Windsor Park’s Connor a true class act

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/08/2015 (3887 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

  In 1974, I was a reporter with the South East Lance when two area hockey players were taken in the first round of the National Hockey League draft.

 A few days later I met the St. Vital player, whom I had known for a number of years, on the parking lot of the Dakota Shopping Centre. I asked if he had time for a photo and interview.

“Who wants to be in the rinky-dink Lance?” was his reply.  

 His pro career went nowhere, fast.

  Meanwhile Windsor Park resident Cam Connor was happy to be interviewed and when the full-page article appeared, he thanked me.

  I had gotten to know him quite well in my capacity as PA announcer and score keeper with the St. Boniface Saints — before he headed north to play in the Western Canada Hockey League with the Flin Flon Bombers — as he was a frequent visitor to the penalty box.

 When Connor’s interview appeared, the one who declined was rude enough to ask why Connor received so much space.

My response of course was “because Cam has class and wanted to be in the rinky-dink Lance.”

  During a recent telephone conversation with Connor, I learned he played baseball with Winakwa and that I was the plate umpire when he pitched a couple of games.

  During his teenage years, when both boys were the scourges of teachers at Windsor Park Collegiate, Cam developed a life-long friendship with Rodney Toombs, who went on to gain fame as Rowdy Roddy Piper in the world of professional wrestling.

 Connor, meanwhile, scored the winning goal in a double-overtime quarter-final game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs on the way to earning a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1979.

 He and Toombs drifted apart as each advanced in their chosen professions but reconnected by chance when Connor was playing in the American Hockey League.

 “I saw a poster advertising Roddy the next night so I asked the head of security to pass on my address and phone number,” he related. “ We were tight until the end.”

Piper died in his sleep of a heart attack on July 31, at his home. He was 61.

 Later this year Connor will enter the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, a well-earned honour.

Bob Holliday is a community correspondent for St. Vital. Email him at docholliday90@me.com