SHORT MAT BOWLING – COBOURG CLUB HISTORY

It was at a meeting on October 13, 1998 at the prompting of Mrs Dorothy Allen, OLBA representative, when the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club executive introduced the subject of starting up a club for Short Mat Bowling. 

The game of Short Mat Bowls, a very popular indoor sport played in the UK, appeared to be the answer for we Canadians to keep active and fit during the winter months. At present, 2021, the Cobourg Short Mat Club is active from October through to the end of April.

Short Mat Bowling by no means is restricted to the UK and Ireland but internationally thriving national associations also exist in Belgium, Sweden and Norway. Although a variation of lawn bowls, Short Mat is relatively modern, its origins appear to be wrapped in a mystery of folk lore and dates back to about 1926 in Belfast.

Once the presentation was finished there was no hesitation with nineteen lawn bowlers signing up immediately, and a further 20 names on the ‘interested’ checklist. Dorothy Allen, following up on a tip from John Schumann, wasted no time in arranging the use of the drill hall of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment. A locker and storage room for the mats were also provided by the militia.  

Three 30’ by 6’ old carpet bowls mats were donated by Dorothy Allen and John Schumann. They were cut and spliced to make two 45’ regulation size carpets for Short Mat Bowling. Dorothy also advised us that three more mats (tournament size) were available on loan from the Ontario Association. Reg Longman donated a dolly which Emil Lindt converted into a storage vehicle for the mats.  

A committee was formed, and volunteers used their skills to build the fenders and equipment needed for playing the game. Other volunteers stepped forward to fill the needed positions to look after the financials, insurance, organizational needs, coaching and liaison with the Lawn Bowling Club who provided name tags and ‘Jacks’ on loan until we were able to purchase the correct heavier ones later in the season.

AND SO THE BOWLING BEGAN – October 17, 1998 to April 29, 1999

The original 19 members grew throughout the season to 47.  The highlight of our first season was hosting the 1999 Ontario Short Mat Bowling Championships on March 6th and 7th. With the help of the Niagara Falls Bowling Club who loaned us four additional mats we were able to accommodate eight mats of pairs. Bowlers belonging to clubs from Chatham, Bradford, Niagara Falls, Burlington, Oshawa, Brampton, and Cobourg entered the competition.  

Fred Stringer (Tournament Chair), Ross Adams (Drawmaster) and Peter Kurita (Umpire) presented the winning teams with a handsome silver trophy and prize money. Participants enjoyed dinner at the Cobourg Yacht Club thanks to Myrtle Wardman and Dorothy Allen. The Cobourg Town Crier presented gifts and souvenirs. 

In 1999 with the expert guidance of John Simpson we were successful in obtaining a Trillium Foundation Grant totalling $8,000.00 to be paid in two installments. We initially purchased four new mats from Verdi Sports Limited, UK which we received in January 2000. Two more mats arrived in September which enabled the 2000/2001 season to increase in membership to over 70.

Eventually the club raised enough money to purchase a seventh mat in February 2003. Typical cost of a single mat including shipment from England, customs, and trucking charges amounted to approximately $2,000 Canadian.

IN-CLUB AND OPEN TOURNAMENTS

We endeavoured to hold in-club tournaments once a month, often with a theme such as ‘Autumn Leaves’, ‘Snowflake’, ‘President’s Tourney’, ‘Skip-A-Long Loonie’ and ‘the Springfest Tournament’ which has been an annual competition with the Brighton Short Mat Club for many years. Another annual tournament was named the “John Schumann Tournament and Pizza Party” in honour of John who bowled well into his 80s.

Most of the in-club tournaments included potluck lunches or perhaps reservations for dinner in a local restaurant afterwards. A record of the winning scores were kept and an AWARD printed and posted on the club bulletin board each month for all to see.

PARTIES AND CAKES

Every Christmas would be celebrated with specially planned events to include the members and their spouse or guest. Arrangements for dinner, entertainment, dancing, a gift table and of course the special guests – Mr and Mrs Clause. Often there would be games, puzzles, or something unexpected distributed to the gang. One year each person was handed a ‘santa hat’ and was told that they must wear it all evening or possibly be asked to perform a silly dance or recite a poem or something. No one took off their hat that evening.

We also organized ‘end of season’ parties. Rented a hall, caterer, entertainment, square dancing lessons. And did we like cake? We made a cake for JOE’s 80th, we made cakes for the Schumann Tournaments, and for the invited Brighton Short Mat Club. If something needed to be celebrated, then we made a cake.

THE BIG MOVE 2007

Whereas we always enjoyed our time at the Armories and the special attention of the Sergeant who was always more than happy to help us, the drill hall had no natural light. We didn’t mind the challenge of the uneven concrete floor, or attempting to avoid running into the columns and walls with a stray bowl. The somewhat tight spacing of the carpets was quite a challenge as well and so we felt it was time to consider a change.  

With construction completed in 2007 of the new Cobourg Community Centre on D’Arcy Street, we made inquiries of the cost of renting a gym, year-round storage space for our carpets and equipment in a secure location, and an available meeting room. Negotiations were made and costs agreed upon, the days and time periods scheduled, and we have been enjoying the sport of Short Mat Bowling at the CCC ever since. But unfortunately, no cake, pizza or drinks are allowed in the gym.

WORLD SHORT MAT CHAMPIONSHIPS IN SWEDEN 2018

At the start of the 2017 short mat bowling season the club joined the newly formed Canadian Short Mat Bowling Association (CSMBA). This meant that Cobourg bowlers were eligible to compete in the first National Championships to be held at the JJ Mat Club in Etobicoke in November 2017. The Championship was also a qualifier for the 2018 World Championships in Stromstad, Sweden.

Cobourg had six members competing - Martin Foxhall, Ralph Hewitt, Dave Jones, Nancy Fargo, Louisa Arthur and Bill Arthur. Gold and Silver winners in each event (singles, pairs, triples, and fours) qualified for the twenty member Canadian team. Martin Foxhall won gold in the Pairs and silver in the Singles but was unable to take his place on the Canadian team due to other commitments.

In the Nationals a player could enter more than one discipline in the week-long event but not in the Worlds. Qualifiers could only play in one discipline and because of that ruling the fourth place Triples team of Bill Arthur, Louisa Arthur and Nancy Fargo were selected since members of the Triples teams in silver and bronze positions had already qualified in other disciplines. Additionally, Ralph Hewitt got a wild card selection based on his performance and played in the Pairs.

In March 2018, the Cobourg bowlers made their way to Sweden for the three-day event. Short mat bowling is a far more widespread sport in Europe than in Canada. The Europeans have regular tour events whereas in Canada it is a sport played primarily for social reasons. The Canadians knew they would be very much the underdogs but, as in any sport, they were proud to be wearing their Canada shirts and representing their country.  

It is a moment they will always remember marching into the arena for the opening ceremony. There were short mat bowlers from ten other countries - England, Wales, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Italy, India, Denmark and Germany.

The Championships were held over three days and each team played a six-game round robin. Despite some valiant performances the Canadian team recorded few victories, and the Cobourg members did not win any of their games. Unfortunately and in defence of the Arthur/Fargo triples team they were badly hit by sickness. Louisa Arthur had to pull out of the team on the first day whilst Bill was also recovering from sickness. 

A spare was drafted into the team for Day 1. Louisa was able to play on Day 2 but not for the final game on Day 3 by which time Nancy Fargo had caught whatever was going round. Despite the problems the team enjoyed the experience and learned some valuable lessons which would serve them well for the future. And it is fair to say, had some enjoyable social events and made new friends.

In November 2018, the second Canadian National Championships were held again at the JJ Mat Club in Etobicoke. Since the World Championships are only held every two years the 2018 National Championships were not a qualifier although performances would result in ranking points for the 2020 Worlds.

Martin Foxhall was once again prominent winning two gold medals and one silver.  Bill and Louisa Arthur were also competing in Triples again but with Mike Place on this occasion and they won the gold medal defeating the top two seeds on the way.

HOSTING THE CANADIAN SHORT MAT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN COBOURG 2019

After two National Championships at the JJ Mat Club, CSMBA was looking for a new venue for the 2019 Championship competitions and approached the Cobourg club with a request to host the Championship games in November. After a lot of organization by club members the necessary arrangements were made to ensure the availability of a gym and adjoining lunchroom at the Cobourg Community Centre for the six-day event.  

Club volunteers took turns to serve tea, coffee, beverages and food and snacks to the bowlers between games during the week. Much gratitude to sponsors and donors for over $2,800.00 raised to help cover expenses.

Holding the event in Cobourg was a great success with competitors from Brampton, Burlington, Cobourg, Kingston, Niagara Falls, Ottawa and Toronto complimenting the facilities and the warm welcome of the Cobourg club members. Holding it in Cobourg also meant more entries from Cobourg members who enjoyed the opportunity to compete against some excellent bowlers without having to travel out of town.

No disrespect is meant to the Cobourg Pairs team of Mike Place and John MacKenzie, but they were the big surprise of the Championships taking gold in the Pairs and automatically qualifying for the World 2020 Championships in Belgium. They even surprised themselves!

As was the case in previous years there were some players who were multiple winners and so selection came down to performances in 2019 and 2018. As a result (and not because he was a CSMBA Director and selector) Bill Arthur was selected to play singles and Louisa Arthur as a member of a triples team.

However, then came COVID-19 and the World Championships in Belgium were postponed and are scheduled to be held in 2022. The National Championships were anticipated to be held in Cobourg again in 2020 but also had to be postponed. They are now scheduled for November 2021 in Cobourg. 

As a footnote to this article, 22 years after that initial meeting on October 13, 1998, some of the members who helped establish the club still enjoy the camaraderie and friendly competition of Short Mat Bowling. To name a few - Malcolm and Myrtle Wardman, Basil and Jean Fox, Ross Adams, Marilyn McMillan, Martin Foxhall, Dianne Lauder, and Donna Longman.  

And this article would be incomplete if I did not mention Harry Knapper, a long-time member of the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club for over 50 years, a Cobourg Short Mat Bowling Club member of 20 years and still active in both sports at the young age of ‘in his late 80s’.   

2018 World Championships in Sweden.  Part of the Canadian team of 20 Nancy Fargo, Ralph Hewitt, Louisa & Bill Arthur

2019 Canadian National Championships in Cobourg Mike Place, John MacKenzie Gold in Pairs presented by Elaine Houtby (VP CSMBA)

************************************

Description of the equipment and basic rules of play

Short mat bowls is an indoor version of lawn bowls and is played with normal lawn bowls. It is played on a foam backed carpet which is 45 feet long and 6 feet wide. The mat has the required lines permanently marked on it. A wooden fender is placed at both ends to simulate the “ditch” in lawn bowls and to keep the bowls from rolling off the mat. A wooden block sits in the centre of the mat. Players have to avoid their bowl contacting the block on their way down the mat. The fine shape of each bowl imposes a 'bias' which causes the bowl to follow a curved route. The 'jack' is the target that sits near the end of the mat.

A short mat game can have a variable length of play. The length of play is normally an agreed number of ‘ends’. At the Cobourg club a game is usually eight ends.

In serious competition matches, such as the Canadian Nationals and the World Nationals a higher number of ends are played. Typically, this will be twelve ends minimum.

In club games teams will usually be pairs or triples. In pairs each player rolls four bowls. In triples it is three bowls each.  At national and international levels there are four disciplines, singles, pairs, triples and fours.

To start the game the winner of the toss decides which team will play first. The skip of the team playing first places the jack on a central line and at their preferred length. After that the team that wins the end plays first.

Short mat bowls is very similar to lawn bowls in that the object is for each player, or team, to take turns rolling bowls down the mat in an attempt to getting as many of the bowls as close as possible and closer to the target, the 'jack', than their opponent. The main difference is in the size of the playing area and the presence of the block midway down the rink mat. The presence of the block is to reduce an attempt of players knocking their opponents' bowls away from the existing position.

Players are encouraged to use the natural bias of the bowls to manoeuvre around the block and any other bowls or indeed, promote an existing bowl. Any bowls that touch the block, or land in the ditch area are dead and are removed before the next bowl is sent. A bowl which has touched the jack en route to the ditch, remains 'alive' and will count in the scoring. The skill in playing short mat bowls comes from the bias of the bowl and the skill of 'delivering a bowl to a position where it either counts in the score or is used as a defender, blocking a route to change positions.

The game is equally enjoyed by all ages as age has no bearing on the ability to bowl.

Source: Donna Longman

Edmonton Oilers Legend: Steve Smith

Reprinted w-permission Greatest Hockey Legends.com by Joe Pelletier

It never mattered how good of a defenseman Steve Smith became. And he became a very good one.

But he will always be remembered for The Goal!

It is one of the most famous goals in Stanley Cup playoff history, if only for all the wrong reasons. Smith accidentally puts the puck in his own net in the third period of a tied game seven, putting his team on the brink of elimination. The two time defending champion Edmonton Oilers never recovered, and are knocked out of the playoffs by their arch rivals, the Calgary Flames.

Smith was just a rookie then. Such a devastating occurrence could easily have wrecked many a young defensemen's career. While most people will remember Steve Smith for the mistake, people should remember him for his resolve and becoming one of the better defensemen of his era.

Success in hockey never came easy for Smith.

He was never drafted by a junior team. He grew up out of the scout's radar in the tiny town of Cobourg, Ontario. When his teams traveled to tournaments, scouts were unimpressed with the gangly kid who found his big body too awkward to be effective.

Smith stuck with the game, and by age 17 he grew to 6'3" and 180lbs, enough to catch the attention of his hometown London Knights. Smith, who was actually born in Glasglow, Scotland of all places, made the team, though played the first half of the season as the 4th line right winger.

By his NHL draft year he filled out to 225lbs, and played regularly on the blue line. Despite his promising skill set, he was a mid round draft pick, selected 111th overall by the Edmonton Oilers.

Smith was not even the highest selected Steve Smith of his draft class. Taken in the 1st round, 16th overall by Philadelphia, was another Steve Smith, this one of Sault Ste. Marie.

That Steve Smith was supposed to be more of a sure bet, but he only played in 18 career NHL games.

Meanwhile the Oilers Smith went on to become one of better defensemen of his era, playing in 804 games, scoring 72 goals, 303 assists, and 375 points while winning three Stanley Cups and a Canada Cup.

We would be remiss to not mention his career 2139 penalty minutes, which is amazing given that he was not a noted fighter. Smith was an intimidating monster back on the blue line, not afraid to impose his 6'4" 220lb body on any incoming forward.

Blessed with balance and agility on his skates and ridiculously long reach, Smith was tough to beat one on one. He was also very good at reading the oncoming plays and was always in good position to defend.

Smith was much more than just one dimensional shut down defenseman. He had surprising mobility, able to cover more ice and maximize his physical impact. He could rush the puck out of the zone when needed, but more often than not relied on an effective first pass out of the zone to key the transition offense.

Smith had a solid offensive game, relying mostly on slapshot from the point. His shot was not particularly overwhelming, but he had a good knack to get the shot through traffic and on net.

Smith persevered after the playoff disaster to become one of the Oilers best defenders. When the Oilers recaptured the Stanley Cup in 1988, captain Wayne Gretzky immediately handed the silver chalice to young Smith.

As the dynasty became dismantled over the next few years, Smith became the Oilers top defender. At the same time he became a bit a whipping dog for coach John Muckler. Muckler obviously recognized Smith's resolve and used that to continuously prod him. He recognized Smith's unique package of skill and size, and wanted to use old-school coaching techniques to see Smith reach his potential.

Like so many of the Oilers Stanley Cup stars, contract disputes forced Smith out of town. In October 1991 the Oilers moved Smith to Chicago in exchange for Dave Manson and a draft pick used to select Kirk Maltby. Smith had sat out the Oilers training camp and was prepared to sit out the beginning of the season in search of a new contract.

In the first two seasons with Chicago Smith became a steady standout along side Chris Chelios in Chicago. Injuries derailed Smith's career over the final four years in Chicago. Twice Smith broke his leg, and he constantly battled a bad back. Smith would miss more games than he would be able to play in.

The Blackhawks did not want him in 1998. The back injury scared all teams away except for, of all teams, the Calgary Flames.

Smith joined the Flames and put in a yeoman's effort, playing through the pain to participate in 69 games while providing a badly needed veteran presence.

Smith's back would give out though. Combined with a severe concussion suffered against Minnesota, Smith would appear in only 33 games over the next two seasons, eventually being forced into retirement and behind the Flames bench as an assistant coach.

Source: Posted by Joe Pelletier Greatest Hockey Legends.com

It was his birthday, of course, happened to be. I can’t say how much that multiplied the misery for the man in question, if at all, or how much of a sting he still feels, 32 years on from that day in 1986 — like yesterday, April’s last — when, as a rookie defenceman for the Edmonton Oilers, he scored what has become hockey’s most famous self-inflicted goal, which I (obviously) don’t have to specify further due to how notorious it is, though maybe I should all the same (just to be clear) by naming the man now synonymous with putting a puck past your own surprised goaltender: Steve Smith.

Calgary was in Edmonton that long-ago day, playing Game 7 of the Smythe Division Final. Smith was 63 games into his career with the Oilers, who were hunting their third Stanley Cup in a row. He’d just turned — was still not finished turning — 23. The score was tied 2-2 when, at 5:14 of the third period, Smith found himself behind his own net, rapping the puck off Grant Fuhr’s leg, into that net, to score the goal that not only won the reviled Flames the game but eliminated the Oilers from the playoffs.

So, a big mistake. But other defencemen have done what Steve Smith did, in important games, as have lots of forwards. He’s the only one to have had his entire career as a hockey player reduced to a single misdirected pass. As recently as 2016, a writer in a major American magazine referred to Smith as having suffered “perhaps the most devastating embarrassment the NHL has ever seen.” Really — ever? How is it that his goal has become both the exemplar for hockey self-scoring and, for Smith, the act that has come to define an otherwise distinguished 16-year career on NHL bluelines to those of us who were watching the game in the 1980s? And how can that be fair?

I take this all a little personally. Smith is a player I’ve followed with special interest since he first skated into the NHL. At first my attention was almost entirely nominal. He’s not much older than me, and grew up in Cobourg, Ontario, just to the south of where I was in Peterborough. I ended up taller; he managed to win many more Stanley Cups than I ever could. It wasn’t hard to imagine his career as my own. No problem at all: I’ve got way more imagination, in fact, than I do actual hockey skills, so it was easy to fancy myself out there, numbered 5, in William-of-Orange/Oiler colours, alongside the most exciting players of the age, Gretzky and Messier and Kurri and Coffey.

Smith wasn’t exciting, but I liked his lanky style, which had just a hint, in those early years, of my own trying-too-hard clumsiness. I felt for him in 1986, and maybe even thought I could help him shoulder the burden. I couldn’t, of course — how could I? For a long time, years, any time I got on the ice for a beer-league game I did think demon thoughts about shooting the puck past my own goaltender midway through the third period. I never did it, though I’m pretty sure some of my teammates expected me to, also — especially the goaltenders.

•••

Smith’s old goal is old news, but it’s also (like everything else) as current and quick-to-the-fore as your Google search window. Search (go on) and the page that beams up with an efficiency that’s easy to mistake for eagerness shows Smith prostrate on the ice after the goal and tearful in the dressing room.

The goal has eternal life, of course, on YouTube. Funny Moments In Sports — Steve Smith Scores On Himself the footage there tends to be titled, and the commentaries run on and on. Some of them do their best to exonerate Smith —

Grant Fuhr should have been hugging the post when Smith attempted his pass

— while others are more interested in forensic dissections:

After about 50 viewings over 20 years, I finally see how it happened… Fuhr’s stick came downwards just as Smith passed the puck, and it went off Fuhr’s stick and in, Smith thought there was a lane there to clear it cause Fuhr’s stick was up at the time… does that sound right?

There’s every degree of pity, and plenty of character-witnessing—

Poor guy

if i didnt know any better it looks almost as if that was purposely done. but still i feel sorry for smith

this isnt funny

i played for steve smith. greatest guy in the world.

People enjoy the goal as entertainment —

lol you know whats funny. next season, when the oilers played the flames in the saddledome, flames fans would yell “SHOOOOT!!” when smith was behind his net looking for a play LOLOLOL. by the way, the 07 stanley cup was won by almost the exact same “anti-play”

and also count it as revenge —

Steve Smith is also the guy who made a dirty play that took Pavel Bure into the boards and hurt his knee. Bure was never the same again. Smith took out the most exciting player in the game at that time, what a jerk.

A conclusion drawn by some online commentators on the Smith goal?

oilers suck.

More formal reviews of what happened were plentiful, of course. Terry Jones was one who described the goal for newspaper readers the next morning with minimal drama:

When Steve Smith passed the puck from behind his net and hit goaltender Grant Fuhr on the back of his left leg, the puck bounced into the net, breaking a 2-2 tie and breaking the backs of the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions.

Jones wrote for The Edmonton Sun, so the headline went for maximum blare:

       BIGGEST BLUNDER EVER?

For a lede he went with “one of the biggest bonehead plays in the history of all sport.” There was a lot of that. Infamy is another  word that repeats through subsequent accounts of the goal, almost as abundantly as gaffe. Mentions of mortal wounds and witness protection programs follow on allusions to the caprice of the hockey gods. The Oilers’ collective overconfidence was seen early on as a contributing factor to what happened to them via Smith’s own goal, along with their arrogance.

Smith’s birthday featured prominently in the coverage, e.g. Rex MacLeod’s Toronto Star lede asserting that he will never forget the one in which he aged a lifetime.

Often recalled in the aftermath was the fact that Smith only played that night because Lee Fogolin was injured.

Flames’ winger Perry Berezan got the credit for the goal as the last Calgary player to touch the puck. “I think I am the only man in history to score a series-winning goal from the bench,” he said later. “I had dumped the puck into the Edmonton zone when I was front of my own bench, and I didn’t even see it go in. I remember how strange it was on the bench when the goal was scored. It was quiet. We were asking, What just happened? and guys were saying, Steve Smith bounced the puck off of Fuhr. It’s a goal!”

That’s a later take, so far as I can determine. On the night, Berezan was quoted as saying, “This is too unbelievable to be true” and “I couldn’t dream it any better.”

There was wide acknowledgement in those contemporary accounts that Berezan was the only native-born Edmontonian on Calgary’s roster, and that his birthday was Christmas Day, following which he grew up as an Oilers’ fan. Also: his uncle was the organist at the Edmonton’s Northlands Coliseum.

Berezan’s sympathy took year’s to emerge into the wild: until 2016, in fact, when Ben Arledge at ESPN The Magazine stirred the grave of Smith’s unmeant goal. This is the piece wherein you’ll see Smith’s mortification rated “the most devastating” the NHL has ever witnessed; other than that, it’s plausible. Berezan, interestingly, tells Arledge that he wanted to say something to Smith back in ’86, but he was 21, and some of the Flames veterans told him never to feel sorry for a beaten opponent, and so he kept quiet, not a word. “But,” he says, “I felt terrible for the guy.”

I doubt that Lanny McDonald was one of those unnamed veterans implicated here — that just doesn’t sound like Lanny. In the moment, right after it was over, McDonald made clear that Smith really had no choice in the matter. “When I saw the goal go in,” McDonald confided in the Calgary dressing room that night, “I couldn’t believe it. Then I felt it was meant to be. We did a lot of praying in this room and God finally answered our prayers.”

Huge, if true.

At the time, the Oilers seemed to have no inkling that He’d forsaken them. Over in their room, they were still focussed on the passion of Steve Smith.

“It’s not his fault,” Wayne Gretzky was saying after the Oilers had failed to tie it up. “One goal did not lose these playoffs.”

Rex MacLeod of The Toronto Star described him and several of his teammates as “red-eyed from weeping. “It was an unfortunate goal,” Gretzky said. “We tried not to let it bother us. We tried to keep our energy at a high level and I think we did. It was a big disappointment, but I’ve had a few before. It hurts when you’re good enough to win and you expect to win. That’s tough, but we lost fair and square to a team with a lot of heart.”

“I don’t think anyone in this room should be pointing a finger at another guy,” Gretzky also said. “I think you should look yourself in the mirror.

That raw-eyed 99 from just now I imagine standing there with his gear only half-off, naked to the shoulderpads, sadly sockfooted. But by the time Robin Finn of The New York Times got to studying him, he was showered and dressed. “His face freshly scrubbed and every burnished hair in place,” Finn wrote, “he stood and faced wave upon wave of microphones and pointed questions. He wore a white shirt and a brown tie flecked with dots of royal colors, and flecked, too, with stray tears. But Gretzky was in control, and the only evidence of his distress was in the fluttering of his eyelids as he politely answered all queries concerning his dethroning.”

Grant Fuhr said, “It was right on the back of my leg. I was trying to get back in the net, but I didn’t expect it to go through the crease.” He told someone else, “I can never recall a goal going in like that. You never expect something like that. I’m not real big on losing.”

Smith played not another second of the third period following the goal he scored on Berezan’s behalf. That was Edmonton coach Glen Sather’s decision, of course. “I feel sorry for Smith,” he told reporters when it was all over, “but I told him he can’t let it devastate him. He’s gonna be a good hockey player. I still think we’re a great hockey club, but I guess we still have some growing to do.”

Smith was devastated, but that didn’t stop him from facing the press. His eyes were wet and red, according to most accounts; Al Strachan, then of The Globe and Mail, has him “sobbing.” Either way, he would be roundly commended for failing to hide himself away. “Sooner or later I have to face it,” he said. Of course he was expected to explain what had happened. “I was just trying to make a pass out front to two guys circling,” an Associated Press dispatch has him saying. “It was a human error. I got good wood on it, it just didn’t go in the direction I wanted.”

Was there not one of those scribbling correspondents who might have stepped up to give the man a hug?

I guess not. Smith went on talking. “I’ve got to keep on living,” the papers all reported next day. “I don’t know if I’ll ever live this down, but I have to keep on living. The sun will come up tomorrow.”

It did, revealing new newspaper analyses of what Smith had wrought. George Vecsey of The New York Times called it a “true disaster.” Another reporter there tracked down Rangers’ defenceman Larry Melynk. He’d started the season as an Oiler, only to lose Sather’s confidence and have Smith supplant him before a trade took him to New York. “I would have fired it around the boards,” Melnyk opined. “Just stay with my game. Shoot it around the boards.” He wasn’t gloating, though. “What happened to him could have happened to anybody.”

There were examinations of what had gone wrong with the Oilers for every taste, including the worst possible. David Johnston of The Gazette felt sure that once “hockey pathologists” got around to conducting an autopsy, they would discover that the team had been suffering from “cancers” of both the soul and the mind, which would account for their having (“like Ernest Hemingway”) “turned their formidable weapons on themselves and committed suicide.”

•••

After I published my book Puckstruck in 2014, I had several conversations with passersbys at bookstore events who saw my name on the cover and lit up under the lightbulb that appeared over their heads.

Them: Hey. You played for the Oilers.
Me: No, no, not me, different guy. Better hockey player in terms of … everything hockey. And I go by Stephen, mostly.
Them: Oh. So you wrote Steve Smith’s biography?

No. That’s a book, so far, that’s still to be published. Smith hasn’t seen fit to/hasn’t had time for/has no interest in autobiographying — maybe one day? Several other frontline Oilers who’ve written memoirs have, of course, revisited that night in ’86.

Start with Kevin Lowe, whose autobiography/history of Edmonton hockey was guided by Stan and Shirley Fischler. Champions (1988) has this to say:

Steve Smith, our big young defenseman who had replaced the injured Fogie, was behind our net in the left corner looking to make our standard fast-break play. That means the puck goes up the ice pretty quick. Unfortunately, Steve kind of bobbled the puck a bit and he never did get good wood or a handle on it. Since he knew that the objective of the play was to do it as quickly as possible, he moved the rubber without having all the control he should. The puck just sprayed off his stick, hit the back of Grant’s left leg and went into the net. Just like that!

Here’s Jari Kurri, from 17 (2001), in an autobiography he authorized himself to write with Ari Mennander and Jim Matheson:

He tried a long cross-ice pass, but it bounced off the leg of Fuhr and into the net. Fuhr wasn’t hugging the post and Smith was a little too adventuresome. When the puck went in, Smith dove to the ice, covering his face, looking like he wanted the ice to open and swallow him up.

Grant Fuhr has published a couple of books of his own, starting with a manual for would-be puckstops, Fuhr On Goaltending, written with Bob Mummery’s aid and published in 1988. The Smith goal might seem like a perfect teaching moment for such a project as this, but there’s no mention of it, not on the page headed Asleep At The Switch, and not in Communication, either. “Be alert, concentrate on the puck, and stay in the game,” Fuhr advises in the former; in the latter, he specifically references teammates handling the puck behind the net. But only, as it turns out, to remind novice goalkeeps that a defenceman back there must be kept informed about incoming opponents. “Keep up the chatter,” he says.

In 2014, with Bruce Dowbiggin lending a hand, the goaltender published a fuller memoir. But Grant Fuhr: The Story of a Hockey Legend doesn’t go into even as much detail when it comes to “the lovely Steve Smith goal” as Fuhr did the night of. The playoffs, Fuhr concedes, ended on “a crushing note,” which marked “kind of a gloomy end to a gloomy month:” his father had died two weeks earlier. Next up: the Oilers were only a few days into their off-season when Sports Illustrated published an exposé alleging cocaine use by sundry Oilers, including Fuhr.

“That month,” he concludes, “kind of turned everything bad.”

Number 99 got his account out in Gretzky: An Autobiography (1990), which he crafted with Rick Reilly’s help. Here’s how they frame the goal:

Steve Smith was this big, good-looking defenseman of ours, only twenty-three years old, a future star, a Kevin Lowe protégé. He is a real smart player, but that night he made a mistake. He took the puck in our own corner and tried to clear it across the crease: the cardinal no-no in hockey. It’s like setting a glass of grape juice on your new white cashmere rug. You could do it, but what’s the percentage in it? Without a single Flame around, the puck hit the back of Grant’s left calf and caromed back into our net. Hardly anybody in the arena saw it but the goal judge did. The Flames suddenly led 3-2. It was a horrible, unlucky, incredible accident, but it happened. Steve came back to the bench and, for a minute, looked like he’d be all right. But then he broke down in tears.

The fact that Gretzky’s most recent book, 99 Stories of the Game (2016, assist to Kirstie McLellan Day), makes only passing mention of Smith, and none of his infamous goal, might seem to signal that the story has been wholly written, nothing more to say. Two books from 2015 undermine that notion.

I briefly held out some hope that Gail Herman’s Who Is Wayne Gretzky? might prove to be an existential tell-all by 99’s rogue therapist, but it’s nothing like that.

It is, instead, a handsome 106-page biography intended for younger readers. It’s abundantly illustrated by Ted Hammond and (if it does say so itself) “fun and exciting!” The young readers it’s intended for, I’d have to say, would be non-Canadian and hockey-oblivious. If you are such a youthful person, an 11-year-old, say, living on a far-flung Scotland Hebride that wifi has yet to reach, and yet still, somehow, you’ve developed a curiosity about hockey that so far hasn’t divulged what exactly Brantford, Ontario’s own paragon could do and did, then this is just the book for you, congratulations, and hold on: you are going to learn a lot about Gretzky.

You’re also going to come away with a full understanding of Smith’s renowned goal. Chapter 8 is the where you’ll find what you’re after on that count, the one entitled “Dynasties and Dating.” The latter has to do with what followed after Wayne went to a basketball game in 1987 in Los Angeles and this happened: “American actress and dancer Janet Jones came over to say hello.” More important for our purposes here is what happens two pages earlier, back on the ice as the Oilers battle for the 1986 Cup, and well, guess what.

To Herman, no matter what Steve Smith did, the puck had its own agenda:

Oilers defenseman Steve Smith skated to the net to stop a goal by the Flames. He tried to clear the puck. But the puck hit the Oilers’ goalie, Grant Fuhr, on the leg. Then it bounced into the net.

The graphic generosity Herman pays to Smith is worth noting, too: in Chapter Eight’s six pages, he features in no fewer than three line-drawings, which is as many as Janet Jones gets, just before she becomes Mrs. Gretzky in Chapter Nine.

The Battle of Alberta can’t compete when it comes to illustrations. But what Mark Spector’s 2015 history of the years of Oiler-Flame rivalry lacks in artwork, it makes up with what may be the definitive post mortem, devoting a full 15 pages to what happened that night in a chapter titled “The Right Play The Wrong Way: Oiler Steve Smith’s Unforgettable Goal.”

Spector begins by recounting how, in the immediate aftermath of what he calls “the worst experience of [Smith’s] life,” the wretched defenceman found a grim joke to offer. “I got good wood on it,” Spector has him telling reporters. “I thought the puck went in fast.”

Maybe that’s right. But looking back at the contemporary accounts, only the first phrase seems to have appeared in any of the immediate coverage of the game in the spring of 1986.

Reporters at the scene who took down “I got good wood on it” tend to have heard what came next as “it just didn’t go in the direction I wanted.” (Kevin Paul Dupont of The Boston Globe heard “but not in the direction I hoped.”) The original is self-deprecating rather than actually humorous, and doesn’t so fully support Spector’s framing premise that Smith was “having a laugh at his own misfortune.” It’s no more than a minor mystery, I’ll grant you. But given the descriptions of the mood in the Oiler room, and of Smith’s own demeanor on the night, I’m skeptical that anyone heard him jibing about the speed of the puck that night. From what I can glean, Spector’s amended version doesn’t seem to have shown up before a 2010 article of Jim Matheson’s in The Edmonton Journal.

Otherwise? Spector calls Smith another mobile defenceman who could fight and play. He describes him as gangly. He asserts that he took nothing for granted and (cleverly) not good enough to feel any entitlement.

Spector does provide a valuable service in breaking down just what Smith was attempting to do. As Kevin Lowe tells him, this was the Oilers’ new quick-up play designed to catch an opponent offguard as they dumped the puck in and changed. The centreman and maybe a winger would be waiting high up on the opposite boards, over by the penalty boxes. “You just went back and you almost didn’t look,” Lowe explained. “You just forced it up to the spot.”

But then: “Fuhrsie was a little late getting back in the net, and Smitty just tried to cut the corner a bit.”

“He’s gonna be a good hockey player,” Glen Sather said back on that April night, and so it proved. When the Oilers roared back in 1987 to win another Cup, Smith and his story arc’d to a perfect redemptive close. “A year after Smith’s mistake,” Spector writes,

after the Oilers had regained their place atop the hockey world with a seven-game ouster of Philadelphia in the Final, Gretzky made a classy gesture when he handed the Stanley Cup to Smith and sent him off on a celebratory whirl around the Northlands Coliseum ice.

It didn’t end there, of course. As noted on the Oilers’ own Heritage website,

Smith persevered and became one of the key players of the team’s drive for three more Cups in 1987, 1988, and 1990. Smith best year came in 1987-88, when he scored 12 goals, added 43 assists, and received 286 penalty minutes. Smith proved he was a tough customer, and the disastrous goal was nothing more than a fluke.

Gretzky has gone even further. Diligent, down the years, in making sure Smith’s name stays cleared, Gretzky has even claimed that the Oilers were actually fortunate to lose in ’86. “I know that sounds strange,” he’s reasoned, “but sometimes you lose for a reason. After that season, we made some changes, got hungrier, and stopped thinking we had sole rights to the Stanley Cup. Maybe Smith won us two more Cups. Who knows?”

Smith himself has said that the whole experience was life-changing. “It taught me humility,” he told Spector. Ben Arledge talked to him about this, too, in the ESPN piece. “I really believe that incident had a lot to do with making me a much humbler person,” Smith said to him. “It probably taught me more about humility than a person could ever learn. From that day forward, I sincerely cheered for people. I didn’t want to see people fail. I didn’t want to ever see people have that type of day.”

Mark Spector’s Battle of Alberta chapter comes with a fairly perfect ending, in which Smith tells of playing a subsequent pre-season game in Calgary. The fact that Spector doesn’t bother to date it could indicate that he (a) preferred to render it as legend as much as a fact or (b) couldn’t be bothered. It did happen, on a Tuesday night, September 25, 1990, in front of a crowd of 20,132 fans who, as usual, called for Smith to “shooooot” every time he touched the puck. Smith was prepared, having warned Oilers’ goaltender Bill Ranford that there might come a point in the game where he actually did just that. “And,” Smith told him, “you’d better fuckin’ stop it.”

And so it happened, in the first period, that Smith lobbed a backhand at Ranford that the goaltender did, indeed, save. Smith raised his stick to the Calgary faithful who, it’s reported, laughed.

“The whole place stood up and gave me a standing ovation,” Smith tells Spector. “It was kinda cool. For the most part, they left me alone after that.”

Source: Stephen Smith author of Puckstruck

"It’s rare to find a book that makes me proud to be Canadian" -Michael Winter 

COBOURG PLANT OPENS DOORS TO PUBLIC SATURDAY

Reprint from Cobourg Sentinel-Star June,1970

This is Winchester Canada's big week in Cobourg. The company and its 265 employees have just moved into their new 86,000 sq. ft. plant on Brook Road North, and on Thursday official dedication ceremonies will be held. This Saturday - June 13 - citizens of Cobourg and district are invited to visit the new plant and see how world-renowned Winchester and Cooey guns are made. Employees were the first to open the celebrations with a big family tour a few weeks ago.

On Thursday, with Cobourg resident and Canadian president and general manager John E. Feldhaus as host, the new plant will be dedicated at 2 p.m.. Attending will be Alex Carruthers, MPP, Durham, Russell Rowe MPP., Northumberland, Mayor Jack Heenan and members of council, with Rev. George Malcolm, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church and chairman of the Cobourg Council of Churches giving the invocation. 

Special company guests in Cobourg will include Harlow Reed, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of the $1 billion-plus parent U.S. Olin Corp and William L. Wallace, Winchester Group vice-president.

The company has recently moved from its former plant in the town's west end, where it had been located since coming to Cobourg in 1929. Winchester Canada Limited sells a full range of Winchester guns imported from the U.S. as well as those made in Cobourg. There is also an ammunition plant at Cobourg. 

Beginning in Toronto as the H.W. Cooey Machine & Arms Co. Limited, in 1903, its founder was a machinery specialist. During World War I, the company produced small arms parts and other machinery, always conscious of quality and good design.

Just after the war Mr. Cooey himself designed the famous Cooey .22 caliber rifle which soon became well recognized across Canada as well as internationally. By 1929, there had been several expansions in Toronto and Mr. Cooey bought a vacant plant in Cobourg and the company came here. During World War II of course, war production was vitally important to the Cooey plant, and out came parts for guns as well as training rifles.

In 1961, when Mr. Cooey died the company was sold to the then Olin Mathieson Chemical Corp., under the Winchester-Western division. Several new lines were brought into company activity, a large expansion of plant and office space undertaken, and employment began to jump from under 100 up to today's 265.

Here's Winchester's Management team

Cobourg's Winchester plant is headed by an energetic management team with Canadian president and general manager John E. Feldhaus at its head.
Mr. Feldhaus joined Winchester Canada in October, 1968 after 18 years with the U.S. parent company. He is a graduate of Westminster College, Fulton, Mo., and has an MBA from St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo. 

In 1950, he became a management trainee with the U.S. company, and moved successively and successfully through positions as a business research analyst, marketing assistant, assistant to division general manager, to marketing research manager, assistant director of sales to a 1967 posting as director of market planning. Just under two years ago, he came to Cobourg to head Canadian operations. In the community, he is a director of the Chamber of Commerce, and involved in church and Boy Scout activities.

Many of the other executives are also well known.
Charlie Thompson, director of manufacturing, joined the company early in 1967, and is a former materials manager at Canadian Trailmobile and project manager at Canadian Westinghouse. He is a professional engineer, graduate of Upper Canada College and University of Toronto. 

Frank Moore, director of marketing, has been with the company since 1962. He is in charge of marketing, sales and distribution of Winchester-Cooey firearms and Winchester ammunition throughout Canada. Under his direction also come product service, advertising and public relations, field force, customer service, market planning and the Quebec branch. 

Previously, he was a sporting goods manager in Vancouver, a merchandise manager for sporting goods in Winnipeg, then a Winchester field representative for seven years before becoming director or marketing last year.

Jim Morse, controller, has been two years at Winchester. He is in charge of accounting, analysis, office administration. Previously he was a financial analyst with Massey Ferguson and Ford of Canada. He is a graduate of University of Toronto with a BA and MBA. 

George Cook, manager of technical services, has been four years with the company, and is responsible for quality control and new product design and development. He was a toolmaker in the U.K., a gun fitter with the British armed forces, and a toolroom foreman in guided missile division of English Electric Company in the U.K.

Harold Nelson, industrial relations manager, since 1966 is known throughout the Cobourg community and is very much involved in a number of community ventures, including the IAPA, Cancer Society and Chamber of Commerce. He is responsible for the usual duties of personnel and labor relations, but also for a special duty of "community relations". Previously he was with Canadian Westinghouse in personnel work.

Bill Long, manager, ammunition manufacturing, has been with Winchester since 1962. He was in the Canadian armed forces from 1943 to 1959 and was then ammunition plant superintendent for Gevelot. He is commanding officer of the local Air Cadet squadron and a member of the education branch of the RCAF Reserve.

Costs $2 Million

Total cost of the new Winchester plant is well over $2 million. When work began on the 50-acre site last summer, costs were estimated at $2,198,000.

Ontario Development Corp, a provincial government agency, granted a $250,000 forgivable loan to help finance the project; the loan does not have to be repaid, provided the company meets certain conditions over a six-year period. It was provided under the province's "Equalization of Industrial Opportunity Program".

*********************

45 Winchester employees over 15 years with firm

Reprint from Cobourg Sentinel-Star June, 1970
 
Winchester Canada is proud of its many long service employees. While it has been a steadily growing company - now with 265 people or three times its figure of 10 years ago - there are still several who have been working with the company from its earliest years in Cobourg. Steve Niles and Walter Lloyd both started within a few days of each other in October, 1929 with H.W. Cooey Machine and Arms Company Limited. They now have nearly 41 years service.

George Dawe joined Cooey in 1931; Albert Dawe in 1934. By June 18 this year there will be 18 employees with over 25 years service. That's the anniversary date of Maurice Alderson's joining the company in 1945. There are 44 Winchester people with 15 years or over with the company; 54 with 10 years and over. Following is the list of present-employees with 10 years or over service with Winchester or Cooey, and the dates of their joining the company:

OVER 40 YEARS
1929    Steve Niles    Walter Lloyd    
OVER 30 YEARS
1931    George Dawe        
1934    Albert Dawe        
1937    Harold Mason        
1940    Harry Lamble    Howard Boundy    Hayden Lean
OVER 25 YEARS
1941    John Hilliard    Clarence Hynes    
1943    William Lingard  Laura Batchelor  Phyllis Cochrange
            Erwin Hie        Carson Andrews    Norah Wilby
1945    Neil Hobart      Albert Speirs         Maurice Alderson
OVER 15 YEARS
1946    Louis Davey        
1947    Ruby Kemp    Ruby Lean    Marion Long    John Ling        
1949    Mary Bourgeois  George Heeley   John Wielonda
            James Ford    John McEntee    
1951    John Kniff       Cecil Sherwin    Ruth Bolderstone
1952    Charles Dewey   William Wamsley   Herbert Kniff
            Helen Oliver   Phyllis Ling    Ralph Farrell
1953    Irene Dawe  Austin Gall  Reta Wood  Bernice Massey  Jack Bell    
1954    Edward Bell   Patricia Petruk    
OVER 10 YEARS
1957    Dora Boundy   Frank Ferguson    Edith Ford
1958    Arnold Holdsworth   Kevin Perrow    Grace Griffiths
            Hendricus Jacobs        
1959    Douglas Sopher    Henry Raggers    
1960    Owen Cooney        

*********************

Winchester Closing Will Change Their Lives
BY SUSAN EDWARDS

Reprinted from Cobourg Daily Star October 9, 1979

Winchester Canada in Cobourg is closing at the beginning of the new year. The assembly and manufacture of guns, rifles and ammunition presently employs about 300 people in a town of 11,000.

"The prospect of being unemployed bothers you," said a woman employee who asked not to be identified, "because you don't know what's next." The employee, a woman in her early twenties, works in the ammunition plant assembling and packing .22 caliber bullets. She has worked for Winchester in both the firearms and the ammunition factories for five years.

“You don't know how many shifts you'll be on," she said. “Right now I'm in a car pool with some people who work here and my babysitter knows my schedule." She lives with her husband and young child in a hamlet near Cobourg. They have their own home and have a small loan to pay.

"There are going to be a lot of us out there looking for work," she said. "Chances may not be that good of getting something right away. You put your name in a few places and wait and see."

Winchester Canada is the second biggest employer in Cobourg. According to the town's figures for 1977: General Foods Ltd. employs 925 people, United Tire 230, General Electric 210 and General Wire and Cable around 200. There are a number of smaller factories with work forces of less than 100.

The employee said that she will be looking for a job in a plant after Winchester closes. She likes working in a factory, she said. "The pay is better. You come to work, do your job, leave and you don't have to think about it ". Although she has received her notice - along with 46 other employees who will be leaving November 23 - she has not actively searched for work because there is a possibility that the manufacturing business may be purchased by another company.

According to Norman Cant, the director of operations for Winchester Canada, a company, so far unnamed, has offered to help finance a deal which would include the participation of both management and workers. A similar arrangement was made with the employees of Pioneer Saws in Peterborough a few years ago when it was scheduled to close.

Ever since the Winchester management announced on August 21 that the manufacturing and assembly plants would be phased out, Cant has been looking for a new owner. At the time of the announcement, Cant said that the company had three options to investigate for the disposal of the physical facilities. 

The first, he said, would be to find a group which would be interested in purchasing the business as an on-going concern. "We want to sell the plant with the equipment and the existing labor force."

The second, he said was to sell the plant, the machinery and the expertise of the employees to a metal wood industry.

The third option which he mentioned was to sell the company's assets, the buildings, which consist of two plants, one with 122,000 square feet and the second of 12,000 square feet, the equipment and the 63 acres of land, 32 of which are serviced, as separate parcels.

However, in August, Cant said that the management "was not ready to take that direction yet." It is November and he is still negotiating to sell the business.

Cant has a vested interest in finding a company to purchase the firearm business. As soon as he winds up the affairs of Winchester Canada sometime towards the end of February, he too will be looking tor work. Cant who is fiftyish and has a house and family in Cobourg said "I'm energetically seeking a new owner because that is the way I'm going to remain employed." He added immediately, "I firmly believe that this business could make a go of it."

His statement is not just wishful thinking. The H.W. Cooey Machine and Arms Company operated in Cobourg from 1929, the year it moved from Toronto, to 1961, when the Olin Corporation bought it and placed it under the supervision of the Winchester Group, whose head office is located in New Haven, Connecticut.

In fact New Haven is the place where the decision to close the manufacturing and assembly plants of Winchester Canada originate. The sales and distribution offices will remain open.

The Winchester Group is one of five within the multi-national Olin Corporation, whose head office is in Stamford, Connecticut. Apart from the Winchester Group which produces fire-arms, ammunition and components for military, industrial and recreational use, the Olin Corporation also owns chemical, paper, home, ski and water businesses in 23 countries around the world.

According to Cant, each group within the Olin Corporation. including the Winchester group, operate as a separate entity and must "stand on its own feet." Winchester however has not been standing firmly for a while. Duncan Barnes, a spokesperson for the Winchester Group in New Haven, said that the company has not shown a profit for several years.

He said that the group's losses were one of the reasons that Olin’s third quarter profit for 1979 dropped to $10.8 million from $18.3 million in 1978. He said that the gains in the other groups covered the losses in Winchester. The poor profit record of the Winchester Group, Cant said, resulted in a study in early 1978 of its world-wide operation in order to learn "what the company was doing wrong and what it was doing right."

The report, Cant continued. recommended that the group concentrate on manufacturing the higher-priced recreational firearms rather than guns and rifles throughout the price spectrum. The operation in Cobourg produces the lower priced Cooey range of firearms which, Cant said, no longer fits into the future of the Winchester Group.

Cant went on to say that because the lower priced firearms are being discontinued in the United Stales as well as in Canada, there is room in the American plants to make the Winchester rifles and guns which are presently assembled in Cobourg. The parent company's decision to specialize, Cant said, also fit with the fact that the assembly division of Winchester Canada became unprofitable when the Canadian dollar started to decline.

He said Winchester which was a net importer of goods was losing 14 to 17 per cent on the dollar whenever a shipment of parts for the Cobourg plant crossed the border and each time Winchester Canada transferred money to the Winchester Group in New Haven. Consequently, in August, Winchester Canada announced that production would be phased out in an orderly manner over the next few months."

One woman employee remembers that Tuesday afternoon. She said that they had heard a lot of rumors beforehand. "We thought the place had been sold and that the management had not told us. When we heard that it was going to close down we said That’s it."

Joe Leduc, a shipper, and the vice president of the International Association of Machinist-local 788 had also heard rumors before the announcement. He thought that there would be layoffs and cut backs, but not that the business would be closed down. He said that he was shocked when he heard the announcement. 

"Then after about two weeks I became disappointed. Disappointed because it seems that a multinational corporation has come into this country, taken what it wanted and pulled out. When the company fell onto hard times in Canada, it left." Perhaps, Leduc is luckier than most of the 207 people who presently work in the plants. As he sits on the union committee he will remain on the job until the end of the year.

Nevertheless, he will be out of work in January and despite an array of working experience which includes waiting on tables in a cocktail lounge, driving an ambulance, guarding prisoners and working in a garage, the 51- year-old Leduc thinks that he will have a hard time finding work. "It's tougher now to get a job,” he said. "My age will be a problem."

Leduc has not started to look for another job yet as he has not been given his notice - Winchester is giving 12 weeks notice to every employee - and he said it would be unethical to look for work until he has received it. Although he owns his own house outright and does not owe any money, Leduc doubts that he would be able to manage on less than his present pay cheque. 

"I don't think I live extravagantly or have a high lifestyle," he said, adding, "I live on the lean now." "I would take a job within a 25- mile radius of my house, he continued. "I don't want to move. I have worked all my life for the home I have now."

Winchester is trying to help Leduc and others find work. Allan Jeffers, the director of administration and personnel, said that the company has joined forces with Employment and Immigration Canada, and together they have organized two committees, one for salaried and one for hourly-rated employees to place people in new jobs. 

The committees are staffed by two members of the group concerned, two people from management and the chairman of the program, Mr. Clifford Cadd, an outsider with no interest other than to help. Jeffers said that the employees are asked to complete a questionnaire listing their skills and interests, then Cadd, he continued, "goes out and pounds on doors."

The company is also holding outplacement seminars for managers, technologists, and supervisors, who, too, will soon be out of work. Jeffers explained that the seminars are conducted by a representative from Olin. Their purpose, he went on, is to put people in the right frame of mind to find a new position through self-analysis and evaluation, resume and letter preparation and recruitment and interview plans.

Finally Winchester has taken the management from other local industries on a tour through the two plants to show them the variety and types of skills which their employees possess, Jeffers said. Jeffers is concerned about the problems the employees will face while looking for work. In the new year, he will be facing them too.

Although Jeffers, who is 40, married and has two children and a house to support does not want to be unemployed, he said that he was not frightened by the prospect "I'm going to be as positive as possible,” he said. “I will move if a good career opportunity develops. I'm not closing the doors to any job.” 

It has been the union, the International Association of Machinists, local 788, which has been actively seeking support from all levels of government for any company which purchases the firearm business from Winchester Canada. Ben Burd, the president of the union and the union committee has talked with Alan Lawrence, the federal minister for corporate and consumer relations and Larry Grossman, the provincial minister for industry, trade and tourism. Both promised unspecified aid to the company which offers to purchase the firearm business.

Burd and his committee have also approached the Cobourg town council to ask for a 50 per-cent reduction in municipal taxes for the first year or years to the company which purchases the business. Members of the council said that they thought the proposal had merit and that they would discuss it further. In spite of the efforts of management to find a buyer and the union to round up government support for it, the business remains unsold and the company is starting to wind down its operations.

Thirty-six people will he laid off on November 10 and 47 on November 23. By the end of December, all 207 plant employees will be out of work as well as about 30 of the office staff. In Cobourg with retail sales of approximately $50 million a year Winchester's annual payroll of $3.5 million will be missed; however, probably not as sorely as the individual pay cheques.

"I'm working now and getting a pay cheque," said one woman employee. "When I don't have my pay cheque, then I will know what it is like." Right now, when I go shopping. I don't worry about prices " she continued. "When I am through here, I will have to think about them."

Reprint courtesy Calibre Magazine 

For a variety of reasons, the history of the gun industry in Canada is somewhat abbreviated. While our neighbors to the south lay claim to such storied names as Horace Smith, John Browning, Eugene Stoner, and even one of our own in John C. Garand, Canada’s own experience in the realm of gunmaking has been generally sporadic and typically short-lived. Sure, we had the Ross rifle for a while there, but we all know how long that lasted. Then came John Inglis, who’s huge manufacturing firm did turn out massive quantities of legitimately excellent Hi-Power pistols and a myriad of machine guns for the Allied war effort… but now produces far less exciting products in the form of home appliances. And of course today we have Colt Canada, nee Diemaco. But even as difficult as Colt Canada’s, Inglis’, and Ross’ businesses ventures have proven to be, all have been predominantly federally-supported arsenal efforts. The civilian side of the industry has had an even tougher road to hoe.

Cooey participated in local parades; trucking racks of long guns around town

But a few decades ago, long before the socio-cultural political assault on gun ownership began in this country, one company rose from a single ignominious machine shop in Toronto to a mainstay of our national firearms industry: The H. W. Cooey Machine & Arms Company.

Like almost all great gunmakers, the story of Cooey begins with the story of a single man: Herbert William Cooey. After dropping out of an apprenticeship with the Grand Trunk Railroad and quitting a job on an assembly line, the then 23 year-old H. W. Cooey opened his first machine shop up at the corner of Queen Street and Spadina Avenue in Toronto in 1903, referring to himself as a “mechanical expert and practicing machinist.”

Cooey’s first plant at Spadina & York

By 1907 he’d proven his own (rather arrogant) statement to be at least partly true, when he took the wraps off an automobile of his own design that incorporated a couple innovative features, including a pre-heated fuel source and double exhaust valves. At the same time, he’d also proven a shrewd businessman, and after just four years in business the H.W. Cooey Machine Shop was forced to move across town into a larger shop at Bridgman and Howland Avenue in order to meet the demand for young Herbert’s talents.

But it wouldn’t be until the First World War that Cooey would turn his prosperous machine shop towards the manufacturing of firearms. Called into action to make various small rifle parts (including the folding peep sights fitted to the aforementioned ill-fated Ross rifle) and small-bore training rifles, Herbert Cooey’s firm rapidly set about gaining a reputation for building extremely high quality parts.

At the conclusion of hostilities, Cooey’s already successful firm found itself buoyed even further by their extensive war effort and the substantial funds it earned as a result, and Herbert wasn’t prepared to let the momentum slow. Having already seen huge successes from his time as a manufacturer of firearm parts for the Ross rifle, he began working on a complete rifle of his own design.

Debuting in 1919 as the Cooey Canuck, this single-shot .22 bolt-action rifle was an overnight sensation, and proved to be one of the most popular rifles of its time. Considered highly accurate but very affordably priced, the Canuck gained international acclaim in 1924, when the rifle won the Certificate of Honour at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park; an industrial exposition created “to stimulate trade, strengthen bonds that bind mother Country to her Sister States and Daughters, to bring into closer contact the one with each other, to enable all who owe allegiance to the British flag to meet and know each other.” Winning a Certificate of Honour there was no small feat either; the Exhibition was the largest ever staged in the world in 1924, costing 12 million pounds and being attended by 27 million people.

Herbert Cooey and his wife, Suzannah

At the same time as Cooey’s Canuck was earning fanfare at the Exhibition, Herbert himself was working towards earning some accolades of his own at the 1924 Olympics held in Paris, France. Supplying the Canadian national team with the guns they would use in no less than 10 shooting events, Herbert himself shot with the Canadian men’s trap team, who would go on to win silver at the games.

By now the company known as H. W. Cooey Machine & Gear had committed itself to the manufacture of sporting arms, and changed its name to reflect that, becoming the H. W. Cooey Machine & Arms Company. Advertising the ever-popular Canuck (later renamed the Ace) in a myriad of papers and magazines, Cooey continued to put forth an image of excellent quality and wasn’t afraid to say so with ads that read “Make mine a Cooey – I want the best,” and “Don’t Take a Substitute.” But it was the ad in a 1922 issue of Rod & Gun Canada that perhaps best defined the Cooey rifle as “The ideal Christmas present for the red-blooded boy, whether he lives in the city, the town or the country.”

Cooey’s Single-Shot Rifles: The Cooey Canuck & Model 39

The Cooey Canuck set the stage for what would become, over the course of literally decades, one of the most iconic of Cooey firearms: The single-shot .22. Perhaps best known as the Model 39, this action would also come to be known as the Ace, the Bisley Sport, Model 75, and perhaps a dozen other models, brands, and assorted nomenclatures.

The Cooey single-shot .22 rifle would birth dozens of various models throughout its lifetime

The first of Cooey’s designs, this single-shot action that seems so rudimentary today was quite innovative when new, due in large part to the unique automatic half-cock safety. Billed by Herbert as a “patent pending system” (although there is no evidence of patents having ever been filed) this system employed a two-part bolt that used a half-cock notch on the striker assembly to retain the striker behind the bolt face when the bolt was closed, but did not actually bring the action to a fully cocked position. To do that, the shooter would have to grasp the tail of the closed bolt, and pull rearward. This engaged the striker upon the sear and completed the task of readying the rifle for firing.

As a result of this system, the Cooey Canuck was considered one of the safest rifles of its day, which combined with its diminutive calibre to make it popular among younger shooters and, more importantly, their parents. But don’t let that fool you: This is no toy. Although various models were obviously aimed at (no pun intended) younger audiences of the day, plenty of adults flocked to the early single-shot Cooey rifles due in no small part for their exemplary reputation for accuracy. Even today, well used examples are easily capable of shooting with accuracy that is on par with or better than many mainstream modern bolt-action .22s. And since they are some of the most simple, slow-shooting guns you’ll ever come across, it is highly unlikely that anything will have been worn out through too much use!

Simple, reliable, and safe, the Cooey made for an excellent gift for hundreds of thousands of young Canadians

By 1929, demand for Cooey rifles had outgrown the production capacity of Herbert’s facility at Howland and Bridgman, so the new Cooey Machine & Arms Company left Toronto in favour of a new facility in Cobourg. Taking over what was Cobourg’s largest industrial building and the former home of the Ontario Woollen Mill, the new building offered four and a half stories of square footage, and gave the firm the increased manufacturing capacity Herbert desperately needed in order to grow. And grow he did… by creating yet another iconic Canadian rifle: The Cooey repeater.

A Repeater Is Born: The Model 60 & Model 600

At the heart of Cooey’s new repeater was a new action, pictured here in the author’s Model 600, and easily identifiable by a new notch cut into the receiver to accept the cocking lug on the striker; Cooey’s first actual safety. With the rifle cocked, the bolt tail is pulled rearward and rotated, placing the cocking lug into the slot and preventing the rifle from firing. Coincidentally, as some of these more modern Cooey rifles wear, they can end up re-acquiring the automatic safety system of their forebears as the striker frustratingly ends up sliding into the safety notch upon closing the bolt. But that’s nothing that can’t be fixed! Furthermore, the half-cock notch of the earlier action was retained, allowing the rifle to be carried uncocked, but loaded and with the action closed.

The later Cooey Model 60 and Model 600 tube magazine-fed rifle continued the single-shot’s success

Of course, a faster action would be useless without a magazine to feed it, and at the time during which this Cooey repeater was being created there was no clear winner in the rimfire war; .22 Short, Long, and Long Rifle were all still commonly available and widely used. So, Herbert knew his repeater needed to be capable of carrying, chambering, and firing all three. And that meant one thing: He needed a tubular magazine. Slung below the action, with a removable follower, and a small loading port positioned forward and at the 6 o’clock position the Model 60’s magazine was long enough to swallow 11 rounds of .22 Long Rifle ammunition.

Marked as a Winchester rifle, this Cooey 600 was one of the rifles made after the Cobourg firm was purchased by Olin-Winchester, but before the plant moved to Lakefield

But that desire to remain compatible with three very different lengths of ammunition also meant that rounds would need to be fed from the magazine directly onto the bolt face using a Mauser-style controlled round feed. This brings us to yet another significant update to the venerable Cooey design; the dual spring-steel extractors on the bolt face. Wrapping around the top of the bolt, with protruding and bevelled claws stretching around the bolt face, this simple piece of stamped spring-steel allowed rounds to rise out of the magazine and be held affixed to the bolt face as the bolt was closed. The bevelled extractors prevented the round from rising too high on the bolt face, and the magazine below prevented the round from sitting too low on the bolt face, meaning the round would sit at approximately the right height to allow it to feed into the chamber, and the bolt to close behind it. During extraction, the dual extractor claws provided a ton of gripping area to pull the fired casing out of the chamber, and allowed the next round to push the fired casing up and out from between the spring steel claws, which would snap back around the loaded round now on the bolt face, allowing the cycle to repeat.

As one of Cooey’s most popular rifles, the Cooey Repeater (best known as the 60 and 600 but also having been available under numerous other names) was rugged and reliable, and brought the same level of accuracy Cooey’s single shot rifles were known for to a much more practical package. However, there is no getting around the fact that these are far more complex rifles, and they can be incredibly frustrating when they start to break down. Key parts to keep an eye on include the spring steel extractor, the magazine tube, and the follower. Usually, problems of unreliable ejection can be traced back to shooters too softly working the action, as the rifle’s ability to properly eject and feed rounds is directly related to the force with which the action is manipulated. However, be judicious in your heavy-handedness, as you obviously don’t want to beat the gun up unnecessarily.

The relatively unique Cooey action still works reliably all these years later, but parts can be difficult to source

Having created the wildly popular Model 60 repeating rifle in 1939, Cooey once again soon found himself embroiled in another war-effort economy. And again, he tooled up to support the effort, creating the Model 82 training rifle during World War II (which earned a contract for the procurement of 34,810 rifles by the army and R.C.A.F. Air Cadet Corps). Designed to mimic the look and, to a lesser degree, the handling of a full-size Lee Enfield rifle the Model 82 or M82 was little more than a Lee Enfield-style stock on a convention Model 39. However, the rifle’s historical relevance and relative rarity make it something of a collector’s piece today. And coincidentally, many are still in active service with the Royal Canadian Air Cadet Corp! But, just like in the months and years following World War I, the Cooey firm was keen to keep growing, and expanding their product offerings. So, with Herbert’s son Hubert taking on much of the design work at the company, the two Cooeys directed their engineering talents towards Cooey senior’s own passion: Shotguns.

The Model 84: Cooey’s Break-Action Smoothbore

It is somewhat fitting that one of the first guns designed by Hubert Cooey would also represent a massive departure from the Cooey tradition of rimfire rifle manufacturing. However, as disparate as a smoothbore may have been from Cooey’s bread and butter, Hubert was obviously raised in the Cooey culture and so knew that any shotgun bearing the Cooey name needed to marry practicality, reliability, and value. The best solution? A single-shot break-action.

The Cooey 84/840 is a Canadian gem; handling very nicely and proving incredibly robust

A massive change from the usual Cooey production, the Model 84 debuted in 1948 as a svelte and compact single-shot break-action shotgun in .410, 28-, 20-, 16-, and 12-guage. Simplicity was at the forefront of Hubert’s mind while creating the 84, as the simple single-shot design kept the lockwork separate from the action and required the shooter load the gun and then cock it in a separate action unlike many other break-action shotguns. As a result, shooters were expected to keep the gun broken or uncocked until ready to shoot, so there are no external safeties. Barrel lengths varied greatly from 26” to 36” long, and although early models were restricted to 2-3/4” long chambers, later Model 840s (the nomenclature change denoting guns made after the 1961 acquisition of Cooey Machine & Arms Co. by Winchester) had 3” long chambers.

The ethos of simplicity is even more evident in breaking the Model 84 down. Unlike most other break-action guns, there is no latch under the fore-end to secure the forestock to the barrels; instead it is simply held in place by spring tension. Simply pulling the forestock away from the barrels releases it. From there, the gun is further broken down by opening the action (which, coincidentally, can be done by pushing the lever left or right) and pulling the barrels off their pivot, like one would any other break-action.

Breaking down simply, and with so few moving parts, many 84 and 840s remain in use today

The Model 84 and 840 remained exceptionally popular throughout the gun’s 31-year production run. Over 1.9 million of these shotguns would leave the Cobourg factory before the Cooey brand was mothballed, and Winchester would follow up on the 84/840’s success with their own Model 370, 395, 168, and 37A; all based upon Cooey’s design. And it’s not hard to see why. With a slender receiver, a reliable action, and an excellent balance it is a very sought-after shotgun.

Unfortunately, tragedy would befall the Cooey family in the late ‘50s, with Hubert passing away suddenly and unexpectedly in 1957. Herbert would come out of retirement to head the firm that bore his name for a few brief years before selling Cooey Machine and Arms to the Olin Corporation in 1961, shortly before his own death in the February of 1962 at age 80. Two years later, Olin had already placed Cooey under the management of their Winchester-Western Division, and Cooey would launch their most successful design to date; a design that combined the firm’s knowledge of rimfire rifles with the more modern desire for a reliable semi-automatic repeater. That rifle? The last rifle a Cooey would design, and the only Cooey product still in production today: The Model 64.

The Model 64: Cooey’s Continued Living Legacy

Officially launched in 1964 (the same year Ruger launched the 10/22), the Cooey Model 64 had roots in the mid-50’s, when Hubert Cooey recognized Cooey’s need for a semi-automatic repeater to join their strong bolt-action lineup.

The Savage 64, originally known as the Lakefield 64b, was the last gun design penned by a Cooey

Borrowing heavily from his father’s work on the Model 39, Hubert took a similar bolt, receiver, and trigger design and matched it with a simple direct-blowback system operated via a small action spring mounted to the tail of the bolt assembly. Then, he fitted the trigger group with a simple lever-style safety not unlike that found on the Remington Model 700 (introduced in 1962), and designed a simple but effective 10-round box magazine from which the blowback action would reliably feed.

Still made in the Lakefield plant, where much of Cooey’s manufacturing equipment and staff went, the Savage’s design is almost unchanged

Unfortunately, as simple as the gun was, Hubert would die before the project was seen through to completion. Likewise, Herbert would find himself somewhat overwhelmed when he returned from retirement to take command of the company once again after his son’s passing, a fact that many indicate as a key motive behind his sale to the Olin Corporation. But Olin, the conglomerate behind Winchester, recognized the value in Hubert’s design and ordered Cooey to put the lightweight and simple Model 64 into production to give the brand something with which to compete against the likes of the Marlin Model 60 and equally new Ruger 10/22.

Like all Cooey firearms, the Model 64 was immediately regarded as simple, efficient, reliable and most of all, a bargain. Even ten years after its introduction the Model 64 would still be available here in Canada for less than $50. Sadly though, even with the long track record of producing excellent products, it wasn’t long before political and labour issues forced the closure of Herbert’s long-lived Cobourg facility in 1979. But, through some fortunate happenstance, the machinery and hardware used within the Cooey plant would find a new home down the road in Lakefield, Ontario with the aptly named Lakefield Arms Company; a company where many former Cooey employees would also find their next job.

In continual production for decades, the Savage/Lakefield 64 is one of only a handful of Canadian-made guns on the market today

But Lakefield Arms didn’t just get Cooey’s hardware. They also got the rights to Cooey’s Model 64. So, with the machinery moved and many of the same people manning it, Lakefield Arms retooled the production line and began production of their own Model 64; the Lakefield Arms Model 64B. Even after Lakefield Arms was purchased by Savage Arms in 1995 the production of Hubert Cooey’s Model 64 continued right up to the present day. Now known as the Savage Arms Model 64, it remains one of Savage’s most popular offerings, with no less than six different sub-models currently available.

Before Cooey was dissolved entirely, it is estimated that approximately 12 million firearms would leave Cooey’s various factories. From 1919 until April 1961, production schedules remained a relatively steady 20 firearms per day, which increased dramatically when the firm was sold to Winchester, who in turn replaced the Cobourg facility’s aged machinery with modern hardware. This increased the plant’s production capacity to 2,000 firearms per day. Over 67 different models of firearm would fill the Cooey catalog eventually, with numerous other firearms produced for other brands such as Hiawatha, Iver Johnson, Winchester, Mercury and various others.

While most Cooey designs are relegated to the history books, Savage’s 64 keeps at least one Cooey design in production

That Cooeys are basic, affordable guns cannot be debated. But there’s something about them. They are part of our nation’s shooting heritage. For many of us, they’re the first guns we ever laid hands on, and undoubtedly for many more they will provide a similar service again as we introduce our own young ones to the shooting hobby. They’re rugged, they’re reliable, and they represent a time in Canada’s past when it wasn’t untoward to give a young boy a rifle for his birthday. So if you happen to be lucky enough to own one of these rifles, hold onto it. Look after it. And use it. It’s what they were designed for.

Source:   https://calibremag.ca

By Patsy Currelly Hand

Cobourg Angels, Junior Angels, & Surrounding Teams 

1987 was a very successful year for the Angels.  With the loss of a few players and the addition of a few, the Angels were successful in acquiring another Ontario Senior Tier II championship vs. Sarnia.  Devlin pitched all games during the championship with 30Ks, 6 walks. The team were finalists in Senior Tier I with Elaine being named MVP pitching 43 innings. The team also were Metro League Champs.  Members of this team were:  Nancy Cronin, Patsy Currelly, Suzanne Morrow, Leah Anne Oulahen, Jacki Oulahen, Elaine Devlin, Barb Snedden, Jackie Dusenbury, Nancy Jane Dalgarno, Lynn Tracey, Debbie Gillis, Jennifer Dalgarno, Vicki Wodzak, Coaches: Ray Bickle, Jim Morrow, John Hayden, Scorer Sharon Greavette. 

As Paul Currelly was not on the field with the Angels, he along with veteran Angels, Faye Gaudet, Jan Bradford, current Angel Suzanne Morrow and Bill Zinkie formed the Cobourg Junior Angels.  This gave girls an opportunity to play rep ball in the squirt, novice, bantam, midget and juvenile division.  The current Angels put on clinics to teach girls the basics.  Paul spearheaded a new league, the Lakeshore Girls Softball Association and contacted centres along the lakeshore for the Cobourg girls to compete with.  This organization continues today and has grown to include house league teams.  

1988 brought with it many changes. The team moved up to Senior Tier I and played in a league which included teams from Chinguacousy, Cedar Hill, Agincourt, Richmond Hill, Pickering, Bramalea, Tonawanda (New York), Dorchester, St. Clements, Oakville, Kitchener, and St. Catharines.  Many weekends were spent on the ballfield playing double headers with the western teams.  Sandy Claus pitcher/player/coach joined the coaching team as well as Art Dalgarno (scorer).  

Paul Currelly returned to coach first base, Morrow on third.  They were Ottawa tournament champs and led their division throughout the year.  In the Tier I Ontario championships they went to the finals and lost to Oakville 4-2. Elaine Devlin was MVP at this tournament and was subsequently picked up by Oakville to go to the Canadians in Newfoundland.  She had an ERA of 0.64 over 42 innings. 

1989 marked the end of an era.  The team did well, winning the Milverton Classic Tournament, they ended up 2nd in the Senior Tier I league.  Elaine was picked up by BC to go to a New Zealand International Tournament and Jackie Oulahen got a tryout with the Canadian National team to represent Canada at the worlds, however it was not to be as she fractured her finger before tryouts. As a team, things started to break down off the field. During the season, Patsy and Paul Currelly decided it was probably going to be their last year. They didn't announce this so no one else on the team really knew. 

At the end of the season, a group of players decided that they weren’t happy with the direction the team was going and a handful of players called a player meeting to voice their opinions about their desire to invoke a staff change. As with many successful teams, individual egos can cloud good judgment and greed can replace gratitude. Comments were made that did not “sit well” with everyone.  The result was the Currelly’s followed through with retiring from the team. Jim Morrow and John Hayden followed.  Others left the team, too, including star pitcher, Elaine Devlin. The players were left without a coach and without enough players to field a team. 

Fortunately for them, the 1990 season progressed somewhat as planned.  Harnden and King agreed to sponsor the team.  A team from Scarborough coincidentally named the Angels had folded due to lack of players and they contacted the Cobourg girls to see if they could join forces.  Charlie Fraser stepped into coach as well as ex-Angel Marg Matthews, and former Angel pitcher Janice Crosgrey returned. The team did well and played in the Senior Tier I loop for regular season play and were able to capture the Ontario Senior Tier I Championship and went to the Canadians finishing 5th overall.  

Members of this team were:  Teresa Hutchison, Tami Waters, Su Morrow, Nancy Jane Dalgarno, Jennifer Dalgarno, Kirsten Leis, Nancy Cronin, Marilyn Lang, Jackie Dusenbury, Jackie Oulahen, Isobel Nichols, Janyce Gunn, Barb Sneddon, Janice Crosgrey, Sherry Hoffman. (Mary Jo McCarthy, Lyn McMahon, Wendy Dobbin and coach Marg Skillen were picked up for the Canadian Championships). At provincials, Isabel Nichols was the batting champion and Jackie Oulahen was named MVP. The Senior Angels continued for the 1991 season and competed in the Senior Tier I league but due to lack of players they folded after that season. 

The Junior Angels organization however picked up the torch.  1990 was an amazing year for the Sophomore Junior Angels coached by Paul Wakely and Henry Heideman.  Having gone to the finals in 1988 and 1989, they successfully won the Ontario title vs St. Catharines .  Marianne McMillan was the tournament MVP batting .471. Members of this team were: Marianne McMillan, Launa Foreman, Christina Winkworth, Tracey Davis, Lorrie Calbury, Lori Hibbard, Dianne Gray, Charlene Winkworth, Kelly Moore, and Karen Rose.

1992 saw the coaching duo of Paul Currelly and Jim Morrow reunite on the field to coach the Junior Angels Wimpy Mineral Intermediate team and later the Morrow Transport Intermediate Angels, along with coach Bryan Rose.  They continued to coach together until the 1995 season.  

1994 brought another Ontario title home to Cobourg.  The Jr. Angel Junior Tier II team coached by Pat Mowat were successful in capturing the title against Owen Sound.  Kristen Buttars captured the top pitcher award in the tournament and Connie Sturzenegger was the top hitter batting .667, including 1 HR, 3 triples and 6 singles.  Members of this Ontario Championship team were:  Kristen Buttar, Sharon Taylor, Connie Sturzenegger, Angie Adams, Anne Macklin, Janice McIvor, Racquel Nelson, Joanne Chadwick, Kelly Bax, Krissy Doherty, Kerri-Lee Dahmer, Ted Hook (coach) and Pat Mowat (coach). 

As time progressed and there was no longer a Senior Angel team, the “Junior” was dropped from the Angel team title.

2000 brought another Ontario title to Cobourg in Bantam Tier II, coached by Steve Jones, Joe Brouwers, Faye Gaudet and Greg Oulahen. The team beat Brampton in the finals and the team members were:  Amy Shannon, Stephanie Jones, Melissa Henke, Kristel Gallagher, Sarah Winter, Sarah Clarke, Julia Hayden, Liz Oulahen, Kelly Nalysnyk, Megan Brouwers, Dana Spicer, Karlee Haynes and Laura Burnham.   

In 2003, another Ontario Championship Gold medal was achieved by a Cobourg Angel team.  In the Midget category, the Angels defeated Ajax in extra innings to claim the title.  Members of this team were:  Arianne Allen, Alice Sutcliffe, Dana Spicer, Sarah Clarke, Amy Shannon, Stephanie Jones, Jessalyn Glinski, Sarah Winter, Kelly Nalysnyk, Dawn Armstrong, Erica Prins, Head coach Bill Shannon, Manager Susan Spicer, and assistant coaches Steve Jones, Andrew Allen, and Paul Currelly.

In 2008, 2009 and 2010 Dave Clarke’s Angels accomplished 3 consecutive Ontario Titles in Junior Tier II, a feat not previously achieved in the history of the Angels.  Members of this very talented team were in 2008:  Erica Dewey, Nicole Blake, Erin Dewey, Lisa Clarke, Allie Rutherford, Alex Oosterhof, Breann Coulson, Sarah Clarke, Sam Harrison, Christina Murchie, Taylor Cook, Coaches Dave Clarke, Steve Jones, Kerry McDonald and Angie Adams Darlinson (asst. coach).  

The 2009 team won four straight games to clinch their second Junior Tier II Ontario title.  Christina Murchie pitched all four games beating Halton Hills, Cambridge, Brampton and Ancaster. The highlight of the final game was an out of the park home run by Erin Dewey but it was her sister, Erica Dewey, who earned the tournament MVP.  This team included:  Erica Dewey, Nicole Blake, Erin Dewey, Lisa Clarke, Allie Rutherford, Gina Maloney, Sam Harrison, Nikki Wilson, Christina Murchie, Taylor Cook. Head Coach Dave Clarke, coach Steve Jones, Assistant coach Sarah Clarke and Manager Kerry McDonald.  

2010 would bring yet another Ontario Junior Tier II title to this team.  An achievement yet to be matched by any Angel team, past or present.  The Angels would beat Brampton in the final by a huge margin of 12-5!  Team members were:  Allie Rutherford, Lisa Clarke, Nikki Wilson, Taylor Cook, Erin Dewey, Jess McIntyre, Erica Dewey, Christina Murchie, Julia Bateman, Gina Maloney, Nicole Blake, Sam Harrison, Coach, Dave Clarke, Steve Jones, Mike Murchie and Manager, Kerry McDonald. 

Most recently, the Cobourg Angels represented the Town winning the Eastern Canadian Softball Championship, Novice Tier 2 in 2017 and were coached by Faye Gaudet, Kate Reed, Kristen Lalande and Chris Lalande. Players included Amelia Pettipas, Reagan Lalande, MacKenzie Mamers, Braelyn Farrell, Megan Geurts, Taylee Herman, Grace Rice, Ava Hughes, Megan Sheehan, Macie Hackney, Lilah Klassen, Kaycee Craig, (Madison Depencier from the Chatham Eagles was picked up for the Canadians).  Depencier won the top pitcher and batting recognition but it was Cobourg’s Reagan Lalande who would win the overall MVP honours for the tournament.  

The Cobourg Junior Angels organization continues to this day with both house league and rep teams in the mite to midget division.  What began as a dream for one man has flourished into an organization where girls not only learn and enjoy the game of softball but discover the importance of sportsmanship, teamwork, fair play and a positive work ethic, building self-esteem and confidence.  

Many, many Angels have returned to the ball field to pass these values to the next generation either as a coach, a manager, scorekeeper, executive member or supporter. The positivity of sport continues.

Cobourg Angels
1987      Ontario Senior Tier II Gold medalists vs Sarnia, Ontario Senior Tier I finalists vs Dorchester. Ontario Regional Gold Medalists vs Belleville, Metro League Champions.
1988      Ontario Senior Tier I Silver Medalists vs Oakville, Ottawa Tournament Champions
1989      Eastern Division Senior Tier I League Champions, Milverton Classic tournament champions vs St. Catharines
1990      Ontario Senior Tier I champions 

Cobourg Junior Angels Ontario Champions 1990-2020
1990      Ontario Sophomore (previously Juvenile) Championship
1994      Ontario Junior Tier II Championship
2000      Ontario Bantam Tier II Championship
2008      Ontario Junior Tier II Championship
2009      Ontario Junior Tier II Championship
2010      Ontario Junior Tier II Championship
2017      Eastern Canadian Novice Tier II Championship

Updated August 2020

Mandy Marie Bujold was born July 25, 1987 in Cobourg to Roger and Brigitte Bujold. She had two older brothers. The family moved to Moncton, NB where she spent her youth and then to Kitchener, ON where they settled in 2002.

In Moncton her dad hung a heavy bag for her two brothers to pound away on. Mandy at 10, was drawn to it and was on it all the time. In 2004 Mandy was introduced to the sport of boxing and began training. Her first fight was in 2005 when she won at the Brampton Cup Tournament. In 2006 she won the Canadian Junior boxing title in the 50kg class. 

In 2007 Bujold won the senior Canadian title in the 50 kg class and gold at the American Women’s Continental Championships. In 2008 she made her first appearance at the AIBA Women’s World Championships. She has made almost annual appearances since. Her best result was 2014 when she finished top 8.

Mandy’s career highlight came in 2011 at the Pan American Games when she won gold. It was the first-time women’s boxing was included at that multi-sport competition. In 2013 she was the Canadian Golden Gloves Champion. In 2014 Bujold earned another multi-sport medal when she captured bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. That year Mandy finished Top 8 in the International Boxing Association World Championships.

In 2015 Bujold successfully defended her Pan Am Games title. In March 2016 she earned an Olympic berth with a gold medal win at the American Continental Qualifier. At the Olympics Mandy ranked #2 in the world, made it to the flyweight quarterfinals. She became ill the night before and ended up losing her match.

During her athletic career she received a number of other awards Including the 2016 KW Citizen of the Year, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal, Oktoberfest Women of the Year (sports category), 2x KW Athlete of the Year, WOW award recipient, and alongside other local VIPs, had “The Golden Bujold” burger named after her by The WORKS Gourmet Burger in Uptown Waterloo.

Bujold took some time to get married and to have a child. The 11-time Canadian champion now wants to earn a berth on the Canadian Team to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Boxing Canada wanted her to move to Montreal to train but Mandy didn’t want to be apart from her family. So, she paid for the training costs herself and asked the public for financial support.

Bujold trained hard in preparation for the Olympic qualifiers. In January 2020 at Montreal she won gold at the Canadian Olympic qualifier. In early February at the Bocskai Memorial Tournament at Debrecen, Hungary Mandy earned a bronze. Next up, the Continental Olympic Qualifiers at Buenos Aires at the end of March where she qualified for the 2016 Olympics of Rio. 

Fifteen years and 165 fights behind her, Mandy needed at least a fourth-place finish to qualify for the 2020 Olympics and become the only Canadian female boxer to earn her way to 2 straight Olympics.

However, Buenos Aires was cancelled and the Olympics at Tokyo postponed because of the coronavirus. For Mandy Bujold nothing is certain right now.

Updated August 2020
 

Amateur Fights Held in Victoria Hall’s Beautiful Opera House!

It may be hard to imagine, but some sixty years ago fight nights were among the entertainment highlights for visitors to Victoria Hall.

One didn't have to look far for an eager audience or even competitors. In the first half of the 20th Century most of the fights took place at the schoolyards in the area. In the 1940’s and 1950’s Mr Craig taught boxing on the top floor of the Sutherland Block. The Sutherland Block was built by John Sutherland, one-time Mayor and Town Clerk. The Customs House was located in Cobourg for many years as was the Smith Junior Ltd, a soda fountain equipment and syrup company and Bastian Brothers. Mr Craig lived and operated a grocery business in Cobourg. His boxing ring had regular matches between locals. The Sutherland block was located at Charles St on the west side of Division St. 

Some of the boxers in the 1950s included Bruce Richardson, Billy McBride and Billy Brisbin. The referees for an October 1952 fight card at the Recreational Center were Timer Fox and Jim Miskelly.

On June 1, 1953 Jim Miskelly held a meeting that led to the formation of the Cobourg Boxing Club. Home became the Market Building south of Victoria Hall. There was a legal sized ring for sparring and training plus speed bags and heavy bags. It was a haven for the young men who had grown up with their dads away at war.

Another boxing team was created and stationed at the Ordinance Depot. Newspaper articles describe boxers fighting at Kingston and Borden.

Cpl Ronnie Headley who was coach of the No 26 C.O.D hockey champs was formerly one of Canada’s outstanding boxers. He was born in Ottawa and started boxing at 14. He turned pro at 19 in 1929. Over the next 6 years he fought 97 times and according to the Ottawa Citizen lost only 2x. In a tour of the British Isles he won 12, lost 1, drew 1. BoxRec records 26 pro welterweight bouts between 1925-1935, 14 wins (4KOs) and 12 losses (4KOs). Headley retired in 1958 to Cobourg.

Emerson Charles and his younger brother, George Charles were among the best of the local fighters. Emerson "Chief" Charles went on to fight professionally out of Patterson, New Jersey, compiling a very respectable record in 1948-1953 of 16 decisions; 8 by knockout, 11 losses, 3 by knockout and 3 draws. He fought a total 121 rounds in 30 professional fights as a middleweight at numerous eastern U.S venues including Madison Square Gardens (2) & St Nicholas Arena (4) in NYC, Coney Island Velodrome in Brooklyn NY and Red Wing Stadium in Rochester NY. In one memorable bout at the Arena in Philadelphia he lost a six-round decision on points to Joey Giardello, then World Welterweight Champ.

While he was still fighting out of Cobourg, local coverage had this to say about one of the “Chief's” matches…“Cobourg's new found pugilistic hero invaded the rings of Peterborough last Thursday night and scalped another victim”

Little has been recorded about George “Gung” Charles’ success in the boxing ring. One quote was “Another Indian chap from Cobourg, George Charles, won a decision. He started like a buzz saw with a two-fisted attack and showed a lovely left. It was a nice fight.”

At the University of Toronto Henry (Hank) Henshall earned the title of Featherweight Boxing Champion for four years. He came to CDCI in 1950 to direct all boy’s athletics. In 1954 he displayed the first symptoms of Muscular Atrophy. He continued to coach and teach, gradually having to cut back. He tried to build a healthy rivalry between West and East schools by organizing CDCI’s first harrier race. 200 runners participated. During the running of the second race in 1962 Henshall died. The race is called Hank’s Harrier. 

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IT'S UNANIMOUS
By Layton Dodge
November 20, 1970 Cobourg Sentinel Star

AMATEUR BOXING RETURNED TO Cobourg after a long absence Tuesday night. It was an instant hit. Nearly 200 curious fight fans turned out at Cobourg Pavilion for the seven-bout card promoted by Fred Richardson of the new North-East Athletic Club. They were not disappointed.

The fourteen boxers responded with rousing matches that always made up in action what they may have lacked in finesse. If crowd reaction was the sole judge, the semi-final bout between Cobourg's John Taylor and Toronto's Luis Reed rated the headliner of the evening. Taylor, in only his second fight, became the first North-East AC member to savor victory when he scored a unanimous and popular decision over the fancy-stepping Jamaican.

In his first scrap before his hometown fans, the 167-pound Taylor really won the crowd and the bout when he caught Reed with a booming right uppercut in the second round and knocked the Toronto boxer on the canvas. Following a close opening round, Taylor opened up in the second and controlled the fight thereafter. A flurry of punches by Taylor midway in the second round took most of the starch out of Reed and put him on the defensive. The Cobourg boxer had Reed in trouble again in the third round, staggering him twice with several combinations.

In the main event, 125-pound Tom Bland Jr. of Toronto Pioneer Club earned a unanimous verdict over John Biel of Oshawa. The loser didn't quite belong in Bland's class, although he did show an ability to absorb punishment well. Biel did land several solid blows in the bout but wound up with a bloody nose in return. It marked the second straight win this month for the 23 year old Bland. 

Three other Blands also appeared on the card in preliminaries. Fourteen-year-old Jimmy won a split decision from Curtis Redman Cress, posting his fourth consecutive victory in the process. Albert Bland, 21, dropped a split decision to Joe Rumundi of Toronto in a welterweight bout. David (Spider) Bland was overpowered by 17 year old John Riley of Toronto. 

Riley stopped Bland with a solid right and was awarded a TKO at 1:25 of the first round. Riley, who outweighed his opponent by 11 pounds, is trained by Bill Felstein, brother of Bob "Pretty Boy" Felstein, contender for the Canadian heavyweight championship. "He has a killer instinct," Felstein pointed out after the bout in reference to Riley. "I have to take some of it out of him and teach him how to box. For Riley, who's been lifting weights since he was 12 and looked every bit the part, it was only his second fight. 

Despite a lack of conditioning and training, heavyweight Ralph Miller of Cobourg stepped in against Oshawa's Tom Bouckley and gave an excellent account of himself, even though beaten on a split decision. Lightweights Paul Ferguson and David Quinlin, both of the North-East Athletic Club, flailed away for 3 rounds in another bout. Appropriately, the match ended in a draw. Both boys tired noticeably in the final round.

Cobourg officials for the fights included judge Glen Dafoe, who fought 55 times as an amateur; and old-timer Jack Henning, former Canadian middleweight champion in the 1920s.

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Moving On
By Layton Dodge
September 12, 1972  Cobourg Sentinel Star

EFFECTIVE TODAY. FRED RICHARDSON is moving his large family and the base of his small North East Athletic Club operations to Oshawa. Father of 11 children and the revival of amateur boxing in this area, Richardson is returning to live in the city where he formerly had a gym and a boxing club on Court Street.

“I’m not moving because I don’t like it here” Richardson emphasized.” It’s the travelling I want to cut down on,” he noted. Fred has been commuting from his residence at RR3 Baltimore to work at General Motors for more than two years. "I'll have my roots in Oshawa but, for sure, I want the boxing club to carry on here," Richardson told the Sentinel-Star on Wednesday. "Whatever I can do to help, I'll do it and there are ways; he said. 

The North East AC will be continued in Oshawa. Richardson expects to have a gym in Oshawa and to join forces with the Oshawa club's Ron Cyr with whom he's been closely associated in the past anyway. Heavyweight Ralph Miller, who has been an active member of the North East AC almost from inception more than two years ago, is expected to travel once a week to Oshawa for sparring sessions. So is Roy Sanders, a middleweight.

The two boxers, who'll likely work out here on their own, could be joined by Danny Washburn. In any event, Richardson intends to use the Cobourg district fighters in his monthly boxing promotions in Oshawa starting October 17.

The switch to Oshawa will be yet another stop for the North East AC. It's operated at one time or another out of Fenella, the Lions Scout Hall in Cobourg and out of Richardson's basement where he had his own home-built ring and bags set up.

Boxing never really caught on here in a big way. Many boys and young men tried the sport but few stayed at it for long. It's a game requiring mental and physical toughness only a minority care to bear. Richardson was disappointed that fine prospects like John Taylor and Mike Boyle didn't pursue boxing further but he never became overly discouraged. He always maintained that the number of boxers who trained with him was higher than in most centres of comparable size.

Richardson promoted several shows here. Only the first at the Pavilion and the one held at Cobourg Arena in May of 1971 could be termed successful at the box office. He took a financial bath in his latest endeavor this summer.

"Oshawa and the North East AC will work as a unit, especially in promotions and in training together at least once a week” assured the ring veteran who's been connected with the fight game for nearly 14 years. "You probably haven't heard the last of me," Richardson exclaimed. "I'll come back, I hope, and it's only a hope at the moment, to promote a show here before Christmas."

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DAN WASHBURN FIGHT

Danny Washburn of the North East Athletic Club will climb through the ropes for his second amateur fight next Monday night on a boxing card in Toronto. The 16,year old CDCI East student, who lives at RR1 Castleton, will trade punches with Glenn (Rocky) Broadley of the Clairlea Boxing Club. Both boys have just one bout under their belt, so neither will have any edge in ring experience. Washburn will carry 118 pounds on his 5 foot 5 frame into the match. Danny will weigh in lighter than for his previous bout in which he battled back in the third round to earn a draw with his Toronto opponent. While acknowledging the fact that he's dropped almost 12 pounds in recent months, Washburn feels the weight loss has not sapped his strength. 

Washburn almost gave up the sport before he engaged in his first scrap. He trained under Fred Richardson for quite a spell but then stopped. Richardson talked him into turning out to train again at a Centreton ball game this summer and later lined up his first fight for him. "He has the makings of a boxer, no two ways about it," Richardson said of Washburn this week. "Danny has the guts. He will mix it up and he will train. It remains to be seen whether he has the stick-to-it power."
 

Updated August 2020

Frank was born April 7th 1958 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Peterborough Ontario. His parents, Frank and Maria, were ecstatic about the arrival of a beautiful baby boy. He would be the third child in his loving family. His sisters Anna Maria and Pia were extremely happy to have a new addition to the family.

Frank was a very quiet, adorable baby, who needed more care and attention while at home. Everyone assisted his mother at the time. Frank was very “Special” to the family. He was included and encouraged to participate in many activities with the neighborhood children. He also played with his sisters. He would laugh with anticipation and excitement whenever company was around.

Frank’s participation in the Special Olympics has brought his family pride and joy. His facial expressions displayed his indomitable spirit throughout competitions. His many gold medals attest to his strong and determined character.

Dino, the youngest has been his “Best Buddy”. The rapport the two brothers share is indescribable. Their bond is truly exceptional. 

Frank’s 60th birthday brought a reflection of happiness to his family. His parents would express their love and appreciation to everyone involved in his care.

Frank has Cerebral Palsy (CP) which affects his body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance. It also has impact on his fine motor skills, gross motor skills and oral motor functioning. Cerebral Palsy’s effect on functional abilities varies greatly. Many affected people can walk while others, like Frank, use wheelchairs.

Frank’s CP affects three of his limbs, both legs and right arm. His mobility is purely via a one-armed wheelchair to move around. He uses his left arm only to propel his wheelchair.

In the early 1980s, Frank started wheelchair racing as a recreational activity. He competed in the Eastern Ontario CP Games and to his surprise, he won most of the events in which he competed. He then went to the Ontario CP Games, where he continued to roll up the wins. Frank continued winning both at the Regional and Provincial games.

Frank was using his everyday chair to race in, which certainly placed him at a disadvantage, since most racers had specially made racing wheelchairs. They could also propel them with two arms.

Frank was classified as a CP3, which meant racers had three limbs affected. Where Frank could only wheel with one arm, his competitors all wheeled with two arms (one of their arms would be mildly affected by CP, but they were still capable of using both arms to wheel).

Unfortunately, records at this time were not recorded on computers. The Ontario CP Sports Association has some partial results. Frank has a scrapbook of newspaper clippings with his results at provincial and international meets. He has an extensive collection of medals trophies and plaques won while completing across North America and in Belgium. Douglas Wilton, the head coach/manager of the Canadian CP team, can confirm these results.

As a result of his success, Frank was invited to try out for the Canadian CP National Team. He attended their training camp in Windsor in 1983. Team coaches stated Frank needed enhanced training plus a racing wheelchair to compete at the next level in the Olympics and the World Games.

In consultation with his local coach, Frank decided he wanted to complete at the next level. This meant training would ramp up. As well, he needed to find someone to design and build a one-arm racing wheelchair, as there was none – zero – available anywhere.

It was at this point two significant changes happened for Frank:
One – Training: A two-year training program was designed by Team Canada coaches specifically for Frank and his local coach to carry out. The goal was for Frank to peak at the 1984 Olympics for the International Games for the Physically Disabled (later called Paralympics). His training was ramped up to three weight training sessions per week plus three track sessions per week. 

The training became progressively harder, and Frank met all the targets and challenges. This training was not easy, and during the winter they drove 45 minutes each way to an indoor track for training three days a week. It was a big commitment. After 1984 Frank took a short break from training, then back to another two-year program to peak again for the 1986 Cerebral Palsy Work Championship Games.

As all high-level athletes know, years of training six days a week can be an incredible grind. Add to that the fatigue of the travel for training and meets for an individual in a wheelchair. Three winter nights each week, Frank got picked up at 6:30 p.m. to drive 45 minutes to an indoor track for his training session. This involved a warm-up, stretching, that night’s track routine, cool down and back into a cold car for another 45-minute ride home. All these years of weight and track training made him tough to beat, and revealed Frank’s character.

Two – Get a Racing Wheelchair: Frank initially raced in his everyday Everest and Jennings wheelchair. A new Everest and Jennings chair was purchased and modified which resulted in Frank’s times improving. Frank received a lot of acknowledgment and praise from competitors and coaches from around the world for being able to compete at the World level without a racing chair. 

Frank’s competitors were all wheeling with two arms using the latest technology in racing chairs. We could not get a wheelchair maker or a university engineering department or a machine shop to make one. Much effort was put into finding someone who could design and make a one-armed racing wheelchair.

Then in 1985 we met an Ontario wheelchair racer who had made his own chair. This wonderful man worked diligently with us to make a one-armed racing chair for Frank. It was one of the first one-arm racing chair to be made on the planet. This was the final piece in Frank’s puzzle for success. As a one-armed racer, Frank was bucking the odds, but now he was finally on a more even playing field with the technology.

Ms Suzanne Atkinson, a regional newspaper reporter, was actively following Frank’s success and wrote about his incredible journey. Her coverage resulted in many groups and individuals in the community generously donating money to purchase this chair and cover some of the expenses.

As Doug Wilton, the Canadian head coach/manager, said, “Frank is the greatest one-armed wheeler in the world, always competing against 2-armed wheelers.”

Frank’s local coach often commented that, “Frank’s accomplishments and success can only be truly appreciated by those who saw him race or competed against him. With his extreme competitive nature, Frank is truly a courageous Olympian.”

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND AWARDS

Represented Canada internationally from 1983-1986
June 1984- Olympic Year – International Games for the Disabled (now called the Paralympics)
4x 100 metre relay race (World Record 101 seconds) Gold Medal
60 metre sprint – 6th
200 metre sprint – 10th (disqualified for a lane violation in his heat)

1984 CP Provincial Games
60 metre sprint – gold (new record)
100 metre sprint – gold (new record)
200 metre sprint – gold (new record)
400 metre sprint – gold
Shotput - bronze

1985 Michigan State Championships for the Physically Disabled
60 metre sprint – gold
200 metre sprint – gold
400 metre sprint – gold
4x100 metre relay race – gold

1986 Cerebral Palsy World Championship Games – Gits, Belgium
4x100 metre relay race – gold
400 metre sprint – silver
100 metre sprint – bronze
Team Canada won the overall Medal count with 42 Gold Medals, 16 Silver Medals and 12 Bronze Medals

1982
Presented with a Championship Certificate from the Province of Ontario in recognition of being a Provincial Champion in the field of amateur sport

1984
Presented with a Sports Jacket emblazed with a crest of the Town of Cobourg and the Bicentennial flag from the Mayor of Cobourg and the Chamber of Commerce
Presented with an Ontario Championship Certificate from the Province of Ontario
Presented with an Achievement Award Certificate from the Province of Ontario for distinguished performance in the field of amateur sport

1985
Presented with a Certificate of International Achievement from Premier David Peterson, at the Ontario Provincial Amateur Sports Banquet

1986
Presented with a Certificate of World Achievement from Premier David Peterson, at the 20th Annual Sports Awards Banquet in recognition of distinguished performance in the field of amateur sport

1987
Presented with a Civic Award from the City of Peterborough
Presented with an International Achievement Award from the Premier of Ontario

1990
Inducted into the Ontario CP Sports Athletes “Hall of Fame”

2019
Inducted into the Cobourg and District Sports Hall of Fame

Sources: Suzanne Atkinson, reporter
   Doug Montgomery, Frank Mazza’s local coach
   Doug Wilton, Head Coach and Team Manager for Canada’s National Cerebral Palsy team (1979-2000)

Reviewed August 2020