putter League got its name.

The format has four teams of two playing against another club each week, with three points up for grabs in each head-to-head match. A one-point victory over Niakwa on the final day gave Pine Ridge a four-point margin for the season and the first championship. For the Birds Hill club, Bob Stimpson and Jimmy Collins won three points from Gord Crabtree and Norm Lucas. Quinton and Merv Moxley were the best team for Niakwa taking three from Foster and Fred Otto. Jack Gardner, Bob Gray, Dick Howard and Rick Tibbs were the other members of the championship team.

’65 Bisons headed to hall of fame

In March 1965, the U of M Bisons won the university’s only Canadian men’s hockey championship.

To celebrate 50 years, the team members planned a reunion in Winnipeg on July 10 and 11. But they didn’t know they would have a second reason to celebrate. Shortly before the reunion, word came from Sport Manitoba heritage manager Rick Brownlee that the 1964-65 Bisons would be inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 7. The official announcement of the 2015 inductees was made July 16 and the Bisons will be the only team honoured.

The reunion began with an evening reception at Mona Lisa Restaurant on July 10. Current Bisons coach Mike Sirant was on hand to present the team members with caps that honoured the championship team. Sirant told the group their team was the one his team needed to model itself after if it hoped to bring another title to the university. The champions had hoped to visit the current team’s facilities at the university but ran into a conflict with the Blue Bomber game. On the 11th, they golfed at Bridges.

Putting together a championship team today, when most university players have major junior or pro experience is much different than it was 50 years ago.

Football hall announces Class of 2015

The Football Manitoba Hall of Fame picked the perfect place to announce its 2015 induction class.

A media conference was held June 26 in the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame gallery on Pacific Avenue, where a Manitoba Gridiron Greats exhibit can be viewed until Grey Cup festivities in November.

The displays of jerseys, equipment, photos and trophies include the MVP award that Iowa quarterback and future Bomber great Kenny Ploen received following the Hawkeyes’ 35-19 victory over Oregon State  in the 1957 Rose Bowl. It’s a must-see for football fans.On Aug. 6 at the Viscount Gort, players Bob Kuryk and George Seidel, builders Gord Cooke and Don van Achte and coach Lou Mainella will be inducted into the HOF, which honours the best in the amateur game.

Kuryk played for Tec Voc High School, the junior Weston Wildcats and was an all-star during his eight seasons with the St. Vital Bulldogs that won the Canadian intermediate championship in 1962 and the senior title in 1968 and 1969.

Rosedales players were great athletes

In today’s sports world, specialization is the key to success. Young athletes with potential are pushed to focus on one sport year-round.

That wasn’t the case with the players on the 1945 to 1950 Rosedales baseball teams, who epitomized the all-around athletes of their day. Many Rosedales team members played high school and junior football in the fall and minor and then junior hockey in the winter.

At its 19th annual induction dinner in Morden on June 6, the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame honoured the Winnipeg organization that operated teams from junior down to bantam.

Jack Hind and his son Terry formed a junior baseball team in 1945 that played its home games at Sherburn Park, which was once was the home of the Winnipeg Maroons of the Northern League. Rosedales, named after a brand of coal sold by the team’s sponsor, Thomas Jackson and Sons, won the Greater Winnipeg championship that first season.

Speed skaters invited to reunion evening

Attention all former speed skaters.

The Manitoba Speed Skating Association requests your attendance at an Alumni Re-Connect evening at Cindy Klassen Rec Centre (999 Sargent Ave.) on June 20. The event is being held in conjunction with the Speed Skating Canada annual meetings in Winnipeg from June 18-21.

Provincial association president Caroline Slegers-Boyd is excited about the national body coming to Winnipeg and bringing alumni together. Tickets are $25 and the president says donations are accepted if you can’t make it. Every little bit helps keep this sport alive and well were her words of encouragement.

Our province has a rich history in speed skating. The international success of Klassen, Susan Auch, Clara Hughes and Mike Ireland has been well-documented. In 2000, Sylvia Burka was named Manitoba Female Athlete of the Century for her success on the bicycle and on the ice, where she won more than 20 world titles.

Sports halls of fame name inductees

The Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame and the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame are doing it again. The two organizations will hold their 2015 induction dinners on the same night, Oct. 3, in Winnipeg.

You have to wonder why one HOF couldn’t change nights or, even better, change years so the biannual events could be held in alternate years. Basketball announced its class of 2015 at a media conference April 21 at the U of W’s Duckworth Centre.

Earnest Bell, Terry Garrow and Erin Soroko-Drazic all earned CIAU/CIS All- Canadian honours during their playing days. Bell played for Brandon U, Garrow for the U of M Bisons and Soroko-Drazic was with the U of W.

The four builders to be honoured have resumes that could fill this column. Bison athletic director Coleen Dufresne is a three-time national coach of the year and Hymie Fox coached for more than 30 years, primarily at Kelvin High School and the International Peace Gardens. Maureen Orchard served in various positions for Basketball Manitoba and Basketball Canada and has been president of the International Wheelchair Basketball Association since 2002. The late Ralph Watts is already in the HOF as a player and team member and in October he will be honoured for his work with the Winnipeg junior men’s league, the provincial association and as chair of the committee that established the HOF. Girls and boys teams from the Lord Selkirk Regional High School that won seven provincial B championships between 1975 and 1981 also will be inducted.     

Schmockey Night was a blast for charity

Schmockey Night was a Winnipeg winter institution for 40 years. Recently Ken Babb, who was involved from the beginning, and Ron O’Donovan, who handled ticket sales for many years, got together to reminisce about the event.

Babb, who worked for radio station CKRC, remembered that he and Cliff Gardner of CJOB were approached by Ted Burch of the March of Dimes charity about the local media helping with fundraising. At an early meeting, someone said “Hockey, schmockey” and the name stuck.

The first Schmockey Night was held in January 1953 at the Winnipeg Amphitheatre. The Blue Bombers played broomball against the U of M Bisons and the press played a version of hockey against their radio friends.  

The event, which moved to the Winnipeg Arena in 1956, attracted a sellout crowd of around 10,000 for many years. Babb described it as “visual” with special guests and plenty of laughs.

Gary Ross: the best skip who never won

The list of quality Manitoba skips who have never made it to the Canadian men’s curling championship is lengthy.

After losing in the provincial final five times in the past six years and being knocked out in the semi-final in 2013, Mike McEwen appears to top the list. It’s understandable if McEwen has chosen not to watch the Tim Horton’s Brier being played in Calgary this week ,where Reid Carruthers and his team from West St. Paul is representing Manitoba.

In curling circles Gary Ross has always worn the reluctant crown as best skip to never win the elusive provincial men’s title when the opportunity presented itself. Ross made it to the final six times without a victory, so McEwen needs another loss to share that notoriety.

Playing out of Carman with a team of Chip Hand, Jim Wilkie and Ed Vanstone, Ross lost his first final to Bruce Hudson of Strathcona in 1964. The pair met again in 1967, with Hudson again the victor. Russ Cassidy, whom the hockey community knows as the long-time AAA director for Hockey Winnipeg, had replaced Vanstone at lead. In the 1960s, Ross and Hand were juggling winter sports as they both played for the intermediate Carman Beavers in the South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League.

Ice Club carnival was a big draw in Winnipeg

From Jan. 17-19, 1946, the Ice Club of Greater Winnipeg held its first annual skating carnival at the Winnipeg Amphitheatre.

On the opening night, the rink on Whitehall Avenue, near where Great-West Life is now located, was jam-packed with 5,000-plus spectators. In the carnival souvenir program, which cost 25 cents, the club executive, headed by president George Dummert, suggested that the club was making local history. For the three previous years, young people had been skating on open air rinks in several sections of the city under the name Figure Skaters of Greater Winnipeg. The first paragraph of the executive’s message reads as follows and gives a sense of the times:

“Now that peace is with us again and we are able to settle down to cultural activities, it is with great pleasure that the Ice Club of Greater Winnipeg is able to offer so much for the pursuance of the graceful art of Figure Skating to every amateur interested, including all ages, positions and creeds.”

Titled Twenty Four Hours, the carnival was described as “a unique presentation which brings colour and humour to the happenings of an ordinary day.”

Oldtimers league going strong 40 years on

The Inner City Oldtimers Hockey League is celebrating its 40th season this winter.

The league consists of 10 teams that play a 26-game schedule. Each team plays once a week on Sunday morning with games at the Maples Complex and at Billy Mosienko and Pioneer arenas.

The idea for the league came from Rick Thain, who was the city recreation co-ordinator for the Weston area. In the winter of 1974, Thain challenged Wally Makowski, who held the same job at Crescentwood Community Centre, to an exhibition game at Sargent Park Arena. It was a success so Thain gauged interest city-wide in forming a Sunday morning no-contact, no-playoff league.

Twelve teams participated in the league in 1974-75. Isaac Brock, Lord Roberts, Orioles, Sir John Franklin, Maples and a second team from Maples, now called the Coyotes, are still members.

Remembering curling’s roaring days

A large ‘Sold’ sign is up on the side of the Victoria Curling Club on William Avenue. The building had been for sale since the club decided to cease operations after the 2013-14 season.

The opening evening draw for the Manitoba Open bonspiel, which ran Jan. 15 to 19 at various city clubs, was recently published in the Winnipeg Free Press and it took up little more than half a page. Games for the 256 teams will be played at 15 different clubs. In the glory days of what used to be known as the MCA bonspiel, the printed draw for the two main events, the Henry Birks and the Sir John C. Eaton, would take up two or more pages of much smaller type.

This thought led to some sliding down the curling memory lane.

The Victoria, whose history can be traced back to the CPR Club, is just the latest curling club to disappear. The Grain Exchange on Fort Street is gone and the Thistle on Minto Street burned down.

Remembering those who left us in 2014

Keeping a record of the athletes, builders and volunteers lost to the Manitoba sports community during the year is never a pleasant chore.

For 2014, the list seems extremely long. Now Memories of Sport has the opportunity to recognize them for their accomplishments and contributions.

Jack MacDonald of badminton, Dr. Ian Reid of water skiing, Doug Steeves of football and John Trager from 10-pin bowling were honoured members of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. Buck Matiowski contributed to several sports including boxing and hockey. Gordie Mackie was a trainer whose hands touched most sports in our province. All were inducted into the HOF as builders. Swimmer Cay Kerr was inducted as an athlete for her success in the pool but she also was a dedicated volunteer for both the competitive and synchronized versions of her sport. One of our province’s greatest all-around athletes, Fred Dunsmore was a finalist for Manitoba Centennial athlete in 1970. He’s in the sport, baseball and hockey halls.   

Football was hit hard. Steve Patrick’s ability on the Blue Bombers line for 13 seasons in the 1950s and 1960s earned him induction into the Sports HOF. His Bomber teammates Bob McNamara and Buddy Leake battled for the Western Conference scoring title in 1956 with the versatile Leake winning by one point. Dick Thornton was a larger-than-life two-way player who starred for both the Bombers and the Toronto Argonauts in the ’60s and ’70s. Bill Boivin played on the Grey Cup champion teams in 1939 and 1941 and later was the club’s GM. Gerry Deleeuw also was a Bomber, Ian McTavish played for the Bombers while still junior age and later joined the Calgary Stampeders. Bobo Sikorski, who played junior hockey for the Winnipeg Monarchs, was an original B.C. Lion. Ermanno Barone and Bob (Bad Boy) Roe were members of the 1968-69 St. Vital Bulldogs team that was inducted into the Sports HOF in 2007. John Hamilton played for the 1961 St. James Rods, inducted in 2009.

Before War Amps, Chadderton was hockey star

On the day after Remembrance Day, The Devils’ Blast 2013, the Annual Chronicle of The Royal Winnipeg Rifles, arrived in my mailbox.

The “Last Post” section featured a lengthy goodbye to Capt. Cliff Chadderton, who died at age 94 on Nov. 30, 2013, in Ottawa. Chadderton played junior hockey for the Winnipeg Falcons-Rangers in 1938-39. When the Second World War broke out, he and several Rangers joined up. A photo of the 1939-1940 Royal Winnipeg Rifles team shows Chadderton and company wearing sweaters with the famous Little Black Devil on the chest.

If you check hockey databases for player records during the war years, you learn that they often played for military teams. Members of the Falcons-Rangers went on to play for navy teams in Winnipeg, Victoria, Esquimault and Cornwallis, RCAF teams in Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Vancouver and the Ottawa Royal Canadian Ordinance. Many hockey players are listed as being in military service for three to four years. Frequently there is a gap in the records before players returned to competitive hockey after the war.

Joe Vinet was a teammate of Chadderton on the Falcons-Rangers. He first tried to enlist in the RCAF on his 20th birthday in 1940, but was rejected due to a thyroid disorder. When his health improved, he was accepted a year later. His time in the service is chronicled in a memoir titled 02:13 July 23, 1944 as I remember it.

Rosedales team members sought

The Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame announced its induction class for 2015 at joint media conferences in Winnipeg and Brandon on Oct. 28.

In a category this columnist labels “about time” but which the HOF calls special, the Rosedales organization that made a major impact on the Winnipeg baseball scene from 1945 through 1950 will be recognized.

During that period, the West End-based Rosedales won the Greater Winnipeg Junior Baseball League championship four times and reached the final the other two seasons. The juvenile team formed in 1946 won the city that year and again in 1948 and 1950. The midgets formed in 1947 won city championships in 1948 and 1950. Rosedales also fielded a bantam team from 1948-50. The organization’s final season was 1950.

Finding the Rosedales after all this time will be a problem. Catcher Bruce Hudson, who played from 1946 through 1950, is the Rosedales contact and he has asked Memories of Sport for help in tracking down team members or their families.

Heather Newsham joins sister in Hall

When Heather (Newsham) Ruby is inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 8, she will join a very exclusive group.

The group numbers two and the other member is her older sister Sandy (Newsham) Maskiw, who was honoured in 2012.

The softball players will be the only two sisters inducted into the provincial shrine as individuals.

That’s quite an achievement for the Newshams, who got their start in the family yard in Charleswood and then at Roblin Park Community Centre. From there they went on to star for the Smitty’s organization at the national level and play for Canada in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia.

Lacrosse community honours its own Oct. 5

The Manitoba Lacrosse Hall of Fame will honour an impressive group at its fourth annual induction ceremony.

Joey Isfjord, Jim Ogston, John Schillinger, George Sykes and the late Gord Horner will go into the hall as players while Glen Henkewich and Len Morrow will be recognized for their ability with the stick and their contributions as builders.

Isfjord and Henkewich got their start at Boyd Park Community Centre. Ogston played senior for the Transcona Regents when he was 17. Schillinger and Sykes learned the game at Elmwood’s Kelvin Community Club where they also played for a juvenile hockey team that won the provincial championship. Horner and Morrow, who also got their start in Elmwood, were top scorers during the 1950s. All seven played for Manitoba teams in national championships.

Builder inductee Norm Isfjord has coached from the tyke level through junior and has refereed for more than 30 years.

Century-old club remembers its past

Many golfers and golf fans have enjoyed visiting Pine Ridge Golf  Club over the past 20 years, as the club has hosted the Manitoba Open (under several different names, depending on tour and title sponsors).

The history of Pine Ridge can be traced back to Aug. 2, 1912, when the board of directors held its first recorded meeting. A Winnipeg Free Press article dated Aug. 10 of that year reported that a layout for Winnipeg’s third golf organization had been completed and that the new course in the Birds Hill district would be 18 holes and 6,490 yards in length. The club was officially opened in late August, 1914. Dues for the year were $10 plus 50 cents per player per day.

The club’s members have done an excellent job of preserving it`s rich history. In 1995, an archives committee was established under the leadership of honourary life members Malcolm Woligrocki and Bruce Hudson. Woligrocki and Ken Odokeychuk researched and produced a book titled The History of the Pine Ridge Golf Club in 2010, which was expanded to a 100th anniversary book titled The Course of the Century.

In the basement of the clubhouse is a hall of fame and memorabilia room devoted to the accomplishments of club players and builders. Hudson, who has belonged to the club since 1962, recently took this columnist on a tour of the area that most visitors don’t get to see.

City boasted a sports-only tabloid in the ’60s

When one-time sports broadcaster Maury Bay was closing his Beatnik bookstore on Sherbrook Street last month, he came across the first three editions of a long-forgotten Winnipeg sports publication.

Titled Metro Sports News and priced at 15 cents, the tabloid-sized paper was published March 23 and 30 and April 6, 1962. The Provincial Library has no record of the paper and this columnist has been unable to discover if No. 4 exists. Does any reader have one collecting dust in the basement?

Philip Nutter was the publisher and John Robertson, who was covering news for the Winnipeg Free Press at the time, served as editor. The position may have been a way for Robertson to keep his typewriter in sports, where he shone. He wrote the headline story in the first paper about the new CFL Western Division Canadian player draft perhaps hurting the Blue Bombers.

A large photo of curler Norm Houck illustrated a story by Ralph Bagley about the knockout style of curling appealing to the Manitoba rink that finished third in the Canadian championship. Houck speculated that his team could play a 12-end hitting game against the Brier champion Richardsons from Saskatchewan or Reg Stone from B.C. in under two hours.

Smitty’s chases senior softball title at home

Over the past two decades women’s fast pitch softball teams from Manitoba have had great success at the national senior level.

Since 1995, Smitty’s teams have won nine Softball Canada championships and Winnipeg Lightning won at home at the John Blumberg Softball Complex in 1998.

No other organization has come close to matching Smitty’s in the 50-year history of the competition. Vancouver Alpha Sports and the White Rock Renegades have each taken four titles back to B.C. but Smitty’s will have the opportunity to add its total when the organization hosts the national championship at Blumberg, Aug. 6-10.

Last summer, Smitty’s lost in the final to Les Rebelles from Quebec, who will be back to defend their title.

Pistol Pete’s legacy will remain

His ability as a pitcher earned Donald (Pistol Pete) Rettie induction into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame with the first group in 1997.

His legacy will live on through a donation his family recently made to the University of Winnipeg Wesmen baseball program for the purchase of equipment and two retractable batting cages.

The cages are located inside the new UNITED Health & RecPlex that will open in September. In 2012, the Rettie family was the first donor to the Wesmen program.

Rettie pitched for the junior Rosedale and senior St. Boniface Native Sons in the late 1940s and early 1950s. While the Native Sons were a team baseball fans will remember for its success into the 1990s, Rosedales had a short but very successful run on the local ball diamonds. Between 1945 and 1950, the junior squad won four Winnipeg championships. The juvenile team was formed in 1946 and won the city title in that season and in 1948 and 1950.

It’s time for end-of-season sports awards…

Once again the time has come to recognize individuals who have made a mark on sport in our city and province.

During the Water Polo Canada annual meeting in Winnipeg June 6-8, Steve Grahame, who got his water polo start in St. James, was honoured as Manitoba’s volunteer of the year. Now a vice-principal and coach at Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive School, he has been involved in the development of the Manitoba high school league and serves on the management committee . . . Volleyball Manitoba inducted four individuals — Linda (Tataryn) Fredericks, Terry Gagnon, John Paulsen and Joanne (Onishko) Richardson — and the 1971-74 U of W Wesmen men’s teams into its Hall of Fame on June 7 at its annual awards banquet.

The volunteer of the year award went to Terry Bobychuk from Maples Collegiate. Ken Bentley of the U of M was recognized as the elite coach of the year while Jeff Spark of the Kryptonite U14 team received the developmental coach award. Referee of the year Blair Unger earned the Wezer Bridle Golden Whistle . . . Manitoba gymnasts won 10 medals at the 2014 Western Canada Cup in Calgary, June 13-15. Tyler Champagne of the Panther Gym Club led the way with two gold medals in men’s trampoline events and silver in all around and provincial 3 tumbling.

Panther Aaron Toews won a trampoline silver. Isaiah Klassen of the Steinbach Flippers took gold in a mini trampoline event and teammate Keaton Savard won a silver in tumbling and a bronze in mini trampoline. The four gymnasts won the team trampoline silver and, with Pierce Barlow in the lineup instead of Savard, the Manitoba team took gold in the double mini trampoline final.

Father’s Day Field of Dreams memories

Fathers playing catch with sons used to be a common sight on local fields or even in front of homes. Sadly, that is no longer the case.

Two happenings got me thinking about playing catch. This weekend, the cast members of  the movie Field of Dreams are returning to Dyersville, Iowa to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its release. Based on the novel, Shoeless Joe, by Canadian W.P. Kinsella, the movie tells the story of an Iowa farmer, Ray Kinsella, who builds a baseball field on his corn field.

The scene that resonated with many viewers came near the end, when Kinsella’s father John, whom he hadn’t seen for years, showed up. Ray said to his dad: “Wanna have a catch?” John replied: “I’d like that.” Most summer Sundays, fathers and sons and grandfathers and even some mothers and daughters visit the Field of Dreams to re-enact the scene from the movie and play catch.

St. Vital resident Leo Leclair recently called about a photo he had been given of the St. Boniface Native Sons team that won the Greater Winnipeg senior baseball championship in 1935. Leo said that when he was a boy, he played catch with his father Zack, who caught for the team. Pitcher Augustine Bouchard was also in the photo. That got me wondering about the amount of catch four generations of the Bouchard family must have played over the years, along with the impact they have had on baseball as well as softball in our city.

Raiders celebrate in style at MMJHL awards

When the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League handed out its silverware on May 15 at Canad Inns Polo Park, it was a special night for the Raiders Junior Hockey Club. The team that calls Billy Mosienko Arena home now possesses the Jack McKenzie Trophy, emblematic of the league playoff champion.

In the best of-seven final, the Raiders beat St. Boniface Riels four games to one. The Riels had finished the regular season in first place, eight points ahead of the Raiders. That earned them the Art Moug Trophy.

Seven Oak Raiders won their only MMJHL championship in 1979-80 and over the years had fallen on hard times. A group of former players led by Lorne (Ned) Sanders didn’t like what they saw, so, in the fall of 2009 they stepped up to buy the team.

They dropped Seven Oaks from the team’s name and, in the hope of immediately getting the team moving in the right direction, they convinced former MMJHL president Murray Allan to serve as an interim coach for that season.

Boom Boom Benson was a pure all-rounder

Lorne Benson is best remembered by Winnipeg sports fans as a running back with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

In 1952, he was named rookie-of-the-year in the West. In 1953, Benson set a CFL playoff record that still stands by scoring six touchdowns in a semi-final against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The legendary broadcaster Cactus Jack Wells reportedly tagged him with the nickname “Boom Boom” for his rough, tough style of play. Torn ligaments early in the 1956 season led to the end of  his Bombers career.

Benson was born in Riverton, Man., in 1930. Being born there qualified him for consideration by the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame for induction at a special Interlake regional induction dinner on May 24 in Selkirk. The selection committee decided to honour him as an all-round athlete in recognition of his accomplishments in several sports, not just football.Boom Boom grew up in Winnipeg’s West End, north of Portage Avenue. Like most boys of the time, he played several sports and even boxed. In 1948, he played baseball for Morse Place Monarchs and pitched in the Greater Winnipeg Junior League all-star game. That fall, Daniel MacIntyre Collegiate won the Winnipeg High School Football championship with Benson an all-star at halfback. Moving to junior football, he helped Weston Wildcats win the Manitoba championship the next season and was the junior league’s MVP in 1950.

His pitching arm earned him a trip to a Washington Senators tryout camp and stints in Grandview and with the Calgary Purity 99 team. Benson played defence in hockey and won the 1952-53 Winniboine Intermediate League title with Winnipeg Kings. A hard-hitting infielder in fastball, he played senior A during the 1960s with Monte Casino Legion, Merchant’s Hotel and Concord Motor Hotel. In 1967, the short-staffed Molson Canadians team added Benson as pickup for the playoff round of the Canadian championship in Saskatoon. With Benson playing first base in the final game, Canadians won our province’s only national senior men’s title.  One day at the West End Memorial diamond, Manitoba Softball hall-of-famer Lorne Jasper, of Kiewel Seals, slid into third base a little too aggressively for the quick-tempered Benson. When Benson went after Jasper, Kiewels manager Claude Gagnon grabbed Benson in the hope of stopping him. Softball HOF president Al Sharpe, who played for Seals, confirmed the tale.“We can still picture Claude holding onto Boom Boom around the ankles and being dragged behind him as he tried to get to Lorne,” Sharpe said.

Notes and notables from the world of sport

Lifetime achievement awards are usually given to volunteers when they’ve stepped away from their sport and left the work to others.

Not so for Charleswood’s Joe Di Curzio, who received the Mike Spack Lifetime Achievement Award at Basketball Manitoba’s annual awards banquet on April 19.

Di Curzio’s impact on the sport began more than 35 years ago and it continues today. As a coach, he won championships from club level through college and university and earned the Basketball Manitoba coach-of-the-year award three times.

Thousands of high school students played in the Winnipeg Invitational Tournament that Di Curzio coordinated during his 30 years at Tec Voc. He served as president of Basketball Manitoba from 2000 to 2012. These days he’s the vice-chair of the Basketball Canada board and coach of the Canadian Mennonite University women’s team.

Remember when the Maroons won the Cup?

In case you didn’t know, the 2014 Canadian senior AAA men’s hockey championship is being played this week in Dundas, Ont.

Six teams are competing for the Allan Cup with the South East Prairie Thunder, based in Steinbach, representing Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The present tournament format includes a host team and regional winners. To get out of our province, the Thunder didn’t have to beat anyone but they swept Saskatchewan’s Shellbrook Elks three straight to make it to Dundas.

Only 19 teams were registered as senior AAA this season across Canada, with Kenora Thistles the only team from Northwestern Ontario.

This spring marks the 50th anniversary of the Winnipeg Maroons winning the Canadian championship played under a much tougher system. At the time, the goal of every senior team in Western Canada was first to earn the right to represent its province and then go on to win the West and play in the Allan Cup final against the Eastern champions.

Shaftesbury centre shines at tourney

An athlete seldom captures the attention of this columnist the way Stephanie Grossi did during the second annual Female Sport School Challenge at the MTS Iceplex March 13-16.

A centre for the undefeated Shaftesbury High School Titans, the small and speedy Grossi seemed to have the innate ability to control the game at both ends of the rink every time she was on the ice. She was selected as her team’s game star in three of the Titans first four games.

Goalie Kristen Campbell earned the other award in Shaftesbury’s opening game,  a 3-0 victory over defending champion Edge School for Athletes from Calgary.

In the final, when Shaftesbury dominated Pursuit of Excellence from Kelowna, Grossi had two goals and two assists in a 5-2 victory. Her right winger, game star Justine Fredette, scored a natural hat trick and added a helper while left winger Morgan Wabick had three assists. Kayla Mee was strong on the Titans defence throughout the tournament.

Pro baseball player Doris Shero dies

A League of Their Own, a movie starring Tom Hanks as a crotchety manager and Geena Davis,

Rosie O’Donnell and Madonna as players, brought the story of women’s baseball into the public eye in 1992.

The movie was based on the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), that operated in the American midwest from 1943 until 1954. Players were recruited from Canada to play in what was called the “glamour” league, where short skirts and lady-like conduct were the order of the day and evening.

In 1998, the 64 Canadians who played the league were inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame as a special group. That summer the 11 players from Manitoba were honoured by the provincial baseball shrine at its second induction dinner in Brandon. Doris (Shero) Witiuk, who died in Spokane, Wash., on Jan. 26 at age 84, was one of the local players. A graduate of Isaac Newton High School, she roamed the outfield for the CUAC Blues before going to Wisconsin in 1950 to play for the Racine Belles and for Battle Creek the next season.

Gould to join exclusive club in curling hall

Steve Gould will become part of an exclusive group on May 4 when he is officially inducted into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame.

Gould will join Bryan Wood as a male curler honoured for his accomplishments as a lead. When you scroll down the list of individual inductees since the first class was inducted in 1987, you find plenty of skips with familiar names — Ken Watson, Bill Walsh, Terry Braunstein, Don Duguid, Kerry Burtnyk, Jeff Stoughton.

A few honoured members, such as Andy McWilliams and Ray Turnbull, are associated with the lead position but are best-known for their exploits at other positions.

McWilliams, who was inducted in 1991, curled on two Canadian championships teams with Walsh, but he curled second in 1952 and lead in 1956. Turnbull, who was honoured as both a curler and builder in 1992, liked to portray himself on TV as a lead. He did throw lead stones for Braunstein’s Canadian champions in 1965 but his first days in the limelight came as second on the young Granite team skipped by Braunstein that won the provincial championship in 1958. Jack Van Hellemond was the lead.

Gould to join exclusive club in curling hall

Steve Gould will become part of an exclusive group on May 4 when he is officially inducted into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame.

Gould will join Bryan Wood as a male curler honoured for his accomplishments as a lead. When you scroll down the list of individual inductees since the first class was inducted in 1987, you find plenty of skips with familiar names — Ken Watson, Bill Walsh, Terry Braunstein, Don Duguid, Kerry Burtnyk, Jeff Stoughton.

A few honoured members, such as Andy McWilliams and Ray Turnbull, are associated with the lead position but are best-known for their exploits at other positions.

McWilliams, who was inducted in 1991, curled on two Canadian championships teams with Walsh, but he curled second in 1952 and lead in 1956. Turnbull, who was honoured as both a curler and builder in 1992, liked to portray himself on TV as a lead. He did throw lead stones for Braunstein’s Canadian champions in 1965 but his first days in the limelight came as second on the young Granite team skipped by Braunstein that won the provincial championship in 1958. Jack Van Hellemond was the lead.

Before the WHA and NHL, we had ‘the Nats’

Before Winnipeg hockey fans gave their hearts to the WHA Jets, their favourite team was Canada’s national hockey team. Known as ‘the Nats,’ the team called the city home in the mid-to-late 1960s and played at the Winnipeg Arena.

Most of the players had chosen to get an education and play for the Nats rather than chase a pro career in the days before NHL expansion.

Starting in the 1965-66 season, crowds at the arena enjoyed many exciting games between the Nats and top European and minor pro teams. The tough competition prepared the team for the 1966 and 1967 World Championships, where Canada finished third both years.

In the 1968 Winter Olympics that were held Feb. 6-17 in Grenoble, France, the top eight teams played a round-robin to determine who would win the medals.

Bouchard induction makes it a family affair

Greg Bouchard is thrilled that he will become the latest member of the Bouchard family in the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame.

The Hall announced its 2014 induction slate at a media conference at the Canada Inns Polo Park on Jan. 13 and the Andrew Mynarski VC School principal is one of four athletes who will be honoured.

Joining him will be the Taylor brothers, Bob and Fred, who were outstanding orthodox pitchers in the 1950s and ’60s, and Garth German, whose ability at shortstop earned him many all-star awards including being named All-Canadian at the 1987 Softball Canada Senior Fast Pitch Championship.

“I’m so proud to be joining my father, my uncle and aunt and my cousin in the Hall of Fame,” Bouchard said. His father, Leo, was inducted in 2003, his uncle Cam in 2004 and his aunt Grace (Peckover) Bouchard, a great CUAC Blues catcher, in 2007. Cam and Grace’s daughter, Stacy, was also inducted in 2007 as a member of the 1993-1997 Smitty’s senior teams.

Taking a look back at the year that was

In 2013 the sports community said goodbye to many athletes whose skills were enjoyed on the playing field as well as coaches, managers, officials and volunteers who made an impact on sport in our province.

Cyclist Erick Oland and Ken Little, who starred in five sports, were honoured athletes in the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame while Vaughan Baird (aquatics), Don Baizley (hockey), Pat Ball (figure skating) and Dave Lyon (athletics) were HOF builders. Manitoba Golf HOF member Joyce Collier and Justice Gil Goodman had served on the independent selection committee.

A Canadian Boxing HOF member, Maurice Camyre fought in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Dennis Alvestad, Doug Hill and Ron White (basketball); Ken Blight, Reg Chopp, Cam Hurst, Ken Nicol, Don Reid, Moe Rybuck and Raymond Van Kooten (baseball); Judi Lidstone (golf); Daryl Young (lacrosse); Art Logan and Ken Pearn (rugby); Bobbi Janaway, Marion Demetrioff, Bette Makowski and Bill Rosnyk (softball); and Mel Davey (volleyball) were inducted into their sport halls of fame as individuals and/or team members.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers lost Biff Fliss, George MacPhail, Ron Meadmore and former president Paul Quinton. Amateur football benefitted from the contributions of Roger Garrity, Jim Ladd, Bill Madder, Gordon Poersch, John Proudfoot. John Puchniak and Rick Smoke. Eddy St. Mars’ sports were football and boxing. Barry McQueen starred in football, hockey and lacrosse and served as chair of Winnipeg Enterprises and as a director at Assiniboia Downs. David Anderson was a driving force in the development of the University of Winnipeg sports programs.

’Tis the season for lots of sports books

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s A Great Game and Bobby Orr’s autobiography Bobby Orr: My Game are the two sports books receiving the most hype this holiday season. Rather that include them, our annual book column will focus on books with a Manitoba connection.

Former Blue Bombers coach Bud Grant with help from Minnesota author Jim Bruton has written his autobiography titled I Did it My Way: A Remarkable Journey to the Hall of Fame (Triumph Books). In the chapters “Going Pro” and “Grey Cup Champions,” Grant fondly remembers the 14 years he spent in Winnipeg as a player and coach. His story of being interviewed for the coaching job at the home of board chair Jim Russell by the directors, who’d had a few drinks, shows how different it was from the current process. That group got it right.

Chris McCubbins: Running the Distance (J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing) is a biography of the Oklahoma-born runner, who won the 3,000-metre steeplechase at the 1967 Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg, and made our city his home in 1970. Author Joe Mackintosh tells the story of the 1999 Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame inductee through the use of newspaper clippings, interviews with family, friends and other runners, and McCubbins’ running diary. That diary best explains his training regime and his dedication to long distance running. He also brought that dedication to coaching other runners and to teaching at several Winnipeg schools. Excerpts from a second diary deal with the battle McCubbins lost to cancer in August 2009.

Winnipeg freelance writer Richard Kamchen and Toronto’s Greg Oliver are co-authors of Don’t Call Me Goon (ECW Press), which tells the stories of hockey players they call enforcers, gunslingers and bad boys. The Manitoba connection starts with Bad Joe Hall, who played in Brandon and Winnipeg in the early 1900s before moving east, and includes Dave Semenko, Stu Grimson and Arron Asham. The Winnipeg Jets are well-represented by Jimmy Mann, Tie Domi, Dave Manson, former coach Dan Maloney and GM John Ferguson. Having the enforcers talk about each other and also hearing from their opponents add up to an interesting read.

Celebrating 50 years of ringette in Canada

Most sports fans know that a Canadian, Dr. James Naismith, invented the game of basketball. But how many realize that a Canadian invented ringette?

Sam Jacks, the director of parks and recreation in North Bay, Ont., wanted to develop an on-ice game for girls and women. During the winter of 1963-64, basic rules were introduced and the first ringette game was played in Espanola by a high school girls hockey team.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary, Ringette Canada took a roadshow across the country, and the final stop was Nov. 9 at the MTS Iceplex. The displays included one of its Hall of Fame, which includes Manitobans Herb Abrahams, Deb Marek and Leon Morrisette. Abrahams officiated when the first Canadian ringette championships were played at the Keewatin Arena in 1979. Marek was a top goalie and later a coach and Morrisette, a coaching instructor, also headed the provincial association.

In the fall of 1969, Felicite Warner and Iris Callis formed Manitoba’s first ringette team in Wildwood for girls aged 10 to 12. In 1970, Wildwood participated in a three-team league with Victoria and Westridge community clubs. The sport caught on and two winters later 22 teams were playing in a Winnipeg Parks Branch ladies league. The Manitoba Ringette Association (MRA) was formed in 1972 with Barry Mattern as president. Quebec and Nova Scotia joined Ontario and Manitoba in developing a national association and Ringette Canada was founded in November 1974.

Hall of Famers credit family, coaches

The athlete inductees gave a clear message to the audience of more than 600 at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner on Nov. 2.

Former Jets captain Dale Hawerchuk, Olympic swimmer Shannon Shakespeare, the versatile Faye Finch and  ex-Elmwood Giant and Minnesota Twin Corey Koskie all stressed that their success depended very much on the support they received during their developmental years from parents and family members, coaches and volunteers. Basketball builder Bill Wedlake credited Team Wedlake of his wife, children and brother Ross.

The first table tennis inductee, Art Werier, entered the Hall in the all-round category for his prowess as a player followed by a lengthy administrative career with the sport provincially, nationally and internationally. That role took him to away from Winnipeg for as many as 100 days a year and he said he couldn’t have done it without his co-workers and friends.

Jocelyn Bjorklund accepted for her grandfather, curling builder Sen. John T. Haig, who was inducted posthumously. Al Dyker, a hard-hitting defenceman in his hockey days, spoke for the 1936, 1942 and 1949 Canadian champion Ken Watson curling teams. Dyker’s father Lyle played second on the 1949 team. Bob Leslie from Switzerland and Joey Mutcheson from Washington state were among the 26 members of the 1983-88 Carman Goldeyes baseball teams who were honoured.

Remembering the old Strathcona C.C.

A curling club that no longer exists except in the memory of older curlers will be back in the limelight on Nov. 2 at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner.

Known as the “Home of Champions,” the Strathcona was a five-sheet rink located on Furby Place, north of Portage Avenue between Furby and Langside streets. John T. Haig, who was one of the founders of the club in 1908, will be inducted into the Sports HOF as a builder. After serving two terms as Strathcona president, Haig headed the provincial association and in 1935 became the first president of the Dominion Curling Association.

Entering the HOF in the team category will be the three Strathcona teams skipped by Ken Watson that won the Macdonald Brier Tankard in 1936, 1942 and 1949. They will join Gordon Hudson’s teams from the Strath that won the Canadian championship in 1928 and 1929.

A curling innovator, author and administrator, who arguably had more impact on the sport than any individual, Watson himself was inducted into the provincial shrine in 1980. Bob Gourley, in 1931, and Leo Johnson, in 1934, also won the Brier for the club. Between 1928 and 1967, Strathcona teams captured 18 provincial men’s titles.

Sam Fabro was Mr. Everything in local sports

The time has come to clean out the notebook again...

On Sept. 21 at Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg Realtors unveiled a bronze bust honouring R.A.(Sam) Fabro as the 40th member of its Citizens Hall of Fame. The wording read “Arts/Business/Professional Volunteer” and labelled him “A Man for All Reasons.” Many of those reasons pertain to sport and it would take the entire column to cover them. To give a sense of  Fabro’s contributions, he has headed the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, the Manitoba Hockey Foundation and the Hockey HOF,  the Manitoba Summer Games, the Manitoba Marathon and Canoe-A-Thon, Winnipeg Enterprises and the 1967 Pan Am Games baseball committee.

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The Winnipeg Flashbacks men’s slo-pitch team went off to Las Vegas with high hopes of winning a medal in the 80+ division at the Senior Softball USA World Championships.

Our halls of fame runneth over

This week is sport hall of fame week in Manitoba.

The designation is unofficial as it didn’t come from the Province of Manitoba. But, with golf, basketball, hockey and lacrosse holding induction ceremonies between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6, the  communications advisers to Premier Greg Selinger and Eric Robinson, the minister responsible for sport, missed out on the opportunity to recognize many of our province’s top athletes, builders and teams.

The Manitoba Golf Hall of Fame led off the week on Sept. 30 with its 11th induction ceremony at the McPhillips Station Casino. Donna (Patton) Thompson, a three-time Manitoba amateur champion, and the late Mike Pidlaski, who made eight Willingdon Cup teams between 1947 and 1955, entered as players, and Raymond Savard became the first superintendent honoured. Charlie Harvey, who in 1929 became the first president of the Royal Canadian Golf Association from west of Ontario, was inducted posthumously. On a sad note, Joyce Collier, a driving force behind the formation of the golf shrine, died in Portage la Prairie on Sept. 19. She served as its president from 2003 to 2006 and was herself inducted in 2012.  

On Oct. 1 at a media conference held at Sport Manitoba, the Manitoba Lacrosse Hall of Fame announced that players Calvin Paul, Don Paul, Gord Pottinger, Murray Roy and Bruce Wisener will be inducted on Oct. 6 during an afternoon ceremony at the Elmwood Legion. All but Roy, who got his start with the St. Boniface peewees, came out of the box lacrosse factory at Kelvin Community Club. The Pauls played in several national box championships while Pottinger and Roy represented  Manitoba in field lacrosse as well as box. Wisener was the province’s premier box goal scorer during the 1960s. Mike Gilbert and Dave Gillis will be inducted as player-builders while Tom Parker, a leader in the development of the sport as a coach and an administrator at both the provincial and national level, will go in as a builder. The 1985 and 1986 Manitoba senior all-stars that won the Canadian Division II field championship will enter in the team category. Parker coached both teams while Gilbert and Gillis were players.

Recalling the Western Major Fastball League

When the Western Major Fastball League (WMFL) came to Winnipeg in 1973, it filled a void on the summer sports scene.

The city was without professional baseball after the Winnipeg Whips were moved by the Montreal Expos before the 1972 International League season.

The idea for a high-level interprovincial fast-pitch softball league was first raised by prominent Edmonton curler and sportsman Bill Tainsh during the 1972 Canadian Senior Men’s Championship played in the Alberta city.

Manitoba was represented by the K & A (Black) Knights, a team that had dominated the provincial scene in recent years. At first, Harry Buekert and Art Penner of the Knights weren’t interested, but they realized that the team needed to find better competition if it ever hoped to challenge for the Canadian title.

Best in billiards coming to city

The best in the world of English billiards will be making their way to Winnipeg soon.

World-class English billiards players, including multiple world champion Mike Russell, former European Open winner John Hartley, Rob Hall, Guy Heys, Nalin Patel and Chris Taylor from the U.K. will be in Winnipeg Aug. 24 to 29 to compete in the inaugural Americas Cup Open.

The tournament with $12,500 in prizes will be played at the 110-year-old Manitoba Club, with the winner gaining automatic entry into the 2013 world championship in October. Club pro Greg Harder, who heads the local planning committee, said this will be the first time an international pro-am English billiards event will be held in Canada.  

Some of the best players from the Winnipeg Veteran’s English Billiards League, in operation in the city since 1921, have entered. Leading the list are current Canadian champion Rick Kendall from the St. James Legion and Fraser Durham and Shane Bartelette from Norwood. Harder, the 2010-11 Canadian champ who reached the quarter-finals in the 2011 English Open, elected not to play as his committee and club duties will keep him occupied.

Deserving inductees to enter football hall

An impressive list of inductees will enter the Football Manitoba Hall of Fame on Aug. 8 at the hall’s fourth annual luncheon at the Canad Inns Fort Garry. While former Blue Bomber players Roger Hamelin, Cec Luining, George Depres, Bud Irving and Kas Vidruk had success at the pro level, they, along with nine additional players, coaches, builders and officials are being honoured for their accomplishments and contributions to amateur football in our province.

St. Boniface native Hamelin, who lives in Fort Garry, captained the St. Paul’s High School Crusaders in the late 1950s and played for the junior Weston Wildcats. Luining (The Selkirk Milkman) played for Daniel McIntyre High School Maroons and was an all-star with the junior Winnipeg Rods. The third player inductee is Riding Mountain resident Marshall Quelch, a Canadian weight-lifting champion who played both ways for the St. James Rams intermediates and seniors in the 1960s. All three were linemen.

The coaches are Depres, who coached at St. Paul’s before leading the Rods to the Canadian junior championship in 1955, ’56 and ’61; Arni Taylor, who in 1957 and ’58 won city and provincial high school championships in his first two years at the helm of Tec Voc; and West Kildonan’s Mike Kachmar, who coached at Daniel McIntyre, Sisler and Kelvin after quarterbacking the Maroons and Rods. Irving from Fort Garry will be inducted as an official along with George (Red) Eakin and Abe Kovnats. The trio worked the amateur game for many years as well as in the pro ranks.

Charleswood’s Ron Gustafson will be inducted as a builder. After coaching at Churchill and Grant Park high schools, he served as commissioner of the Winnipeg High School Football League from 2000 to 2010 during a period of expansion.

Living the dream: Winnipeg’s Scott Oake

Canada’s first televised hockey game was broadcast by the CBC from Montreal on Oct. 11, 1952. Three weeks later, Foster Hewitt did the play-by-play on the first English broadcast from Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens as the Leafs beat Boston 3-2. The producer was George Retzlaff, who got his start in radio in Winnipeg.

In the ensuing 60 seasons of Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC), many different faces have brought viewers the story of our national game on television. Winnipeg sports broadcaster Scott Oake was destined to become one of them.

Oake grew up in Sydney, N.S., listening on Saturday evenings to Danny Gallivan describe the Montreal Canadiens games across Eastern Canada in colourful language. Gallivan also lived in Sydney.

“I wondered how he talked like that as it was very descriptive,” Oake said. “I thought how great it would be to have that kind of job.”

Living the dream with Winnipeg’s Scott Oake

Canada’s first televised hockey game was broadcast by the CBC from Montreal on Oct. 11, 1952.

After 60 seasons of Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC), many different faces have brought viewers the story of our national game on television. Winnipeg sports broadcaster Scott Oake was destined to become one of them.

Oake grew up in Sydney, N.S., listening on Saturday evenings to Danny Gallivan describe the Montreal Canadiens games across Eastern Canada in colourful language. Gallivan also lived in Sydney.

“I wondered how he talked like that as it was very descriptive,” Oake said. “I thought how great it would be to have that kind of job.”

Recalling a soggy trip to the British Open

The British Open rotates among nine courses and next week (July 18-21) it returns to Muirfield in Scotland for the 16th time and the first since 2002.

The bookmakers have Tiger Woods listed as the favourite despite his poor showing at the U.S. Open in June. That brought back not-so-pleasant memories of my one day at the British Open in 2002.       

After arriving in South Yorkshire the day before the tournament. I started thinking about the Open and how I might regret not attending. Tiger had won the previous two majors — the Masters and U.S. Open — and was expected to make it three straight. I figured getting in would be difficult but, according to the Open website, you could pay your admission for Saturday’s third round right at the course. With rain forecast, I waffled, but finally decided to catch a train to Edinburgh early on Saturday. From there, a special golf excursion would take passengers 20 miles by train and then bus to the village of Gullane, where the course is located.

All the way north, the sun lost a battle to the clouds and rain. On the excursion, I found a seat with three men who appeared to be locals. As we neared Gullane, the sun fought through the dark clouds and I remarked that it might clear up.

How will we remember Winnipeg Stadium?

If you have been in the Polo Park area recently, you will that know that Canad Inns Stadium soon will be gone.

Sports fans will still have their own memories. Older Bomber supporters will remember the Bud Grant era, when the Grey Cup champions relied upon local talent such as Ed Kotowich, Cornel Piper, Steve Patrick and Gordie Rowland for their success just as much as American imports. As years passed, the play of Don Jonas, Joe Poplawski, Dieter Brock and Chris Walby became etched in fans’ memory banks.

Many minor football players will also have personal memories of playing on the stadium turf.From 1954, when the St. Louis Cardinals put a Class C Northern League franchise in Winnipeg, through 1964, baseball was played in the south end of the stadium. Dal Maxvill, who played for three World Series champions, Ray Sadecki, Elrod Hendricks and my favourite Walt (No Neck) Williams were among the 32 Goldeyes who made the big leagues. Steve Carlton won four games as a Goldeye en route to 329 wins in the majors. In 1994, the Goldeyes won the independent Northern League championship on a makeshift diamond in the north end.

Other cities recognize their historical sports facilities with markers. In the Twin Cities, home plate from the old Met Stadium is marked in the Mall of America. A plaque in an apartment building that stands on the Charles Street and Church Avenue site of the Olympic, an early North End indoor rink, is our only marker of that venue.

Harris romps to repeat as MSSA’s top male athlete

B.C. Lions running back Andrew Harris was named Manitoba’s male athlete of the year for 2012 on Jan. 27 at the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association 57th annual athletes of the year dinner. Harris also won in 2011 and he is the first repeat winner since golfer Rob McMillan took the honour in 1992 and again in 1993. The graduate of Oak Park High School led the CFL in yards from scrimmage with 1,830 including 1,112 yards rushing. He scored 11 touchdowns.

Brendan Shinnimin of the Tri-City Americans, the WHL player of the year for 2011-12, placed second in the balloting by 40 members of the media from across the province. He scored 58 goals and added 76 assists for a league-leading 134 points and his point total was the highest in the WHL since 1998-99.

Also nominated was Joey Johnson of Team Canada’s wheelchair basketball team, gold medal winners at the Paralympic Games in London. Johnson had eight points and four rebounds in Canada’s 64-58 victory over defending champion Australia.

U of M Bison volleyball star Dane Pischke, a first-team CIS All Canadian, was another finalist, as was Josh Wytinck, Manitoba’s amateur golfer of the year. Wytinck won the Nott Autocorp provincial championship and captained the Manitoba Bisons golf team, winners of five tournaments last season.

Curler’s 50th MCA Bonspiel brings back memories

En route to the Iceplex on Jan. 17, Coffee stopped at the Charleswood Curling Club to say hello to Wayne Scott, who was curling on the opening draw of the 125th MCA bonspiel with a team from the Pembina. It was Scott’s 50th MCA, while his skip Bill Reid was playing in his first.

Octogenarian lead Al Wareham said he played in countless MCAs over the years and was wearing pins on his cap to commemorate the 75th in 1963 and the 100th in 1988. The fourth player, former Manitoba Sports Federation head knock George Fraser, was meeting a couple of his teammates for the first time. The fifth man, Bob English, got to sit out the match against  Brian Stacey of Thistle, which Reid and company won 10-8.

Scott’s first MCA was in 1962 with the Gene Ruzak team from the Strathcona, a long-gone rink on Furby Place. More than 20 bonspiel grand aggregate champions curled out of the Strathcona, including Ken Watson, Leo Johnson, Gordon Hudson and his son Bruce, Mac Scales and Barry Fry. Over the years, Scott also played in the MCA out of Deer Lodge, Thistle, Elmwood and Victoria. His skips have included some recognizable names from the Manitoba sports scene such as outdoors guide/journalist and former Transcona Atomics baseball star Cam Hurst, Winnipeg Hawkeyes football executive Al Boitson, Canadian Firefighters champion Ernie Kovacs, Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame member Al Sharpe, Clubbers fastball pitcher Peter Todd, and Victoria Hackers slo-pitcher Roy Wiebe, who won the bonspiel championship in 1968.

Scott has never won an MCA event, but reached three event finals with Pembina teams skipped by Jim Pyper and Gavin Matheson. In 2012, his son James did him one better by skipping his team to victory in the Lazer Grant event.

Province’s lacrosse history remembered in Hall

The Manitoba Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum has announced that three teams, three builders, two player/builders and five players will be added to its ranks at an induction ceremony slated for Oct. 14 at the Elmwood Legion.

The teams entering the Hall are the 1951, 1954 and 1955 Manitoba Junior All-Stars that played for the Minto Cup, emblematic of the Canadian junior championship. The 1951 team won the Western Canadian championship over B.C., but lost the Canadian title to the Mimico Mountaineers.  

In 1954, the powerful Long Branch Monarchs came west, but lost to Manitoba. B.C. beat Manitoba in what was the east-west final. The next season, Manitoba  was once again the Western champ before losing to the Monarchs in the final. Goalkeeper Mike Tymchyshyn and Gord Horner played for the three teams while Gary Aldcorn, Len Morrow, Ross Fargey, Dick Paulley, Gord Chem, Joe Hunt, Ted Derrett, Ralph Lyndon, Daryl Young and Barry McQueen were on both the 1954 and 1955 teams coached by John Arondeus. Les Swaffer coached the 1951 team and Jim O’Dowda managed all three.Keith McLennan, the youngest inductee, began playing lacrosse for the Kelvin Shamrock peewees in 1967 and went on to be the top-scoring junior in the Winnipeg Junior/Senior League and later was the league scoring champion in 1990, 1992 and 1996. In a national championship against Orangeville in the mid-1980s, McLennan was in on almost every Manitoba goal. He scored late in the game to give Manitoba a 12-11 lead. Orangeville finally found a way to stop him. As he scored the 12th goal, he received a cross-check to the face that broke his jaw.  Orangeville won the game 13-12.

When field lacrosse was re-introduced to the province, the Manitoba All-Stars won the Canadian Division 2 title in 1985 and again in 1986. McLennan was named series MVP both years. McLennan continues to be involved in the game and coached the Gryphons to the Manitoba junior championship this year, a team that included his son, Trent.

Toast & Coffee

Thirty-four young athletes participated in the T3 Triathlon Club Kids of Steel Splash & Dash at the 17 Wing fitness and recreation centre on Aug. 12.

Morgan Yarish, with a time of 29:03 for the 500-metre swim and 4.8-kilometre run topped the 14- and 15-year-old boys division. Zayden Verheul in 6-7, Aric Tetrault in 8-9, Carson Cortvriendt in 10-11 and Mark Naylor in 12-13 led the other boys divisions. They competed in runs with the distance increased by age group.

Emily Unger was the only girl up to the challenge in the combined 500-metre swim and 4.8-kilometre run for girls aged 14 and 15. Hailee Morisseau, with a time of 18:44, edged Emily Davidson by three seconds in the 3.6-kilometre run for 12-13 girls. The 10-11 girls 2.4-kilometre run attracted the most competitors, seven, with Tess Derksen’s time of 11:52  more than a minute faster than Megan Van Heyst. Riley Petley and Alyssa Ryan ran the 1.2-kilometre for 8-9 girls and Avery Arnold was the only entry in the 6-7 girls division

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Out & About

The next few days could have a major impact on the baseball career of 18-year-old Winnipegger Chris Shaw.

The catcher from Charleswood is showcasing his talent in front of major league scouts in the Dominican Republic where Canada’s national junior team is playing against teams of Major League Baseball Dominican prospects.

The 11-game series concludes May 31 with games against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim prospects and a team of the best players from the Dominican Summer League Camp.

As a 2012 high school graduate, Shaw, who left Oak Park to take his final year at the Okotoks Dawgs Baseball Academy in Alberta, is eligible for the MLB first-year player draft that runs June 4 to 6.

High school hockey’s best get their due

Manitoba Hockey Hall of Famer Ed Belfour would be pleased that the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association hockey awards given in his name to the best male and female players in Manitoba were handed out by his old Carman Collegiate principal Frank McKinnon on May 14.

Liam Bilton of the city and provincial champions St. Paul’s Crusaders received the male award while high-scoring Jessica Kaminsky of Fort Richmond Collegiate was the first winner of the new female Belfour Award. Bilton, a league and provincial all-star, was the Crusaders’ leading scorer  and the MVP in the city championship. He plans to play NCAA hockey in the future. Kaminsky, the MVP of the all-star game, will attend Union College in the fall.

Winnipeg Free Press sportswriter Ashley Prest was on hand at the awards but wasn’t carrying her notebook. She came to watch her daughter, Beverley Lunney of the Garden City Fighting Gophers, receive one of two $1,000 scholarships presented by the Winnipeg Jets Alumni and Friends to a male and female player demonstrating on-ice, school and community leadership skills. Her father Doug Lunney, a former sportswriter and junior hockey goaltender and a current Winnipeg Sun columnist, also was in attendance.

Tieler Fenning Cox of the provincial AA champion Neepawa Tigers was the male winner. Former Jets Jordy Douglas, whose son Scott was the captain of the Kelvin High School team this past season, and Mike Ford made the presentations.

Out & About

The St. Nicholas Men’s Club honoured Peter J. Manastyrsky as its Ukrainian Sportsman of the Year at its 47th annual dinner on May 11.

Manastyrsky is the president of the Winnipeg Dynamo Kyiv Soccer Club that plays in the premier division of the Manitoba Major Soccer League.

He’s been involved in men’s soccer since 1992 and with the Ukraine Youth Cup indoor co-ed tournament since 2003.

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Speed skating official logs major air miles

In sports with a small number of participants, parents often are recruited as volunteers. That’s what happened in the case of Trevis Boyd. His daughter Gracie, 20, took up speed skating a decade ago and Trevis soon found himself involved in the sport. He learned that speed skating at the club and provincial level needed officials, so the recent Winnipeg arrival decided to devote some of his time to that area. He and wife Caroline also were building a new business called Black Pearl Roasting Coffee of the World in our city. Caroline became a volunteer and presently is the interim president of the Manitoba Speed Skating Association. Gracie is coaching at the St. James club after putting her skating career on hold while she attends university.

 From that beginning, where he counted laps and knew little about the complexities of judging the sport, Trevis has risen to the level where he now officiates at national and international competitions. A highlight came when he was assigned to work as a corner judge for the long track races at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. As a corner judge, his major responsibility was to watch for infractions on the corners. To volunteer at the Olympics, he had to be in the position to give up 27 days of his working life to his sport, which he said was well worth it.    

“For me, it was being part of the greatest show on earth,” Trevis said. “It was exciting to get into events and the field of play. When the oval cleared after the final race, I went over and climbed on the podium with two other officials.”

Since the Olympics, Trevis has continued to be assigned to major events. In 2011, he refereed at the Canada Winter Games where Gracie was skating for Team Manitoba. This winter he managed the corner judge team at the World Sprint Championships and served as chief referee for the women’s competitions at Canada Cup 2, both at the Calgary oval. He also was in Fort St. John, B.C., where he refereed at the Canadian Age Class Long Track Championships. He raved about the facility that has a 400-metre Olympic oval on the mezzanine floor with two hockey rinks below. The season isn’t quite over for Trevis. He’ll be officiating at the Max Bell Arena from March 22 to 25 when the provincial association is hosting national and Western Canada short track championships. In addition to all his officiating work, Trevis serves as vice-president of competitions for the MSSA. The Level III official also has developed and conducted clinics for budding referees.

Harris named province’s outstanding male athlete

Players and fans walking into the MTS Iceplex may see a Zamboni cleaning and flooding the ice on one of the four rinks. They likely never give any thought as to how the ice got there in the first place. On a recent afternoon, operations manager Doug Neubauer gave Coffee a lesson on the art and science of making ice.

Neubauer tried to keep his clinic simple for a neophyte. The process begins each year by washing the concrete surface. The refrigeration process is started and the floor is cooled to 16 degrees. Next, a mist of water is dropped from a cart with nozzles that is pulled around the rink 15 to 20 times by a tractor to get a good bond. The ice at that point is about 1/8 of an inch thick. Next, a combination of water and white paint goes down to get the white surface. That is sealed with cold water and ice is built to 1/4 inch. The lines and logos are then painted in.

Neubauer emphasized that the ability to make and maintain excellent ice at the Iceplex is a result of teamwork. The team includes six members with refrigeration training, an ice crew of eight and five part-time workers who drive the Zambonis and do other work. The first shift begins at 7:20 a.m. and most days a crew is working until around midnight.   Each rink at the Iceplex is different, so the team has to know how to deal with the specific issues they face. He said that they can access the expertise of MTS Centre manager of ice operations Derek King when they have questions or ideas.

When asked about icemaking being both an art and a science, Neubauer said, “The ice is our canvas and we are the artists.”

Out & About

Skaters of all abilities competed in a Manitoba Speed Skating Association Silver Skates event at the Susan Auch Oval on Jan. 29.

The spoils were spread out among five clubs with skaters from the St. James club leading the way with four wins. Chris Dyker took the 12-year-old boys division, Mary Prendergast the 13-year-old girls, Michelle Daeninck the junior female and Brett Arnason the masters division for skaters over 30.

John Hrynchuk in the 13 boys, Christian Liebzeit in 14 boys and Kirk Wright in junior male captured divisions for the River Heights club.

Gabriel Reece from the Interlake won the learn-to-train boys competition and clubmate Carley Hopkins was the best 12-year-old girls skater. Two victories went to Western Manitoba with Costa Pappas from the Westman club winning the fundamental boys division and Kennedy Charles the learn-to-train girls. Elliot Ganas won the fundamental girls for the Winnipeg club.

Harris named province’s outstanding male athlete

After a solid season with the B.C. Lions and being named the outstanding Canadian in the Grey Cup game, running back Andrew Harris was selected by the province’s sports media as the male athlete of the year for 2011. Chantal Van Landeghem, who won five medals at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, took the female award. Jeff Stoughton’s world champion curling team was voted team of the year. The Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association announced the winners at its annual awards dinner on Jan. 29.

Harris learned his football at Oak Park High School and then played junior with the Vancouver Island Raiders. He led the Lions in rushing with 458 yards and added 395 yards pass receiving. He scored two touchdowns in the Western final and another in B.C.’s 34-23 victory over Winnipeg in the Grey Cup. In world junior swimming, Van Landeghem won silver medals in the 100-metre freestyle and the 4 x 100-metre freestyle relay. She also came home with bronze medals in the 50-metre backstroke, freestyle and butterfly.  

Before winning the world title in Regina, Stoughton’s Charleswood team of Jon Mead, Reid Carruthers and Steve Gould won the Canadian Brier. The Canadian midget hockey champion Winnipeg Thrashers were runners-up. Also on the ballot were the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and from Western Manitoba, Kelly Robertson’s Canadian Senior Curling champions and Brandon Bobcats, silver medallists in CIS volleyball.

Ryan Marsch of the Winnipeg Rifles, winner of the Peter Della Riva Award as Canadian Junior Football’s offensive player of the year, was the runner-up in the male competition. Doug Brown of the Bombers, a CFL Division all-star for the sixth consecutive season, world-class bowler Mike Schmidt and Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews also were finalists.

Out & About

When leagues reach the mid-season mark in their schedules, they usually hold their all-star games. On Jan. 14, T&C dropped by the Hockey Winnipeg AAA all-star day at the MTS Iceplex.

The event got underway with the bantam II skills competition. Ryan Hall of the Winnipeg Monarchs was recognized as the top goalie. Dane Derewianchuk of the Sharks was the fastest skater, while his teammate Codey Melnyk won the breakaway shooting contest. Nathan Halvorsen from the Warriors took the rapid fire shooting event and Liam Schioler of the Hawks was tops at puck control. Schioler also was selected as the top defenceman in the all-star game that his West team won 5-3. The Monarchs trio of Dawson Martin, Josh Curtis and Stelios Mattheos had four of the goals. Martin had two and was named the game’s top forward. Linden McCorrister from the Hawks had the fifth tally. Ryan Kubic of the Hawks was selected as the top goalie. Austin Friesen and Milan Horanski of the Warriors, along with Halvorsen scored for the East. Their teammate Dylan Torgerson had two assists.

The bantam I all-star game was a high-scoring affair with the East winning 8-6. The intensity stayed at a high level throughout the game as the players wanted to show off their talents for the junior scouts in attendance. Laine McKay from the Thunder Bay Kings had a hat trick and an assist for the winners and was named the game’s top forward. His teammate Zack Grzelewski and Chase Fincaryk of the Sharks both scored twice, and Tyler Anderson of the Sharks, who won the rapid fire skills contest, contributed a single. Keegan Kolesar of the Hawks had two goals and an assist for the West. Jody Stallard of the Brandon Wheat Kings also scored twice, and his teammate James Shearer and Jackson Keane of the Monarchs each had a goal. In the skills events, Shearer was the fastest skater, Geoff Kitt of Thunder Bay was best at puck control, Brendan Reichardt of the Warriors won the breakaway contest and Tyson Verhelst of the Wheaties topped the goalies.

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Raiders prevail in battle of MMJHL’s best

The second-place Raiders Jr. Hockey Club took a 4-2 decision over the league-leading Charleswood Hawks at Eric Coy Arena on Jan. 3 in the first MMJHL game following the Christmas break. The Hawks had 41 points before the two-week layoff and led the Raiders by five.

The teams traded first-period goals with Brody Warren opening the scoring for the Hawks and captain and league scoring leader Cam Hildebrand answering for the Raiders. The visitors took over the play in the second period and went up 3-1 on a pair of goals by Ryan Seekings. The first was shorthanded when he blocked a shot at the point and got a clear breakaway.

Logan Greenfield, on a third-period power play, scored the fourth Raider goal. Late in the period Sean Kubas scored an unassisted marker for Charleswood.  

The Raiders closed out 2011 with a 3-2 win over the River East Royal Knights while the Hawks dropped a 4-1 decision to the Pembina Valley Twisters. Both coaches were wondering what to expect when play resumed, and who had eaten the most turkey.

No clear-cut winners for top MB athletes of 2011

The votes are in for the 2011 Manitoba athletes and team of the year, but only Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association secretary-treasurer Bob Picken knows the results. That’s if Pick has had time to count them since the voting deadline of Dec. 21. The winners will be announced at the 56th MSSA awards dinner on Jan. 29 at the Delta Winnipeg.

The sports media across the province are the decision-makers, so T&C each get a vote. History has shown that we seldom agree on the choices. This year there were no obvious winners.

Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews was the male athlete of the year for 2010 after he was named the top forward at the Winter Olympics and led his team to the Stanley Cup. He’s back on the ballot this year, but without such lofty credentials.

A 10-pin bowler and three football players are the other male finalists. Mike Schmidt was a finalist last year when he won a 10-pin world championship. This year he made the short list because he qualified for the Bowling World Cup in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Out & About

ITC (In This Corner) had been in operation for three weeks, but T&C dropped in on its official opening day. Located in a corner (of course) at Unit 7-25 Scurfield Blvd., the boxing fitness centre is not like the low-ceilinged dark, smoky gym portrayed in the movies. Husband and wife team Pat and Sheila Molloy gave the tour of the bright, air-conditioned, colourful facility where you can work on a heavy bag, a speed bag, lift weights or jump rope even if you are not planning to fight anyone.

There is a rubber floor (no street shoes allowed) and a full-size ring.

Maureen Black, a personal trainer since 1987 and a 15-year member of the Manitoba Boxing Commission, was putting clients through their paces. She has a level-three certificate in boxing training. Black learned about the fight game early with a boxer father and six brothers in the family.

“We’re trying to reduce the beer guts in the southwest area,” she said as she gave a rope skipping exhibition. Black claimed you can burn up 1,000 calories an hour skipping.

Out & About

It’s been a little breezy for swimming, but the duathlon season — where races consist of running, biking and more running — has been in full swing with races every Tuesday during the month of May.

Darci Everett of Gord’s Ski & Bike, one of the race directors among a group of 30 volunteers, says there have been an increasing number of participants each week. By Week 3 it had reached 174.

“We’ve had people at all levels and abilities. Some have road or duathlon bikes and others are riding mountain bikes,” she said.

The event has been in operation for 29 years and for the past two years has been known as Gord’s Birds Hill Duathlon in the Park. The final one this season is slated for May 31 with a start time of 6:45 p.m.Justin Rempel has been at Bird’s Hill every Tuesday to prepare himself for triathlons later on in the summer.

Softball star set to take sweet swing south

Makensy Payne has earned the nickname “Crash.” The 17-year-old student from Transcona has suffered a concussion, broken fingers, and smashed her nose while playing fast pitch softball.

She describes herself as a “super aggressive player” and that style of play has earned her the opportunity to play at Dodge City Junior College in Kansas in the fall and an invite to tryout with Canada’s national junior team.

This summer she’ll be playing her second season with the Smitty’s Terminators 93s in the Manitoba Ladies Super Softball League. In her first season of midget ball, she hit .444 over an 18-game schedule and topped the league in both runs scored and stolen bases.

Including tournaments, she played 56 games and hit .387.

Young stars show off their skills

Our province’s top midget-age female hockey players showcased their talents in Selkirk, Dec. 27-29.

Five AA teams from Winnipeg and five from rural Manitoba competed against each other in round-robin play.

Tournament chairperson Tom Thomas said the tournament provided a venue for teams from the rural provincial league to play the city AA teams prior to the provincial championship.

Pembina Valley was the best of the rural entries, winning five straight games and earning the maximum 10 points.

Out & About

North Winnipeg Nomads took home most of the silverware at the Manitoba Midget Football League’s awards night banquet at the Norwood Hotel, Nov.24.

Nomads tailback Tyson Haines, who led the league in both rushing and scoring won the President’s Award as MVP. His team downed the St. Vital Mustangs 33-25 at Canad Inns Stadium on Oct.30 to take the midget title. It was the first win for the Nomads since 2006. They were finalists two years ago. The offensive player of the year was Nomads quarterback Justin Klaprat and top lineman honours went to Samuel Grant, also from the North Winnipeg squad.

In addition, former Nomads player Len McKay is currently attending the University of Manitoba after being the recipient of the Gary Stroppa Memorial Award and $500 toward post secondary education. Stroppa is a former Nomads coach who succumbed to kidney and liver failure in 2005.

Collin Morris, past president of the Nomads and currently vice-president of the midget program said, “this is a good story from the North End of Winnipeg.”

Out & About

West Kildonan’s Maureen Orchard is off to Birmingham, England, for the World Wheelchair Basketball Championships, July 7 to 17.

Orchard has been the president and secretary-general of the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation since 2002. She told T&C that she expects to be returned to office during the Federation's World Congress that will be held during the championships as no one has come forward to challenge the present slate of officers.

Orchard has been involved with the administrative side of basketball since the 1960s and with wheelchair sport since 1984 when she joined the board of the Manitoba Wheelchair Sports Association.

In March, she was named the 2009 winner of the Canadian Sport Leadership Award for Volunteer Achievement. This national award recognizes an individual’s outstanding contributions to the betterment of sport.

One more year (again) for coach Holenski

Roy Holenski has agreed to coach the Smitty’s women’s fast pitch softball team for “one more year.”

Of course, he’s been saying that for several years. Holenski told T&C that he’ll be back behind the bench because co-coach John Mitchell won’t have as much time to devote to the team due to his new position as president of Portage Mutual Insurance.

Smitty’s won the silver medal at the 2009 Softball Canada Senior Women’s Fast Pitch Championship in Kitchener, Ont. In 2008 when the nationals were played at Buhler Park in Transcona, that version of Smitty’s won gold beating a second Smitty’s squad in the final.

That was the fourth Canadian senior title for the Smitty’s organization under the leadership of Holenski and his wife, Evelyne.

Out & About

Greg Ferguson and Adam Mordarski are ready for another season of softball.

The pair have been fixtures on the local slo-pitch scene for decades and Slo-Pitch Canada has recognized their dedication by honouring them as the first Manitoba members of its Hall of Fame. Ferguson was inducted as a builder and Mordarski as an umpire at the national organization’s 2009 annual meeting.

Ferguson first became involved with the sport when he ran a men’s team out of Northwood Community Centre that played in the Winnipeg  Slo-Pitch League. He was instrumental in the formation of Winnipeg’s first women’s slo-pitch league and has been a driving force in keeping it viable. Again this season he'll be coaching the Travellers.

A former SPN provincial co-ordinator, Ferguson has helped organize many provincial and national competitions in Manitoba.

Toast & Coffee: Mooseplex tour a real eye-opener

Mooseplex, opening in August will contain four NHL regulation size hockey rinks in a 172,000-square-foot structure.

Last week general manager Rick Bochinski and Dean Court, programming manager, took Toast and Coffee on a tour of the building.

The state-of- the-art hockey facility has one rink that has seating for 1,500 with standing room bringing the capacity to 1,800. This will be home to the Winnipeg South Blues of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

The other three rinks will seat 250 parents and friends.