2019

Steve Smith was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and moved to Cobourg at an early age. Success in hockey never came easy to Steve. Growing up in Cobourg, he failed to impress a lot of local coaches and Junior organizations.

The NHL scouting fraternity showed no interest in the gangly kid who found his body too big and too awkward to be effective. However, Steve was a model of determination and resiliency and he stuck with the game and trained in a fashion that would maximize his development. By age 17, he had grown to 6'3” and 180 lbs. – enough to catch the attention of the Junior A London Knights as a walk on at an open camp.

Smith made the team and played the first half of the season as a 4th line right winger. By 1981 he had filled out to 225 pounds and was playing regularly on defense. That same year, in the NHL draft, he was selected 111th overall by the Edmonton Oilers. Steve Smith went on to become one of the better NHL defencemen of his era, playing in 804 games, scoring 72 goals, earning 303 assists, and tallying 375 points, while winning three Stanley Cups (1987, 1988, 1990) and a Canada Cup (1991). Blessed with balance and agility on his skates, and an exceptionally long reach, Smith was tough to beat 1-on-1. By the late 1980's, Smith had become the Oiler's top defender. In October of 1991, the Oilers traded him to Chicago.

In his 3rd of 6 seasons with Chicago, he suffered a broken leg and constantly battled back issues. The Blackhawks offered him a contract but Steve decided to retire prematurely. In 1997, he moved on to join the Calgary Flames as an assistant coach for 1 season. He returned to the ice with the Flames for parts of the next three seasons before a neck injury resulted in spinal fusion surgery. In 2001, Steve came back to play part of one season before his doctors advised him that, medically, it was in his best interests to retire. His coaching career would see him move back to the Edmonton Oilers as an assistant for four seasons.

From there, he moved on to Carolina as an assistant coach with the Hurricanes. Presently (2019) Steve Smith is an assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres.

Paul Currelly was born in Port Hope, Ontario on September 3, 1926. He moved to Cobourg in 1952 and resided there until his death in 2004. Paul was an all-around athlete and played basketball, baseball, softball, hockey, football and was a crosscountry runner.

He enjoyed bowling and golf and was well known as a competitive curler. Paul Currelly was a respected backfielder for Cobourg's renown footballteam, The Cobourg Galloping Ghosts from 1947-1952. The 1950 Galloping Ghosts Program described him as a "Good-steady football player that can always be counted on for an all-out effort-a good team player all the way", a philosophy and attitude he was to instill in many players and teams that he went on to coach. In 1958, Paul coached Cobourg's Kiwanis Juvenile "A" Baseball team bringing an Ontario Championship to Cobourg. Paul was instrumental in founding of the "Cobourg Girls Softball League" in 1963. That same year, he coached the Coverdale Aces. This team was the prelude to the Cobourg Angels Girls Softball Organization.

These teams went to win 5 Ontario Championships along with numerous tournament and league championships against teams from much larger centres, all under Paul's tutelage. In the late 80's Paul spearheaded the formation of the Cobourg Junior Angels Organization providing young girls with place to play rep and house league softball. He was both an organizer and a coach.

Paul finished his coaching career by returning to boys baseball and coached the Cobourg Bantam Blacksox to an Ontario Championship in 1998. Hard work, dedication, perseverance and a commitment to team and community were essential attributes taught by Paul. He received numerous awards and honours, both local and provincial over the years, but perhaps his proudest moment occurred in 2004 when the Town of Cobourg dedicated a cairn in his honour on the site of the former Victoria Park Ball Diamond and named the roadway around it, "Paul Currelly Way".

Marty Kernaghan was born on August 9, 1958, in Grafton, Ontario to proud parents Patricia and Jack Kernaghan. From early on, Marty demonstrated exceptional skills in his chosen sports - hockey and fastball.

From 1969 through 1977, he won 3 Ontario Amateur Softball Association championships. He also won an Ontario Baseball Association championship in 1970, and an Ontario Minor Hockey Association championship in 1978.

In 1978, Marty left the Cold Springs Cats and joined the Oshawa Tony's Fastball team as a right fielder. Tony's went on to the International Softball Congress (ISC) Tournament that year and Marty hit three home runs.

The following year, he played in Camrose, Alberta, with a job offer as part of the incentive. The next few years, would see his fastball career take him to Calgary and then on to the Penn Corp team, in Sioux City, Iowa.

The Penn Corp team had their own airplane and would send their pilot to pick up Marty for games and tournaments. The pilot was also a flying instructor and Marty was offered the opportunity to learn to fly. Marty went on to become a corporate licensed pilot.

From 1984 through 1995, he played in 11 International Softball Conference world tournaments as a short stop or third baseman, and missed only the 1994 season due to a broken leg. He was a member of championship teams for the American Softball Association and the Softball Canada National Championships.

He was also a member of Team Canada for the 1983 Pan Am Championships and the 1992 ISF Men's World Championship, winning gold in both competitions. Marty Kernaghan was voted ISC All World eight times – four times to the first team and four times to the second team. He batted .361, on 60 hits, in 166 at bats, scored 31 times, and registered 36 RBI's. In 2002, Marty Kernaghan was elected to the ISC Fastball Hall of Fame. In 2017, Marty was inducted into the Softball Canada Hall of Fame along with his team mates from the 1992 Canadian Men's World Championship team.

Layton Dodge was born in Cobourg on March 4, 1937, to parents, William and Kathleen. After high school, Layton joined the staff of the Cobourg Sentinel Star as sportswriter and publisher until his final column on October 8, 1996. In between, Layton covered most sports in Cobourg and the surrounding communities with love, diligence, integrity and honesty.

To say that the local sporting community was lucky to have him would be a gross understatement. Layton was the league and individual statistician for many local sporting groups including the Cobourg Community Hockey League, Legion Minor Softball, the Cobourg Mercantile Hockey League, the Cobourg Men's Softball League and the Cobourg Bowling League, to name just a few. Perhaps Layton's greatest quality was his understanding that sports meant as much to the house league player as it did to the all-star athlete.

To that end, Layton gave as much space on his sports pages to the house league games and players as he did to the rep teams and stars. He was the very best small-town sportswriter that you could ask for. Layton was recognized by many local organizations over the years for his outstanding contributions to their particular sport.

One of his proudest recognitions came from the Ontario Amateur Softball Association in 1987 when he was presented with the Frank Feaver Award as Ontario's “Mr. Softball”. Layton had a nickname that many of his friends and acquaintances used when referring to him. That name was “Scoop”. He never owned a car and rode his bicycle to almost all local sporting events.

He was never without his camera and notebook and always had a smile on his face and a positive remark to share. Simply put, “Layton was the BEST.