Sports hall of fame honours veteran athletes

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/06/2019 (2297 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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.

She told the audience that her greatest disappointment came in 1938. After qualifying for the British Empire Games in Sydney, Australia, she came down with strep throat just before boarding the ship, and wasn’t able to travel. In later years, Dopson, who lives in Vancouver,  became a strong advocate for women in sports.

The lacrosse community had a large group on hand to support Nightingale. An Elmwood product who got his start at Kelvin Community Club, Nightingale was an outstanding player in box lacrosse during the 1950s and 1960s. The retired schoolteacher coached box from the minor level through to senior as well as high school field lacrosse. He served as president of the Manitoba Lacrosse Association from 1964 to 1972 and was inducted into the provincial lacrosse hall of fame in 2013 and the Canadian shrine in 2014. It’s clear that no one has done more for the sport in our province.

The athletes, builders and teams came from 14 different sports. Curling with nine, baseball with eight, hockey with six, and football with five had the most inductees.

Ed Sobie became the first 10-pin bowler in the HOF and Andre Roziere the second archer. Isa Beairsto was Manitoba’s top female golfer in the 1920s and 1930s. Swimmer Vera (Tustin) Gilbert once won a mile race on the Red River and set provincial records in the 50, 100 and 220-yard distances. Many-time Manitoba tennis champion Art Foster developed his stroke by hitting a tennis ball against a wall on the old Gordon Bell High School on Wolseley Avenue. Boxer Jim (Babyface) Saunders won 109 of 115 amateur bouts.

A Manitoba Softball HOF honoured member, Dorothy (Ferguson) Key once claimed that her speciality while playing for the Rockford Peaches in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League was “taking one for the team.” She was hit by a pitch 92 times during her 10-year career.
Lou Lucki, who learned to pitch on the sandlots in the North End, became the province’s best male softball pitcher from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. The Winnipeg Canoe Club paddling team was recognized for beating 19 Eastern clubs and winning the grand aggregate at the 1937 Canadian Canoe Association championships.

Charles Harvey, the first president of the Royal Canadian Golf Association from Western Canada, and Jimmy Dunn, who spent 50-plus years working for sport provincially and nationally, were inducted as builders.

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