Canada

OASA AGM was held in Cobourg November 2007

NOTES FROM NEW PRESIDENT LARRY SHERWIN
I would like to welcome all of you to a new season of hope and growth.

We are starting down a road where growth is our only option, and we will grow. You will see a new program starting under the guidance of our Out Reach Program, where new ideas will be brought forth to help the grassroots of our game grow.

A lot of you barely know me. You will find that I am a great supporter of this game having played and coached it for many years. So, over this season, I hope to be at most of our tournaments to meet with you and find out ways to help you and the OASA make this game better, not only for the men but also the minor players. Our men's and minor committees are moving ahead with many great programs, so please join with them to make them succeed.

Our convenors are going to be asked to take a more active role, and more details will follow at a later date. There are a number of new executive members joining us this year in expanded roles, and some of our longer serving ones are stepping back. They are not gone, and they will be leaned on from time to time for guidance, because you cannot lose this experience, it is too valuable.

We lost many great people last year and their loss has touched us all. If you have any local stories or happenings, please forward them to our H&I editor, or our secretary for publication.

So once again, welcome, and if you have any ideas please contact our men's or minor committees, myself, or any of our executive, because it is your game. We are only here to assist you in the running of it.

Regards.
President
OASA
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SHERWIN, ABBOT HEADLINE OASA 2008 EXECUTIVE
Soft spoken Larry Sherwin of Cobourg was acclaimed President of the Ontario Amateur Softball Association at the 85th AGM in Cobourg in November. Sherwin, the 47th individual to head the Association joined the OASA in 2003 when he was appointed registrar, a slot he held for two years. He was elected to the executive in 2004 and 2005, became a Vice President in 2006 and was the group’s first Executive VP in 2007.

He has extensive ball and executive experience beyond the OASA and will need it as softball has fallen on hard times in the past number of years. He emphasizes the use of teamwork to solve problems.

Bob Abbot of Huntsville will enter his 28th year on the Executive as the Executive Vice President. The veteran Treasurer of the OASA announced his intention of giving up that post last year and spent 2007 coaching Paddy Fitzgerald-Nolan of Warkworth, who officially succeeded Abbot at the 35th AGM.

Abbot, an extremely skilled and knowledgeable money manager, served as Treasurer for a total of 21 years handling the post from 1984 through 1989 and then again from 1993 through 2007, after a tenure as President in 1991 and 1992. All told he was the second longest serving OASA Treasurer after Lloyd Alguire of St. Catherines, who held the post for 35 years (1937-1971) Abbot was acclaimed to his new position on the Executive.

Four delegates allowed their names to stand for the two Vice Presidents positions with Gary Wren of St. Thomas and Roy Patenaude of Toanche/Penetang being the successful candidates. Wren is returning as a VP while Patenaude served as a director in 2007. Christine Patenaude of Toanche/Penetang was acclaimed as Secretary a position she has held since 2005.

Seven individuals competed for the six directors posts and the second election of the afternoon saw Jeff Geddes of Ridgetown, Bill Horne of St. Thomas, Sylvia Ryan of Whitby George Ryder of Port Dover, Scott Tuttle of Cobourg and Bruce Young of Waterloo elected. Five of the six are returning to the elected executive while Horne is returning to the Executive after a one year absence.

Dave Reynolds of Napanee, President in 2006 and 2007, will be the Immediate Past President while Mary Myers of Gormley will again be the Registrar. Ron and Sharon Taylor of Havelock will handle the Insurance program again and Roy Patenaude has assumed control of the Constitution and By-Laws book.

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BILL O’NEILL - OCTAGENARIAN HONOURED WITH FEAVER
"I started paying softball in public school when I was ten years of age and I've been with the game ever since, as player, manager, coach, executive, and I was even an umpire for thirty years". The speaker was Cobourg's Bill O'Neill and he had just been named the 2007 winner of the F.R. Feaver Memorial Trophy for his extensive services to the game. "I'm very happy" he continued, "this is the nicest award I've ever received." O'Neill, is the possessor of an iron handshake ("I like a man with a firm grip"), a transforming smile and an excellent memory.

Most enjoyed his twenty-nine years of coaching which began in 1963 when he arrived in Cobourg from Windsor to work at General Foods. That same year he started coaching the General Foods entry in the Cobourg Men's League. In 1970 he began coaching Juvenile and Junior teams and he mentored clubs in those age brackets for nineteen seasons. From 1970 through 1975 he piloted Cobourg to four OASA Juvenile 'B' titles in five seasons. "We should have won it in 1974 too" he confides, "we had a 3-1 lead in the final game in the 9th inning, back then we played nine innings, but we lost it (to Binbrook) in the 13”.

When H & I asked the white haired O'Neill why he stuck with the game, and played so many roles in its development, he replied "I guess it was dedication to the sport and a passion for the game - but you know, those kids I coached had respect and I think they turned out better citizens for having played the game - overall I think, looking at it thirty years later it was a worthwhile effort.

O'Neill, who reportedly was never ejected from a game in 29 years of coaching, also served his local association as treasurer for almost 40 years and performed many other duties, such as checking field conditions and re-scheduling matches. He helped to organize Peewee ball tournaments for a decade and umpired ladies and youth ball as well as men's slow-pitch until age 79.

All told O'Neill devoted some 42 years to the development of softball in Cobourg and area and as his nominator wrote "He is disciplined, responsible, reliable, accountable, honest and is known for his integrity."

The Feaver award was instituted in 1972 and is named in honour of Frank Feaver, OASA Secretary from 1943-1956 who was renowned for his hard work, dedication and devotion to the sport. There is no question that Bill O'Neill is in the Feaver mould and is an excellent winner of this prestigious award - he has truly made an outstanding contribution to the game for over four decades.

The OASA invites individuals, league or associations to nominate any player, coach, executive, or official who has made an outstanding contribution to softball. Information and documentation supporting the nominee should be included.

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85 & 50 ADD UP TO MUCH MORE THAN 140
The 85th OASA Annual General Meeting was held in Cobourg, where the community was celebrating 50 years of ball with the Cobourg Legion Minor Softball Organization.

Several speakers at the celebratory banquet held Saturday evening November 24th, after the afternoon business session, pointed out the value of both organizations in the life of the province and the community. Mayor Peter Delanty remarked that "three generations of Cobourg children learned the skills of life " through the Legion ball system.

MP Rick Norlock (referred to as "Dr. Phil" by MC Rob Faulds of Sportsnet-and there is a resemblance!) presented a letter from P.M. Stephen Harper to the OASA for 85 years of service. Later in the evening a communique from Governor General Jean was read, celebrating 50 years of community work by the Cobourg Legion Ball system.

Host chair Rory Quigley took the some 150 in attendance back fifty years and credited an article by veteran sportswriter Layton Dodge with triggering the start of the Legion Minor Ball organization. Dodge, the 1987 winner of the F. R. Feaver award, was in attendance at the dinner, seated almost beside the 2007 winner, Cobourg's Bill O'Neill. Quigley pointed out the CLMSO is "truly family" and remarked that the night before some 50 championship teams had been invited to a celebration of a half century of softball in Cobourg.

Outgoing President Dave Reynolds of Napanee presented Presidents' Merit awards to Agnes Cole of Churchill and Bob Abbot of Huntsville. In Reynolds words "Agnes works behind the scene and has always been available to help the OASA and that help has been extremely important to the Association".

With regard to Abbot, Reynolds called the life member his mentor and alluded to many conversations at all hours where Abbot helped him see his way through some tricky situations. "He likely won't be pleased getting this award but he's getting it anyway", Reynolds remarked-but Abbot's wide smile belied that emphatically.

The Association of the year award was presented to the Waterloo Minor Fastball Association and Gil Read Coaches Honor Roll plaques went to Richard Venne and Rob Way. The evening concluded with an extensive prize draw and a dance;

Reviewed August 2020

By Ewart Timlin, Manager   Edited by Donna Cole

2000
The Scarborough Blues won four straight games to capture the OASA Masters Elimination Tournament at Mitchell for the second consecutive year. The Blues and the runner-up Kitchener Waterloo Classics qualified to represent Ontario in the Eastern Canadian Masters competition in August of 2000.

The Cats won our opener 8-1 over Sudbury and then lost to Scarborough. We rebounded from the loss to win the next three straight: 8-0 over Cobourg, 9-5 over Sudbury again, and 4-1 over Mitchell. However, we were eliminated by K.W. Classics in the semi-final. Roger Cole, who hurled in all or part of the club's six matches, was named the Most Valuable Player in the tournament.

2001
Toronto McMurphys won all four of their starts to take the OASA Masters Elimination tournament in Mitchell this year. Nine teams took part and it marked the first time a Toronto team had won the event. In 2000, the title was taken by the Scarborough Blues, and the Cold Springs Cats won the championship the first three years the category was offered by the OASA.

In 2001, we finished third in the nine-team event with a 3-2 record. The Cats nipped Scarborough Blues 2-1 in the opener but then lost to Toronto before coming back to blank Mitchell Masters 5-0 and squeeze past the Blues again 5-4. Then we were eliminated by Oshawa in the semi-final.

Although we finished out of the money in Mitchell, Chris Calbury, Roger Cole and I decided to host the Eastern Canadian Masters Championship in Baltimore in September. After several telephone calls and meetings, we managed to engage two teams from out-of-province, namely Fredericton, N.B. and Calgary, Alberta. They joined the Ontario teams of Cobourg, Oshawa, Scarborough, Fingal, Toronto, and of course the host Cats. On a bright, warm weekend the Cold Springs team went undefeated in the competition as we won our three round robin matches 3-1 over Fredericton, 9-0 over Fingal, and 1-0 over Oshawa.

In the gold medal game against Oshawa in the seventh frame, Roger Cole fired a 1-2-3 punch to send the 1-1 tie into the eighth inning. In the bottom of the eighth, Bill Shannon laid down a perfect bunt single before advancing to second on a Stephen Mitts sacrifice bunt. Shannon then charged to third on a wild pitch. With only one out, Oshawa decided to walk the next two Cold Springs batters, loading the bases and hoping to force the Cats into a double play.

However, things didn't work out as planned. With two strikes against Ray Bickle and the bases loaded, another errant Oshawa pitch sent Shannon racing for home, but he never made it there. He was tripped and tagged out but the umpire called interference and the run counted, giving the Cats a 2-1 championship victory. Another dramatic finish! Besides winning the title on the field, the Cats helped to provide a good sum of money for the new Baltimore Arena as well.

2002
In 2002, the Stoney Creek Gators won six straight games to win their first OASA Masters Championship in a ten-team tournament at Ingersoll. Later in the summer, the Gators won the Eastern Canadian Masters Championship at Fredericton, N.B.! According to the tournament director Bruce Wills, the total number of teams dropped to four because the Ontario club was allowed 35-40 year olds and the Maritime teams had older players. Thus, two teams decided not to participate.

In the Ontario Championship this year, the Cats defeated Ingersoll and Mount Elgin. However, we were eliminated with two losses to Mitchell 6-2 and Stoney Creek 9-4.

2003
In the winter of2002-2003, Roger Cole and I decided that the Cats would probably fold because of the diminishing supply of appropriately-aged players in the area. Consequently, I helped Alec Rutherford with another Masters team, namely the Colborne Merchants. We worked along with Harry Jeschke, Legion Fields manager, to bring the OASA Masters Championship to Cobourg, where the Cold Springs club had hosted it in 1997.

Later in the spring, Roger made last minute phone calls to Gary Latchford and Mike O'Hearn to try to muster up players from the defunct Scarborough Blues team. Gary and Michael were successful in recruiting two valuable players - namely Mike Raccioppio and Mark Thompson - from the former Scarborough team. Also, another significant addition was Mike McCaw, whom Don Goodfellow recruited out of Belleville. Thus, along with the old stalwarts and new bodies, the Cats were rebuilt in 2003, and I was wearing two hats.

The Masters Championship schedule that materialized was composed of teams in three distinct divisions. In Division B, the Cats dominated by winning all three of their starts: 4-3 over Waterloo on a sixth inning home run by Mike McCaw and a four-hitter by Gary Vowles, 11-9 over Stoney Creek, and 15-0 over Fingal.

In quarter-final play, Cold Springs advanced with a 6-0 victory over Cobourg, behind Gary Vowles who gave up just four hits in recording the shutout. The Cats reached the final with a 5-2 decision over Stoney Creek, thanks to a grand slam in the fifth by Mike McCaw. Gary Vowles threw five innings for the win and held Stoney Creek runless.

The Cats seemed to "run out of gas" in the gold medal final against Oshawa. As I recalled in the 2001 Eastern Canadian Masters Championship game against the same team, we were victorious. This, perhaps, gave the Oshawa team the incentive to win the rematch in front of 350 fans at Legion Fields. The final outcome was a resounding win by Oshawa: 8-1.

Nevertheless, the Cold Springs club qualified, along with Oshawa, to play in the Eastern Canadian Championship at Truro, N.S. in September. In the Ontario tournament the Top Pitcher award was presented to Gary Vowles, who threw 21 innings with a 1.0209 ERA. Mike Raccioppio was the top hitter batting 9 for 18 at the plate.

Four Cats players from the silver medal winning squad - Mike McIvor, Ray Bickle, Mark Thompson, and Gary Latchford - did not travel east to the Maritimes that year. In their place we chose Ron Rosengren of Mississauga and Tim Chant of Cobourg, both members of the Colborne Merchants, as well as Cobourg Masters player Robbie Ellis, of Campbellford. I felt that these players would add the extra hitting depth to the club. We already had solid pitching with Roger Cole, Gary Vowles and Jim Oakman making the road trip east.

The Cold Springs Cats captured the bronze medal at the 2003 Eastern Canadian Masters Championship, held in Truro. We opened the tournament on Friday with a 1-0 setback against Durham, N.S.. However, Roger Cole pitched a gem and was named the Cats Most Valuable Player with a two-hitter.

On Saturday, the Cats rebounded with a 7-0 mercy victory over Glasgow, N.S.. Gary Vowles, with some fine hitting and pitching, was named the game's MVP. In game three, Cold Springs defeated Fredericton, N.B. 7-6. In the bottom of the seventh inning with two out and the game deadlocked at 6-6, Tim Chant cracked a homerun to give the Cats the win. Tim was named the game MVP while Jim Oakman and Gary Vowles combined for the win on the mound.

Cold Springs posted their third straight victory of the day, another 7-6 decision, over Calgary, Alberta in game four. With his fine fielding play and strong hitting, Chant earned the second MVP nod of the tournament. Vowles and Cole combined for the victory, Cold Springs' 3-1 record tied us for first in our pool with Minesing, Ontario and Calgary, Alberta. In the Cats first playoff game on Sunday, our bats were silenced when Calgary mercied us 7-0. Calgary went on to win the Eastern Canadian Championship, defeating Minesing 2-0 in the gold medal final. Thus, the Cats gained a third-place finish. Another highlight of the tournament was the hitting of a true Cats stalwart - Stephen Mitts. He finished the round robin play with an amazing .769 batting average.

On the East Coast we had an excellent time in rekindling old acquaintances. However, on the field our power hitters didn't come through in key situations, which accounted for our flat finish in the tournament.

2004
In 2004, after staging two fund-raising events with the great help of Bill Elliott, Barry Dawe, and Roger Cole the Cats planned to compete in at least 2 fastball tournaments. One was basically an intermediate tournament (The Jim Bradford Classic) held in Baltimore during June. The other was the Masters Eliminations (The Jack Cook Classic) held in Port Perry in July. The OASA elimination tournament in Port Perry is staged in honour of the late Jack Cook, who was an ardent worker in the OASA as a president, secretary and convenor.

I remember Jack distinctly one September in the mid 1990's after the Eastern Canadian Championship in his hometown, when he greeted me with the usual "old farmer" salutation. Then we discussed the current status of the softball world, after which Jack walked to Diamond One, where he succumbed to a major heart attack. What a tragic ending for such a fine person.

At the Masters level, especially, a manager requires a great deal of help in enlisting players from year to year. In this regard, I discovered that Mike McCaw and Mike O'Hearn fit the bill to a "T". The former was responsible for recruiting a fine fielding catcher - Darren Crouter, and the latter a fleet footed outfielder, Steve Mo.
We entered the Jim Bradford Classic with two basic goals in mid-June. One was to practice together as a team and the second was to have fun while participating.

Consequently, we achieved both goals in Baltimore. On Friday, we started the tournament slowly as Cobourg Stingers humbled us 11-3. But then we roared back on Saturday with wins over Peterborough Juniors 8-1 and Stittsville 7-3. This placed us in the playoffs against Belleville on Sunday, when unfortunately, because of base running miscues in the early frames, we didn't score a run and were defeated 3-0.

Our second tournament occurred in Port Perry where we began the Masters Eliminations on Friday with a convincing victory 9-2 over Cloyne (comprised mainly of former fastball superstars). On Saturday we suffered our first loss at the hands of Kitchener-Waterloo (4-3) and a major setback to our long-time pitching ace Roger Cole when he severely injured his arm. Later that same day, the Cats clobbered Chepstow (8-2).

In the preliminary round, because of our wins and our hefty plus, minus aggregate we gained a first-place finish in our division. This standing meant we crossed over Sunday to meet our long-standing rivals, Oshawa in our first playoff game. We gained some revenge for the 2003 loss to Winchester-Arms in the final by defeating Oshawa 5-1. Later that morning we were defeated by Colborne 3-1 which placed us in the bronze medal game with Stoney Creek. Luckily, in the 7th inning we scrambled back to beat the Gators 3-1 and gain a 3rd place finish in the 15 team elimination tournament. In the tournament Gary Vowles came to the forefront and pitched stupendously during 5 and ½ games.

At the time of this writing, the Cats are preparing to attend the World Senior Fastball Tournament in North Bay on Labour Day Weekend. In one regard, it has been a disastrous summer of '04 in the fact that because of a serious arm injury, Roger Cole has been forced to hang up his pitching shoes after a long and illustrious career. I've told Roger, on a few occasions that when he retires from pitching, I'll retire from managing. This is perhaps, the cue to disappear from the fastball scene. However, that World's Masters Tournament in Edmonton in 2005 sounds very appealing. Well! That belongs to another chapter in a future book. Perhaps .... maybe .... I'll think about it.

During the last 30 years, I was fortunate enough to have been surrounded by several great ball players. This has resulted in winning 7 Ontarios, 2 Canadians, 1 Eastern Canadian, 1 Finalist, and at least 2 third place finishes. However, as I have stated before winning laurels is only one aspect of participating in this great game of fastball.

Another very important aspect is making and rebuilding friendships. In competing against eight provinces and territories, and US teams from states such as Ohio and New York, I have acquired relationships that will certainly last a lifetime.

My sincere appreciation is extended to Shannon Cole and Donna Cole for proofreading and transcribing my ramblings. Also, a great deal of thanks goes to the following people, publications, and facilities for providing reference material: Layton Dodge, Peter Handley, Darryl Thompson, Bonnie Timlin, Ray Bickle, Cobourg Star, "High and Inside", New Brunswick Telegraph and Journal, Softball Ontario News, and the Gordon King Centre.

Cold Springs Cats - Players and Management    "Through The Years"    
   
Rick Ainsworth               Rob Ellis                             Stan McKnight

Maurice Alderson          Gary Ferguson                   Craig Minifie
Roger Alexander            Ivan Ferguson                   Steve Mitts
Brian Beatty                   Wayne Ferguson               Steve Mo         
Phil Beatty                      Neil Francis                       Howie Mouncey 
Dave Bemma                 Murray Garrick                   Steve Neeley                
Ray Bickle                      Mike Gibson                      Tim Neron            
                                       Don Goodfellow                 Bernie Nicholls
Perry Bowles                 Paul Goodfellow                Jim Oakman                       
Terry Bowles                  Craig Gray                         Dave O'Connell               
Jim Bradford                  Rob Hardy                          Mike O'Hearn                            
Les Brill                          Dave Hare                         Gord Oosterhoff                   
 Don Burkitt                    Kent Harper                       Rick Palmateer                      
Jim Burkitt                      Paul Hasson                      Mike Raccippio                           
Allan Burnham               Dave Hedger                     Ed Ristan                                 
Eric Buttars                                           
Bill Buys                        Ron Herriot                         Bill Rollings
Chris Calbury                Rob Hook                           Pat Rutherford
Bill Campbell                Gary Hope                          Dave Ruthowsky
Doug Campbell             Mike Irwin                           Bill Ryan
Bill Cane                       Terry Irwin                           Frank Schram
John Cane                     Lorne Jamieson                 Bill Shannon
Peter Cane                    Rick Jaynes                        Phil Solomon
Bill Carrigan                  Marty Kernaghan                Randy Sughrue
Tim Chant                      Pete Landers                     Lynn Thackeray
Jim Chase                      Larry Landry                      Mark Thompson
Rick Clark                       Harold Lang                       Ewart Timlin
Roger Cole                     Scott Lang                         Greg Timlin
Brian  Condon                Gary Latchford                  Jeff Timlin
Mike Connolley              Terry Lewis                         Ross Timlin
Chris Cook                     Stu Little                             Dave Tinney
Darren Crouter               Don MacDonald                 Steve Virag
Phil Crouter                    Bryan Madge                     Gary Vowles
Andy Dalgarno               Todd March                        Roger Wakeman
Barry Dawe                    Paul Marineau                    Dave Waldie
Brain Dolley                   John Maughan                   Scott Wasson
Dan Donahue                 Mike May                           Joe Watters
Rob Doncaster               Mike McCaw                      Wayne Wells
Terry Elinsky                   Roger Mcintosh                 Kevin Woodward
Bill Elliott                         Mike McIvor    
Don Elliott        

Reviewed August 2020

By Ewart Timlin, Manager   Edited by Donna Cole

1990-1995
From 1990 until 1992 the Cats played in a number of fastball tournaments. Although there was a great deal of camaraderie and good fellowship during those years, the executive decided it was time to take a break from the competitive softball world. Consequently, the team folded for three years.

In 1993 until 1995, ex-Cats such as Roger Cole, Ron Herriott, and GM Ewart Timlin joined the Baltimore Rockets fastball club. During 1994, the Rockets were finalists in Chelmsford in the Intermediate A category. Then in 1995, the team progressed to the OASA Men's Championship title in Sturgeon Falls.

1996
In the winter of 1995-96, I had the opportunity to become a member of the OASA Men's Committee. It was an entertaining and certainly rewarding experience in the fact that a new OASA category was formed. That was, of course, the creation of the Masters level in fastball, for players who had achieved a certain maturity in physical and mental outlook in this great game. Thus, the Cats were reunited in 1996, which prolonged the interest in the sport for several years.

Eleven of the former Senior A champions who represented Ontario in the Nationals were involved in the new, mature Masters club. The members were: Roger Cole, Bill Elliott, Ray Bickle, Don Elliott, Barry Dawe, John Maughan, Stephen Mitts, Paul Goodfellow, Mike McIvor, Ross Timlin, and Ewart Timlin. Other key elements of that '96 team included Gary Latchford, Dan Donahue, Dave Ruthowsky, Jeff Timlin, Mike O'Hearn, Tim Neron, John Cane, Harold Lang, Pete Harrison, and coach Steve Nealy.

In the '96 OASA Masters Championship in St. Thomas, the Cats opened up with a 5-0 win over St. Thomas Rusty Spikes as Roger Cole threw a nifty two-hitter. In their next start they came from behind with four runs in the sixth to take a 7-3 verdict from the Toronto Force. Lefty Gary Latchford gave up only four hits to record the win. In the final, these same two teams hooked up again, with Cold Springs taking a 9-3 decision. Dave Ruthowsky was the winning hurler. Cold Springs carried the OASA banner north over the Labour Day weekend as they traveled to North Bay and won the prestigious 32 team World Old-Timers Tournament.

1997
During the winter of 1996-97, Harry Jeschke and I planned to make history in the fastball world by hosting the first ever Canadian Amateur Softball Association Masters Championship at Cobourg's newly opened Legion Fields. What fantastic facilities to showcase the event!

After planning the championship series over the course of several months, the tournament finally came to fruition in August, but it involved several problems in the beginning stages, which I will outline after I discuss the OASA Masters Championship. The Ontario Masters was also staged in Cobourg during July of 1997, when eleven teams answered the call. As defending provincial champions, the Cats already owned a berth in the upcoming Nationals. But rather than accepting the free pass, our team chose to walk through the front door, winning five straight games and taking the first of three qualifying spots.

In the first game of the Ontario's we managed to beat Toronto's Chick 'n Deli 8-5 in 10 innings, followed by wins over Scarborough 4-2, Mississauga Masters 11-3 in a mercy game, 10-2 over Wellesly/Wilmot in a mercy game, and 11-5 over Wellesly in the final game. All three finalists qualified to compete in the Nationals. Also competing in 1997 were teams from Grafton, Trenton, Ottawa, Etobicoke, Toronto, Scarborough, North Bay, and a second team from Mississauga. Roger Cole was the obvious choice for the Top Pitcher award at the Masters tournament in July.

As I stated earlier, in August there were some problems in the scheduling of the Nationals. Just two days before the largest ball tournament ever held in Cobourg, Harry Jeschke was informed by a telephone call that a second team from Nova Scotia - namely Sydney- was on its way to the Canadians. Due to a mix-up, Harry had not been told earlier. Needless to say, Mr. Jeschke scrambled to accommodate the Sydney team into the schedule. This left the tourney with an odd number of teams. Therefore, he added Cobourg Thomas Pontiac to increase the entries to ten.

Also, due to inclement weather, some of the games had to be re-routed to Baltimore where there were well-drained diamonds.
Branch 133 of the Royal Canadian Legion in Cobourg was an enormous aid in 1997 as they provided the facilities, food and refreshments for our welcoming party on a wet Wednesday evening in August. All the participants from British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as well as officials and local dignitaries were entertained by the Cold Springs Cats and their wives. This set a positive tone for the whole tournament.

The Cold Springs Cats won seven consecutive games and captured the First Canadian Masters Fastpitch Championship at Cobourg in '97, in the inaugural event. What a fantastic ending for the final game! I couldn't have written a better script for the dramatic action-packed conclusion. The Cats won four in a row in pool play as they handled Sydney, N.S. 8-1 and mercied Bass River, N.B. 7-0. Their third and fourth wins were by 7-1 scores over Manitoba and Mississauga.

Advancing to the playoff round, the Cats dropped Wellesly, the same club they downed to win the Ontario title. Roger Cole recorded the victory. Cold Springs went into the next playoff match with Halifax, N.S. and edged the maritime crew 3-2. Dave Ruthowsky held Halifax to just five hits, although he gave up a 2-run homer in the first. Nevertheless, the Cats clawed back with three runs in innings l, 2 and 6.

In the exciting final, Cold Springs were leading 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh against Victoria Payless. With one away and a runner on first base, B.C.'s Victor Malli slammed a double to right-centre. Tim Neron fielded the ball and relayed it to second baseman Stephen Mitts, who in tum fired it to catcher Bill Elliott, who tagged the oncoming runner and threw to Harold Lang at third who tagged Malli for the game-ending out. In that championship game Terry Lewis went the distance for the winner. Mike McIvor drove in both runs.

Ray Bickle was named the tourney's Top Hitter - he hit .700 plus in the round robin and then kept on the playoffs, finishing with a .583 mark. Mike McIvor, by the way, had three home runs and went 10 for 24, and he also drove in eight runs. The Cats batted .333 for the tournament.

Terry Lewis was named the Top Pitcher of the event as he allowed just two earned runs in 14 innings. The strong three-man staff of Lewis, Ruthowsky, and Cole allowed just nine earned runs in 46 innings for an ERA of 1.37. Even though we battled rain and unexpected teams at the beginning of the week, we felt that the tournament was a fantastic success for not only the Cats but also the throngs of fans who attended the inaugural event.

However, we weren't exactly perfect in '97 as we attempted to retain the World Old-Timer title we won in '96. With a small crew of twelve we lost in the final game in North Bay to Total Cleaning and Restoration in two extra innings. Bill Jacko was the winner while Dave Ruthowsky took the loss. Roger Cole had a two-run double for the Cats.

1998
In 1998 the Cats recorded our third straight Masters Elimination Championship, the tournament for which was held in Mitchell. This qualified us to defend our Canadian title in St. John, N.B.. We didn't have the easy road that we traveled in 1997, as we had to come from the loser's bracket to challenge for the OASA crown.

The Cats won our first two games 12-4 over Kitchener-Waterloo and 13-6 over Mitchell before being nosed out by Scarborough 1-0. In the final, the Cold Springs Club had to win to survive and we came up with a 2-1 victory over the Scarborough Blues and then won the sudden death rematch 7-0 to emerge as champions for the third consecutive year. Cold Springs (as defending champions), Scarborough, Sarnia, and Mitchell all qualified for the Canadian Masters Championship in New Brunswick.

Bill "Cowboy" Elliott has always been a great catcher and cheerleader for the team. However, in 1998 he particularly shone as a fundraiser. Bill began the year by staging a 29-table euchre tournament in February, helped organize our first annual golf tournament in May, staged a yard sale, meat roll and raffles in the summer. As a result of his efforts, sufficient money was raised to pay for all the room reservations at the gorgeous Delta Brunswick Hotel in St. John, N.B. at the Nationals. What a year we had!

The Cold Springs Cats won their second Canadian Masters Fastpitch Championship in a row, but it was far from a cakewalk. In the Nationals at St. John, Cold Springs took top spot, followed by Mitchell, with Sarnia third and St. John Whistle Shop placing fourth. In the round robin series the Cats lost their opener 4-1 to Nova Scotia's Captain Eli's. They came back to take their next four games to win the Spalding Division. The Cats blitzed Sarnia 12-1, beat York Sunbury Minglers 4-1, and blanked Dairy Queen 7-0 with Landers fanning a dozen and giving up only two hits. They took the division title with an 8-0 win over Bass River, N.B. as Roger Cole gave up only one hit.

The Cats opened up the playoff round the same way they opened the round robin set-with a loss. Labatt’s Division winner Mitchell came up with a 4-2 decision. That win threw Mitchell into the final and Cold Springs against Sarnia in the semis. In the semi-finals, the Cold Springs crew nipped Sarnia 2-0 as Dave Ruthowsky fired a one-hitter. In the final the Cats blanked Mitchell 7-0 with 50 year-old Canadian Softball Hall of Famer Pete Landers tossing a neat no-hitter, fanning ten and walking just one man.

In '98 we had a plethora of splendid pitchers and great swatters as well. However, we needed every one to capture our second Canadian Masters Championship. The question at that time was, can we make it three in a row? Little did we know then that there would be no more Canadians staged at the Masters level.

The Cats had won the title in '97 and '98 - the only years this championship has ever been held. Therefore, some type of historical softball record has been set by our team. To conclude our successful activities in '98, Barry Dawe once again organized a golf tournament at Ashbrook in September, followed by a year-end party at E.T. 's, We certainly had lots to celebrate!

1999
In 1999, I felt that one of the main reasons for the Canadians not continuing was the lack of dissemination of information by Softball Canada and its provincial bodies, such as Softball Alberta and Softball British Columbia. In discussing the national tournament, for example, with players from Western Canada, I discovered that many were unaware that the Canadians even existed in '97 and '98. Thus, the Cats decided to enter both the Western Canadians and Eastern Canadians this year. Our team made history again by becoming the first OASA club to be allowed to compete in a Western Canadian Softball Championship, which was held in Calgary.

We got off to a slow start in the event as we lost our first two games: 8-2 to Victoria, B.C. and 9-7 to Manitoba #1. To have a chance at the playoffs the Cats had to win their next three games, which we did: 8-4 over Saskatchewan #2, 9-3 over Calgary Rockies, and 4-3 over Northwest Territories. That left us tied with the host Rockies and Manitoba# I for the second playoff spot in our division.

We defeated the Rockies again 7-4 but lost out to Manitoba 4-0. Hall of Famer Cliff Bishop was on the mound in the second tiebreaker, and he shut down the Cats. Bishop had previously beaten the club in 1980 in the Canadian Senior Championship in Saskatoon. Victoria, B.C. eventually won the Western Canadian Masters title by defeating Saskatoon in the final. The B.C. team reached the Canadian finals in '97 but were beaten 2-1 by the host Cold Springs Cats.

In September of '99, because of a lack of interest and the cost of the trip to the Maritimes, we could muster only a skeleton crew in the Eastern Canadians. Four Mitchell players bolstered our ranks, which included the stalwart members of Roger Cole, Ray Bickle, Stephen Mitts, John Maughan, Jeff Timlin, Dave Ruthowsky, Mike Gibson, and myself(that was pretty scary!) As a result, we managed only two wins and lost two games. One of the wins was a default, by the way. Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves in the friendly city of Fredericton and renewed old friendships with players and coaches that we had met over the last three years.

Loyal Fans
Tom and Elsie Massey have been loyal Cats fans since the mid-seventies. You could always recognize Tom in his cowboy hat and high boots leaning over the fence beside the first or third base lines, taunting the opposing team's defense. In 1999, with their little red Honda, they roared into Calgary and then on to Fredericton to cheer on their team. They had little difficulty finding Calgary and the appropriate ball field because their son Tim lived nearby. However, traveling to Fredericton was another story.

I drew a map for Tom to follow through Montreal. Unfortunately, he drove through the tunnel and returned via the bridge, returning to about the same spot where he had started. He finally found the #20 highway and proceeded towards New Brunswick. I reserved a room for Tom and Elsie in the Lord Beaverbrook in Fredericton, but when they hadn't arrived at 11:30pm I cancelled the room. At 11:45pm Tom came lumbering into the hotel and I hustled to the front desk and luckily obtained a room for the couple.

After the tournament, Tom and Elsie left the hotel at 1:00am to avoid traffic and routing problems, especially while traveling through Montreal. Fortunately, they arrived home safely.

Updated August 2020

The Cobourg Sentinel-Star, Thursday, October 8,1953

In the following historical reference to the inception of a National Agricultural Show in England, Alfred Hall, Roseneath, Seaton, Cumberland, England, secretary of The World Championship Plowing Organization, tells of the growth of the World Plan development in agricultural organization, and how the First World Contest has come to Cobourg. Ontario.

"J. D. Thomas," writes Mr. Hall, "of the Ontario Plowman's Association flew to Scotland on special mission to invite the Provisional Board of what was to be known as The World Championship Plowing Organization to hold the First World Match in Canada.”

In the early 19th century, the Lord of the Manor of Workington, in Cumberland, England, a man called John Christian Curwen founded the original Workington Agricultural Society. Curwen was a farmer and a member of the British Parliament for 40 years. He carried out many experiments with crops, cultivation, machinery inventions, the fattening of livestock, and other farm practices.

The name of Curwen was adopted on his marriage to the heiress to the estates of the Curwen family. He was of the same family as the famous Mr. Fletcher Christian, the Chief Officer of the "Bounty" who led the mutiny against the notorious, Captain Bligh. Having set Bligh adrift Fletcher Christian and his mutineers settled on Pitcairn Island and there founded a community some members of which occasionally return to the land of their forefathers.  

It was John Christian Curwen and a farmer colleague, the famous Mr. Bates, of Northumberland, who together first suggested to the Secretary of the then Board of Agriculture the idea of holding a National Agricultural Show. Thus was started the "Royal Show of England" as we know it today.

Curwen's Workington Agricultural Society had a branch in the Isle of Man and another at Wigton in Cumberland. For some reason, however, the Workington Show did not survive after Curwen’s day. In 1945 George T. Weir suggested to Alfred Hall and to James Lancaster who was at that time Mayor of Workington, and a few other enthusiasts the idea of forming another Workington Agricultural Society. This was one. James Lancaster was made chairman, Alfred Hall, General Sec., and George Weir Treasurer, and a three-day Agricultural Show and Industry Exhibition was held on Curwen (?), Workington.

In 1946, Alfred Hall suggested the holding of a Ploughing Match, to which the Society agreed. He learned that a champion team of Ontario ploughmen were to pay a visit to the United Kingdom, the trip being their prize for having won the Ontario Championships. There were to be four of them and a team manager. Their sponsors were the Imperial Oil Company of Canada, Ltd., and the Salada Tea Company.

An invitation was at once extended to them through the Ontario Plowmen's Association to compete in the Workington Ploughing Match. The invitation was accepted but when the time for the Match came there was severe frost and after two postponements the event had to be cancelled. But a banquet was held; the visitors were taken on a tour of the Lake District and the invitation was extended to cover another team of Canadians for the next year.

After that each year's Ontario champions came annually to plough at Workington Ploughing Match. Later came competitors from Northern Ireland and from Sweden. And more and more competitors came from further and further afield in Britain, too.

In 1950 the Workington Agricultural Society's Ploughing Match was held at Penrith, in Cumberland, with the assistance of members of Skelton. Plough Match was growing too big to remain a local affair.

The Ontario Plowmen's Association had invited the Workington Society to send a team to compete in Canada; a further invitation came from the State River Valley Plowmen's Association in Canada, and promises of hospitality were forthcoming through the Canadian Vice-president of the Workington Agricultural Society, L. A. Greene, of Port Arthur, Ontario, who began life in Workington.

In the winter of 1951 Ontario's team of champion ploughmen planted Canadian Maple trees round the War Memorial in the Vulcan Park, Workington, as a token of thanks and friendship for the Cumberland hospitality enjoyed at successive parties of Canadian ploughmen.

By now John A. Carroll, who was then Secretary of the Ontario Plowmens' Association (now Assistant Deputy Minister of Agriculture for the Province of Ontario and President of WCPO) were closely liaising on the idea of getting as many countries as possible represented at an international ploughing contest. By various means and in particular, through the good offices of Ford Motor Co. Ltd., Alfred Hall established liaison with interested parties in several European countries.

Lack of finance made it impossible to accept the Canadian invitations, but it was felt that, in time, it might be possible for British plowmen to be sent to European countries in exchange for ploughmen from those countries having visited Britain. The idea of this was discussed by Alfred Hall and Gunnar Hubinette, of Sweden, at Workington in November of 1950. They decided to work; together in the job of interesting other European countries and securing their co-operation.

One of the first steps towards this end was the calling of a meeting by the Workington Agricultural Society in collaboration with the Northern Ireland Ploughing Association in Belfast at the time of the Northern Ireland Ploughing Match in February 1951. It was felt that if international matches were to be successful there was a need to draft rules and agree styles of ploughing, common to all for competition purposes.

This meeting was attended by a representative gathering from the British Isles and from a number of European countries. There was a frank exchange of views and opinions and the outcome was the undoubted desire for the formation of a fully representative international authority for the conduct of international ploughing matches.

Since there was no national society in Great Britain, although Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (Erie) each had their own national organizations to which local societies were and, of course, still are affiliated, the Workington Society decided to invite all the local ploughing societies in Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) to attend a meeting to consider the formation of a British Ploughing Association.

Because there was no collected record of ploughing societies this entailed considerable research and this job of finding the addresses of secretaries was carried out in the main by George Merryweather of the Goodyear Tyre Company of Great Britain Ltd. Mr. Merryweather and Mr. Frank Ellis, of Essa, were two of the earliest associates of the Workington Agricultural Society in connection with the developments in competition ploughing.

The meeting thus convened by the Workington Society was held in Leeds, Yorkshire, on the 17th of May, 1951, when about 150 delegates attended and were entertained to a buffet lunch by the Esso Petroleum Company Ltd., before commencing business. By a unanimous vote the British Ploughing Association was formed and arrangements were made for the first British National Ploughing Match to be held at Newton Kyme, near Tadcaster, Yorkshire, England.

With a national authority such as the BPA, Great Britain was in a position to co-operate on representative national basis with similar organizations in other countries for the purpose of establishing a world ploughing organization and so provide a World-wide incentive to encourage better ploughing for better crops for more food everywhere.

In Britain most local ploughing match societies, some of which have been existence for well over 100 years, are affiliated to the British Ploughing Association. The British National Match is now held annually at a different place in either England, Scotland or Wales on the second Wednesday of November each year.

In February, 1952, the British Ploughing Association convened an International Conference which, at the kind invitation of the then Mayor of Workington (?) attended by the BPA Council and representatives of ploughing organizations in Canada, Sweden and Holland when it was agreed to form a Provisional Governing Board for the organization of a World Ploughing Match and when international rules were drafted for further consideration by each delegate's respective organization. J. J. Bogin, Sec. of N.P.A. of Ireland sent the encouraging news that the N.P.A. would donate to the new organization a trophy to be known as the "Irish Shield".

In October and September of that year. Alfred Hall, who was now Secretary of the British Ploughing Association and also of the Provisional board and owing to the weight of the new duties had relinquished the Secretaryship of the Workington Society, attended specially convened meetings held in Sweden and in Norway to further discuss the promotion of a World Ploughing Contest and to consider the standardizing of international rules and ploughing styles which would be fair to all participants in such a contest. These conferences were also, attended by delegates from Finland, Denmark and Germany as well as from Norway and Sweden.

To all these Alfred Hall extended, on behalf of the British Ploughing Association, an invitation to send either competitors or observers to the second British National Match which was to be held at Stirling, Scotland, in November. It was agreed that the semi-digger class would be held according to the draft international rules as an experiment and that afterwards their practical application would be considered in the light of experience thus gained.

The BPA Match at Stirling was, as a result, attended by competitors and official observers from Canada, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany and the Republic of Ireland. Not only was a final code of rules and a style of ploughing decided upon for the first World Championship Ploughing Contest but, thanks to the generosity of Canada, it became possible to arrange for the first World Contest to be held at Cobourg, Ontario, in October, 1953.

J. D. Thomas, of the Ontario Plowmen's Association flew to Scotland on special mission to invite the Provincial Board of (?) Organization to hold the first World Match in Canada. Mr. Thomas said that Canada would be happy to be host and would cover all the expenses of a party of two national champions and a team manager from each country whilst they were in Canada, and as many countries as could enter were welcome.

This kind offer was gratefully accepted and delegates returned to their respective countries intent on organizing first local or area ploughing matches and then a national match from which to select competitors to go to Canada. They were also intent upon trying to find enough money to pay the fares to Canada, too.

In March of this year Secretary Alfred Hall received an urgent call to fly to Canada at once to make arrangements for the World Contest which is to be held in conjunction with the Ontario Plowmen's Association. Whilst there he had a busy week of meetings and conferences and was able to accept on behalf of the WCPO the "Esso World-Plan". Some time earlier representatives of the world-wide Esso oil organization had met in Germany and one of the items they discussed was the sponsorship of competitors to the World Ploughing Contest.

Esso affiliates in certain countries were prepared to offer as a national championship prize the free trip to Canada. This sponsorship would cover two competitors and a manager. Also, all the affiliates would subscribe towards a premier trophy to be known as the "Esso" Golden Plough, to be symbolic of world supremacy in championship ploughing and to be competed for annually.

Thus a big problem of finance was solved and now twelve countries will be represented in the World Contest at Cobourg.

Since the BPA Match held in Scotland great developments have taken place in several countries.

Reviewed August 2020

With entries from 11 countries the Cobourg International match is shaping up into the greatest yet
By: F.L. Kyte  - Family Herald and Weekly Star, September 10, 1953

IN ADDITION to close to 600 entries of plowmen, and boys and girls from Ontario, plus a few contestants from other provinces, teams of two expert plowmen from 10 other countries will compete this year at the International Plowing Match and Farm Machinery Demonstration. The Match is being held not far from Cobourg, Ont. and the dates are Oct. 6 to 9 inclusive.

After several years of discussion with United Kingdom and Scandinavian plowing authorities a World Championship Plowing Organization was formed last year in England, and the first truly International match was awarded to Canada, to be held at the same time as our regular International event. President of the World Organization is J. A. Carroll, ass't Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Ontario, and a former secretary manager of the big Ontario Plowmen's Ass'n Matches.

Eight European Teams
According to present Information Great Britain will be represented by two competitors plus a manager (the rules also suggest that a coach who could act as a Judge accompany each team); Northern Ireland and Republic of Eire will each have two contestants plus managers; Norway, two competitors plus a manager and the father of one of them, who is making the trip just to see his son compete; Sweden, Finland and Holland, two competitors plus managers; Germany, two competitors and, a manager.

On June 1st Germany held its first federal match when 36 county and state finalists competed to declare their national champions, who will be coming to Canada. Denmark and the U.S. are also sending a team of two plus a manager.

In charge of the overseas delegation will be S. G. Powell, chairman of the British Plowing Ass’n. and Alfred Hall, Roseneath, Seaton, Workington, Cumberland, Eng. The group is expected to arrive in Canada Sept. 30. and will make a brief tour of Eastern Ontario before reaching Cobourg.

The big Match is being held this year at the Durham-Northumberland, Counties’ Home and adjoining farms near Highway No. 2 east of Port Hope, where plenty of good land is available. Some 33 acres will be needed for 'Tented City" for 175 exhibitors have taken space, as well as 30 food concessionaires. As usual the Family Herald and Weekly Star will have its big tent near Headquarters, and will be printing day-by-day programs giving the names and classes of all the contestants, as well as the previous day’s winners.

In order to select the two Canadians for the World Contest, it was found necessary to stage a championship class for Ontario plowmen on Tuesday, the opening day. This will be followed by the Canadian class on Wednesday in which all provinces may enter one or two of their top plowmen. The winners will then move on to the World Match on Thursday and Friday.

There are many other highlights this year which should be mentioned. Plowmen, in particular, will be interested in the contour competition to be held Wednesday and Thursday; the top prize each day is $75.00 in cash. Similar to past years the Esso champions class sponsored by Imperial Oil Limited will be a prominent feature of the third day.

For Junior plowmen including those attending secondary schools, Canada Packers Limited will provide a trophy and a gold watch to each team member in a secondary school competition being held on Thursday. British American Oil Company is sponsoring a class in inter-county competition for Junior farmers. This will be held on the last day of the Match.

Many of our younger farmers are quite expert in repairing farm machinery and equipment and they will have an opportunity of showing their skill by entering the welding competition scheduled to take place on each of the four days. This feature will be under the direction of Professor James Scott, O.A.C. (Ontario Agricultural College) Guelph.

Local competitors, those from Northumberland, Durham and adjoining counties will not be required to face outside competition on the first day of the Match. A number of classes with substantial prize money have been arranged by the local committee. A new class which it is hoped, will interest those engaged in business or industry, other than farming is being sponsored by the House of James, Port Hope. This class calls for tractors with two furrows.

Five Mayors to Plow
The Mayor’s class, which drew so much attention from both urban and rural citizens at Carp, last year, will again be presented. This event is also scheduled for the first day and assurance has already been received that the following Mayors will be participating; Mrs. Grace MacFarland, Leamington; Mrs. Bernadette Smith, Woodstock: Mayor George B. Swayne, Smith’s Falls, Mayor Allan Lamport, Toronto and Mayor J. D. Burnet, Cobourg. No doubt there will be several others making entry by Match time.

The O.P.A. board as well as the local committee, is receiving excellent co-operation from the Ontario Provincial Police in arranging for control of traffic, the Ontario Hydro Electric Power Commission is supplying hydro services and, the Bell Telephone Company is installing a complete telephone system on Tented City. The town of Cobourg is working closely in supplying water under pressure for the benefit of concessionaires.

All communities are working hard to make this year’s Match one of the best on record. There will be bands to entertain the public each day, wagon tours to provide transportation to fields and aeroplane rides every few minutes for those wishing to see the Match from the air. Demonstrations of various kinds will be staged daily. These include fire-fighting, tree planting, forage crops, etc.

The opening of the Match will be staged at 2:00 p.m. on October 6th by Honorable Vincent Massey Governor General of Canada. The Prize Presentation Banquet will be held on the Friday evening at 7:00 P.M. in the Community Centre at Grafton. This is being provided by the County of Durham and Northumberland and the Towns of Cobourg and Port Hope. It is expected there will be around a thousand present including the overseas guests.

Reviewed August 2020

On April 19th, 1907, the Cobourg Horticultural Society recommended the establishment of a bowling green east of the Elms where the old drill shed was located, in Victoria Park, and on April 26th less than 7 people met to organize a club. A meeting was arranged for April 29th when a large group met to decide where the grounds should be. The Treasurer, Mr. Jones, favoured Victoria Park.

A committee was formed as follows:
President – J. E. Skidmore
Vice President - Stanley Barr
Treasurer – G. E. Jones
Secretary – G. S. Chatterton
Committee – E. W. Hargroft, J. D. Hayden and James Bulger.
There were 68 members.

The Executive Committee was authorized to decide the location of the green and they chose Victoria Park. There was no club house at that time. The membership fee was $4 which included the use of the bowls which were kept in a long wooden box by the fence. Four rinks were enclosed by a chicken wire fence and the green was lit by a string of gas jets each way. The caretaker was paid the handsome amount of $40 for the season.

In 1908, ladies were invited to join at a fee of $8 with bowls supplied and 21 did so. Ladies were allowed to bowl every morning and evening unless a tournament was being played. A league was set up to include Bowmanville, Colborne, Oshawa and Port Hope. Whitby later replaced Colborne. Only singles and fours were played.

The 1909 season opened on June 21st with the men’s and ladies’ sections being run separately. The ladies section chose Miss Eyre as their President. Both sections would continue to be run separately until 1988.

The archives record a number of large tournaments held during each season in the 1920’s. By 1936, membership had fallen to 35 members and funds were very low so it is surprising to find that in 1937 it was decided to build an addition to the club house at a cost of $2,500. In 1941, it was recorded that doubles play started. Up to that point play had still been singles or fours. There would be no further changes until 1957 when trebles were introduced in place of fours.

In 1952 fees were increased to $9 and that included the use of a locker. This appears to be the first time fees had increased for a number of years but after such a long period without increases the fees went up again in 1956 to $12 and again in 1960 to $15. By 1980 they had increased to $35 and to $65 by 1992. There followed relatively large increases over the following years to $100 by 1996 and $120 in 2000.

In 1990, Dorothy and Paul Allen formed the club’s junior section which has proved very successful and continues to this day. The club celebrated its centenary in 2007 with a tournament, dinner and entertainment at the Legion. Also, about that time there were discussions with the Town about possibly moving the club from its Victoria Park location to the planned new Cobourg Community Centre.

However, that plan did not materialize and the club remains an integral part of Victoria Park and the waterfront area of Cobourg. In 2017, the club celebrated 110 years in Victoria Park with the traditional anniversary tournament followed by a celebratory dinner at the Mill restaurant.

At the 1923 AGM, there was discussion about erecting a club house. A committee was formed to solicit subscriptions but membership had declined and it was hoped that when membership increased to 60 a club house could be erected. In 1924, the tennis club contributed $500 and the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Club (CLBC) borrowed $1000 from Victoria and Grey for the building of a club house. The loan was repaid by July 23rd, 1925.

The specification was for a simple frame cottage; large gauge shiplap siding; a centre door with small single sash windows either side; the roof was extended over a porch to the south with square wood columns supporting the overhang. At an added cost of $525, a substantial fence and dome lights were added.

In 1937, it was decided to build an addition to the club house at a cost of $2,500. Another front door, side windows and extension of the porch overhang were built. The addition doubled the size and the result was essentially the club house as it is at present.

There are no further records of changes but in 1961 a new roof was put on the club house at a cost of $800 and then, in 1981, it is recorded that the roof was patched and that there was a special levy of $10 per member to pay for it. In 1983, a small shed was put on the North West end.

Until 1947, the tennis club still had an involvement with the lawn bowling club but for whatever reason the then CLBC President, Mr. Holland, wrote to the tennis club President suggesting that they had relinquished their involvement in the CLBC as they had left and made no further contributions. That suggestion was apparently accepted.

When the club was founded there were four rinks. In 1909, another four rinks were added to the north of the existing rinks. It is thought that this forms the basis of the 8 rinks of today’s south green. In September of 1914, the Town council granted land to the East to square off the plot. Unlike the club house, which is owned by the club the land is leased from the Town.

In 1928, drains were laid round the club house. In 1929, the Town granted land for 3 more greens at a cost of $1,000. There is little record of development of the greens and grounds until 1952 when the club borrowed an unspecified sum to pay for new lights. In 1961, the east end of the greens was re-sodded at a cost of $505.

In 1973, 200 yards of turf was bought from a golf club for further refurbishment. In 1975, the club received a New Horizons for Seniors grant of $4745.65 for new lighting on both greens. In 1976/77 a new sprinkler system was installed with a grant of $4418.72. By 2001, the light standards were declared dangerous and new lights were installed early in 2003. The total cost was $29,835 and a Trillium grant was received of $25,000 towards the cost.

In 2002, the sprinkler system was replaced and a new control system installed at a cost of $6744. In 2012, much of the greens-keeping machinery was replaced following a New Horizons for Seniors grant of $16,000. This allowed the club to purchase a second mower, a polisher/roller, a new Verticutter, a compressor and other minor pieces of equipment.

In 2018, the club received a grant under the Horizons for Seniors program which was used for new greens keeping equipment (a multi-purpose mower, ride on tractor and self-propelled surrounds mower) as well as several sets of new lawn bowls. At the end of the 2018 season, a new equipment garage was built following successful fund raising by members and augmented by a $10,000 donation from the Rotary Club of Cobourg.

In 1974, a proposal was made by the Ladies section that the club should have its own Pin. The Ladies President at that time was Jean Rutherford and she took on the task of designing the Pin. The centrepiece of the design is a white rose which was the flower of the Cobourg Centennial.

In 1994, the then club secretary, Shirley Fraser, initiated the production of a club crest, based on the pin, which was available for members to purchase, either as an individual crest or directly sown on to shirts and jackets.

As part of the 110th anniversary celebrations, it was decided that the logo should be updated to a more modern style. However, the Executive Committee wanted to retain the traditional Cobourg white rose. After much discussion and refinement, the new logo was introduced in 2017.

There are many familiar and notable names that appear in club records and on the numerous trophies in the club house. Too many to mention here and apologies to the many who have made significant contributions to the club but are not mentioned.

Victor Foxhall and Helen Cane won the Ontario mixed pairs title in 1987. Vic was an English singles champion in 1951 and he became a member at Cobourg in 1955. He held many positions in the club as well as at District and Provincial levels. He was President of the Ontario Lawn Bowling Association in 1974 and in 1975 he received a special achievement award from the Government of Ontario.

Vic won 3 gold medals at the first Canada Summer Games and was successful in tournaments at provincial, district and club level. Vic's son, Martin is also a Cobourg member and has followed in his father’s footsteps and enjoyed success at all levels, most recently as a member of the Ontario Fours team which won silver at the 2017 Canadian National Championships in Victoria, BC.

The Milligan family have long been associated with lawn bowling and the Cobourg club. Ron and Trudy Milligan were members for many years and their children, Dan and Sharyl Ann are current members. Dan has won many awards in the Ontario games, as a member of the Canadian National team and in the Commonwealth games. In 1994, Dan and Sharyl Ann were at the Commonwealth games in Victoria BC, Dan as a coach and Sharyl Ann as an umpire.

Sharyl Ann was also a member of the Canadian national team and in the 1990s represented Canada in New Zealand and Scotland. Sharyl Ann is currently the Ontario representative on the (Umpires) National Officiating Committee and still finds time to run the successful Cobourg junior program as well as being a member of the Executive Committee. Dan runs his own business, MVP Sports which supplies bowls and equipment throughout Canada. Dan was inducted into the Cobourg & District Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.

Although no longer members Jim and Ruth Gordon have contributed much to the club over the years in bowling and serving on the Executive Committee, including a number of terms as President. Jim continues to support the club through sponsorship of the Open Men’s Pairs tournament.

Doug and Muriel Moore have also been long time members of the club. Unfortunately, they had to give up bowling a few years ago but were made honorary members. Doug, who looked after the greens for many years, died in 2014. Muriel, together with her sister, Doris (a past President), served the club in many ways over the years and the club was saddened by her passing in January, 2019.

Alma McKendrick was the last President of the Ladies club in 1987. Alma has served the club in many capacities. Unfortunately, Alma has now had to retire from bowling.

The names Carol and Harry Knapper can be found on many trophies and in many photos in the club house. Although Carol was not able to bowl in 2013, she remained a full member of the club and was often on the veranda watching the action. Both Carol and Harry have been active in the club serving on the Executive Committee in different capacities over the years and Carol will be missed following her death in December, 2013.

More recently siblings Ben and Baylee van Steijn have enjoyed major success at junior level. Ben has twice won the Ontario gold medal and Baylee won Ontario bronze and silver at the Canadian junior championships. Baylee is a member of the Senior Canadian Team for 2019 and 2020.

https://cobourglawnbowlingclub.weebly.com/

Reviewed August 2020

By Layton Dodge

Cobourg Sentinel-Star September 25, 1963

One of the most illustrious and most successful sportsmen this community has ever known is dead. He is Fred Dufton, Cobourg's Mr. Football of a glorious bygone era.

For thirteen years - five before the war and eight after it - Fred was the colourful manager of Cobourg's renowned intermediate clubs which became a legend of the gridiron by winning three Dominion championships and numerous provincial titles.

Roy 'Scotty' Black, the excellent trainer of the team from the day it was organized in 1935 as the Red Raiders to the day in 1937 it was renamed the Galloping Ghosts by John Hayden, the present-day CDCI administrator, until that fateful day in 1953 when it folded, reminisced upon hearing of Dufton's death that the deceased was known affectionately as 'Ferocious Fred' in his heyday because he was a perfectionist himself and demanded nothing but perfection from his players.

Scotty recalled that the Red Raiders didn't win a single game in their inaugural season but improved greatly in 1936 to earn one victory, that made possible when George 'Bus' Edwards scored the decisive touchdown in Belleville. However, with the hard work of defeat came experience and the club annexed ORFU intermediate 'B' titles in '37 and '39 and an 'A' championship in '38 before the world was turned into a battleground by a German dictator named Hitler.

Seven years later, the club was revived. It was a dynamic, prolific renaissance, making the Ghosts nationally known and a household word locally. They marched to Dominion championships in 1946 and 1948, losing nary a game in the process, added another in 1950, grabbed provincial runner-up honours in 1947 and 1949 and copped Ontario intermediate 'B' crowns in 1951 and 1952. Scotty swears that the greatest team of them all was the 1950 aggregation.

Fred Dufton, who thought likewise, played no small part in achieving this remarkable string of successes. He was, as one admiring player put it, 'the whole show’. Home field for the club over the years was at Horseshow Park (later changed to McClelland Park and more recently to Donegan Park) except for 1946. Ghosts won their first Canadian championship on the fifth hole of the Cobourg Golf Club that year.

Galloping Ghosts were known far and wide as the best equipped intermediate football team in Canada. They were the first team in Canada to wear aluminum cleats and the second team in the land to wear white uniforms. Their boots were especially made in Montreal with leather supplied by Edwards and Edwards, the club's financial benefactor.

It was a standing rule that players had to be bandaged properly and their shoes shined before they trotted out for each game. Yes, the Ghosts did everything on a first-class basis or not at all.

Players such as Chuck Henderson, Archie Spooner, Ken Cooper, Milt Benson, Charlie Schrumm, Tom Brewster, Tommy Bulger, Alec Pratt, Bill Woods, Chuck Johnston, Joe Dufton, George Dufton, Jack Newton, George Galbraith, Hank Haynes, Bob Lucas, Robert Brown, Reg Stuart and Gus Bambridge of the old guard and Bob Cooper, Glen Connor, Eagle Hircock, Homer Seale, Bill Jamieson, Marty McGuire, Gord Burdick, George Campbell, Bill Irvine, Art Jones, Ken Medhurst, Red Alexander, Bob Bevan, Junior Haselton, Tommy Lewis, Paul Currelly, Jack Jamieson, Bernie Flesch, Darcy Campbell, Jim Irvine, Boyd Hendry, Vern Lees, Jim Poynton, Chub Downey, Art Brandwood, Rye Holman, Bill Jarvis and Bill Douglas of the post-war regime were just some of the names on the honour roll of Cobourg's most famous sporting fraternity.

A few of them are gone now but those who remain must have felt a twinge of nostalgia on learning that Mr. Dufton had crossed the goal line for the last time.

Fred Dufton, a one-time Cobourg intermediate baseball manager; Fred Dufton, a past president of the ORFU; Fred Dufton, a former coach of Cobourg's intermediate hockey team; Fred Dufton, a championship rose grower; Fred Dufton and the Galloping Ghosts, names synonymous with the very best in football,

Reviewed August 2020

The most famous Club in Intermediate O.R.F.U. history was born in the living room of the late Fred Dufton in 1935.

The Club that was to win eight Ontario Titles and three Dominion C.R.U. Titles between 1935 and 1953 with the war years excluded was the brainchild of "Ferocious" Fred Dufton, very aptly named for his tremendous desire to surmount all obstacles and bring home a winner.

With a number of good players just out of Collegiate, Dufton decided the time was right to start Intermediate football. With a $150.00 loan from the bank, and with the Cobourg Collegiate Coach the late T.H. McClelland, Cobourg entered the O.R.F.U. in a league with Lindsay, Belleville, Oshawa and Peterborough. The "Red Raiders" as they were originally called went through the complete season without winning a game, but did establish a core of good backfielders such as Ken Cooper, Chuck Johnston, Joe Duhon and Chuck Henderson, and a line of Spooner, Schrum, Pratt and Woods.

1936 was a banner year as the "Red Raiders" scored their first and only win one sunny day in Belleville, as Bus Edwards scored the winning touchdown to give Cobourg their first win, and the start of good times to come.

By 1937 Red Grange "The Galloping Ghost" of Illinois, was tearing up the gridirons in U.S. College Circles and the late John Hayden one of the Clubs Executive Members proposed the Club change their name to the Cobourg Galloping Ghosts and discard their red sweaters for basic white sweaters with red numerals.

The new look "Ghosts" also lured "Chuck Peck" out of Queens to do the coaching. Bob Lucas was now the quarterback with a backfield of Cooper, Edwards, McIlveen and Johnston. Schrum, Spooner and Pratt still anchored the line, however, it was in the kicking department that showed the most improvement. This was due to the acquisition of Graham "Mike" Meikle who had tried out with Balmy Beach, but who decided to come to Cobourg and led the Ghosts to their first O.R.F.U. “B” Title in a thrilling win over Stratford.

1938 saw the Ghosts go on to bigger and better things: Still coached by Chuck Peck and led by Meikle, the fiery Jack Jacobs and of course Lucas, Cooper, Johnston, Newton and Bagnell, the Ghosts waltzed through Belleville Panthers, Kingston Garrison, Toronto Eastsides and Toronto Oakwoods to finally meet Sarnia Wanderers in the Intermediate "A" Championships which they won 12-7.

In 1939 the Ghosts' fortunes slipped a little. Meikle had gone to Sarnia, several players had already enlisted and the Ghosts had to be content with the “B” Crown with wins over Oakwood Indians 8-2 in the semifinals and Smiths Falls Trojans 27-0 in the finals

The Club disbanded for the war years; however, in 1946 they came back stronger than ever to win their first Dominion Crown. Chuck Peck and Bob Lucas did the coaching. Chub Downey was the quarterback along with Ross Gilbart, Ireland Quigley, Pud Jamieson, Bus Edwards, Chuck Henderson and Chuck Johnston in the backfield. The line of Jim Poynton, Bill Jarvis, Homer Seale, Gord Beatty, Vern Goyer, Bob Campbell and Bill Douglas gave the Ghosts all they needed in a League with Peterborough, Trenton, Oshawa and the Orillia Silver Bombers with Milligan, White and Bond.

In their League Final they defeated Oshawa 25-1. Then came the two game total point Ontario "A" Finals with Niagara Falls, where they defeated the Dynamos 23-2 and 9-0 and finally the Dominion Intermediate Championship game with Montreal Eastwards and a 16-5 win for the Ghosts.

This Club set the pattern for years to come winning two more Dominion Crowns in the next four years, all led by the determined Fred Dufton.

The Central O.R.F.U. in 1947 consisted of Peterborough Orfuns, Oshawa Red Raiders, Orillia Silver Bombers, Queens Intermediates and the Cobourg Galloping Ghosts. In the League Final the Ghosts played the Silver Bombers in a two game total point final, winning 15-11 in the snow, in Orillia and played to a 6-6 draw at home to take the total 21-17. Then in the Ontario Finals, Niagara Falls came to town and this season surprised the Ghosts on a snow covered frozen field 13-6.

1948 was certainly one of the Ghosts most outstanding seasons. First the Central League dismissed Cobourg who had raised their ire by drawing several players out of Peterborough and Oshawa. Not to be denied, Fred Dufton immediately went to work and formed an Eastern League with Trenton, Trenton R.C.A.F. and Queens Intermediates.

The team consisted almost entirely of Cobourg and Port Hope players with only Bob Cooper and Rye Holman out of Varsity, Russ Boyd an ex-Argo and Glen Connors being imports. Cooper was an excellent leader and with a backfield of Quigley, Jamieson, Connors, Currelly and Medhurst, and a line of Poynton, Jarvis, Austin, Lees, Brandwood, Douglas and Boyd, the Ghosts roared through the Eastern League and into the Ontario Semifinals against who else but the Orillia Silver Bombers in what was supposed to be a sudden death game in Orillia.

With the Bombers leading 16-5 at the half, it seemed to be all over for the Ghosts, but they came back to end regulation time tied at 16. With darkness descending the League Officials ordered another game to be played on Wednesday of that week in Peterborough. The injury ridden Ghosts scored early in this one and hung on for a 6-0 win and a berth in the Ontario Finals with London Falcons, who had demolished Niagara Falls 21-2.

The Falcons came to town loaded with ex-Western Mustangs, but it was the Ghosts who prevailed 17-5 after a very tough game. In the Dominion C.R.U. Final, the Ghosts met Montreal Rocklands, a big hard hitting club featuring the running of Danny Johnston (who went on to the Alouettes) and Jim Chambers (later to the Eskimos), however the Ghosts scored early and surprised the Rocklands 10-0.

It is always hard to repeat and even though the Ghosts added a number of outstanding players, including Jake Edminston late of the Argo's who also coached the club, Andy McConvey from 0.A.C., Bob Bevan, Art Jones and with the return of Homer Seale and Jack Newton things looked promising. The League consisted of Trenton Mustangs, Queens Intermediates and Cobourg. The Ghosts romped through the schedule undefeated and then met the Orillia Silver Bombers in a two game O.R.F.U. Semifinal.

The Ghosts prevailed 29-18, winning 15-6 in Orillia and 14-12 at home. Then it was the Dundas Bombers led by Dutch Holland, Granby•and Steeves, the Bombers ousted an injury riddled Ghost crew 15-6 in Cobourg and 8-3 in a very muddy field in Dundas. Dundas were a strong club, but must have peaked against the Ghosts for they lost to•Montreal in the C.R.U. Final.

The 1950 Central O.R.F.U. League was extremely strong -  Oshawa had Davey West, Burkhart and Art Skidmore, Peterborough had Huntly, Scriver, Beatty and the McGillis brothers, and of course Orillia had Jim Milligan throwing, Mush Bond and Dave Ross running. The Ghosts had their full crew back, plus two excellent lineman in Gord Burdick and Bob McNally, along with Hawkins, Don Smith and a great running back in Ernie Darrah later to go on to the Alouettes.

Jake Edminston was a tower of strength at centre and Brandwood, Lees, Jarvis, Burdick, Seale, Douglas, Holman and Smith gave great protection to quarterback Cooper. The backfield had Medhurst, Bevan, Darrah, McConvey, Currelly, Quigley and Jamieson. This season the Ghosts were loaded with strength. They won the League losing only one game, that to Oshawa, but several games were won in the dying moments in a very exciting season.

In the Ontario Semifinals they met their old nemesis, the Dundas
Bombers. The first game in Cobourg was a terrific struggle with the Ghosts winning 3-0 on the strength of three singles by Bob Cooper.

Back in Dundas on another terrible field the game was a defensive struggle. The Ghosts line was outstanding particularly Don Smith and Bob McNally. Coopers kicking kept Cobourg in the game and late in the fourth quarter led 8-6 on the round even though they trailed 8-3 in the game. With the flag up, the Bombers kicker Mancini tried a field goal from 20 yards out, however, Ernie Darrah somehow deflected the ball and Cobourg recovered to win the round 8-6.

The O.R.F.U. Finals with London Falcons were almost an anticlimax. The Ghosts rolled to a 13-1 win in Cobourg and an 18-11 win in London. However, London did tie the game in the second quarter 11-11 before Art Jones took over and kicked two field goals in the fourth quarter to lock it up.

The Quebec winners this season were the Montreal Lakeshore Flyers featuring a big hard charging line and the running of Danny Johnston, who had given the Ghosts lots of trouble as a member of the Westmounts in '48.

The game, played on the same day as the famous "Mud Bowl" at Varsity Stadium, was dominated by a strong wind which pushed many kicks out of bounds on the west side of the field. With the weather dictating a low scoring ground game the Ghosts line prevailed and with Cooper kicking single points in the third and fourth quarters, the Ghosts won their third C.R.U. Intermediate Title 2-0.

By 1951 the Central O.R.F.U. League had expanded to include East York Blue Devils, as well as Ryerson, along with Orillia, Peterborough, Oshawa, Queens and Cobourg. Jake Edminston was back as coach. New players included Bernie Flesch, Dare Campbell, Karl Lenahan, Vic Garvin and Joe Kane.

This season saw the Ghosts pick up a lot of key injuries and as a result were nosed out of first place by the Oshawa Red Raiders led by Jim Loreno, Sully Ford and Mel Taylor. However, the Ghosts did grab second place and a berth in the sudden death Intermediate "B" Final with the Sarnia Wildcats.

The Wildcats, led by the Reeves brothers Hank & Pete, played well, but in a rough game that saw three players ejected, the Ghosts triumphed 13-0.

1952 saw the League reduced to four teams, Oshawa, Kingston R.C.E.M.E., Cobourg and the Peterborough Orfuns who now included many of the disbanded Orillia Bombers.

With the retirement of several players there was a considerable turnover in personnel. Coming into the Ghosts folds, were first of all a new coach in the person of Art West, the former Argo star who had been coaching at Balmy Beach. With him came players such as Red Alexander, Don Hatt, Magee, Hendry and Horvath, along with Jack Reeves from 0.A.C., Mel Taylor, Armstrong and Brodie who defected from Oshawa. This gave the Ghosts a potent crew, but as the season wore on it was evident something was missing. Injuries again were instrumental•in the Ghosts finishing second to the Peterborough Orfuns-Bombers combination.

This put them into the Intermediate “B” two game final, with the Kitchener-Waterloo Rams and Carl Totzke. The Ghosts won the first game in Kitchener 17-12, but in the second game in Cobourg the score was 6-1 for Kitchener at the end of regulation time and it took two periods of Overtime before the Ghosts led by Red Alexander scored, to win the “B” Title 24-18. That title would turn out to be the last the Ghosts would ever win. Even though they operated in 1953, most of the local stalwarts had retired. The club consisted almost entirely of out of town players which unfortunately did not make the playoffs. With attendance dwindling and costs spiraling, it became evident to Fred Dufton and the Ghosts executive, that it would be impossible to continue.

The Galloping Ghosts were, and still are the most famous of all teams in Cobourg's sports history. To play for, or even to be associated with the Ghosts, left one with a sense of pride and a never to be forgotten desire to perform to the best of one's ability.

In Fred Dufton, the Ghosts had a leader who proved that there is no supplement for hard work and determination. With a record of eight Ontario Titles and three C.R.U. Titles in thirteen years of operation, very few clubs could ever challenge the record of the Cobourg Galloping Ghosts.

By Paul Currelly

Reviewed August 2020

Cricket like most other sports was brought to North America. The earliest record of a cricket match being played in Canada, by civilians, appears in the form of a reference to a game played at Ile-Ste-Helene, near Montreal, in 1785. Cricket is one of the oldest sports played in Cobourg. It was popular well into the 1890s.

The Colonel’s game of cricket had much in its early favour. Youth from around Ontario, educated at Upper Canada College and themselves member of the colony’s conservative ruling class, brought the game back to their small towns where they in turn assumed leading positions as members of the judiciary, local government and the medical profession. Cricket was their informal means of maintaining the social cohesion of a local ruling class as well as providing opportunities to meet with the elite of Upper Canada.

The Cobourg Star in July 1843, as reported in the book ‘Sixty Years of Canadian Cricket’ says that " These are just our opinions, and we feel proud in witnessing the introduction into this province of those fine manly sports of Old England. We love every recollection of our early home; and we are fully convinced that the more frequently these recollections are called up, the more we will admire and the more firmly we will cling to that glorious country. The sports of the people have much to do with the formation of national character and the time occupied by a game of cricket is far better spent than in political meetings or party brawling."

And from the same book “On the 28th day of August, 1843, a match was played between Toronto and Cobourg on the grounds of the former club. The scores were: Toronto, 72 and 36; Cobourg, 30 and 23; the home team winning by 53 runs. The principal scorer for the losers, Dr. Goldstone, was the only player to make double figures, with 10, not out, and 0, to his credit. The bowling of Buck and Bourne for Cobourg, and Winckworth and Maddock for Toronto, was excellent.”

A minute book from 1846 of this earliest known cricket club in Cobourg contains printed rules of cricket with “Practical Hints To The Young Cricketer” by G.A. Barber, a member of the Toronto Cricket Club.

On May 9, 1846, the first meeting that year of the Cobourg Cricket Club was held at the Globe Hotel. R.H. Throop was the Chairman and the following Officers were elected:
President:          Dr. Goldstone
Vice President:  George Daintry
Treasurer:          H.J. Ruttan
Secretary:          W.C. Crofton
Committee:        Messrs. Tremaine, Buck and J. Bunbury

There were two categories of members; Playing and Honourary. A Playing Member was liable to be called on to play in any match. A fine of 7½ D was levied against anyone who failed to appear when the wickets were pitched, or left before a match ended.

Matches were played during the season of 1846. Among them one at Bowmanville which is fully reported in the Minute Book under June 8th. The Cobourg club was invited to play a friendly match against the Bowmanville club on the 17th. It was suggested that the Cobourg players should come up to Bowmanville by the “America” on Wednesday evening as there were no railways in Ontario at the time. Travel would have to be either by steamer or by stage coach.

Bowmanville beat Cobourg by 24 runs. A month later Cobourg hosted Bowmanville. For Cobourg, Bunbury made 12 and 7, Corrigal 20 and 8, Burnham 12 and 1. After a heavy shower fell between innings, Bailey for Bowmanville tumbled head first on his wicket in running. The umpires could not agree as to whether he was out or not, and it was agreed by both elevens to leave the decision to the Toronto Cricket Club, who decided against Bailey, and 20 runs were deducted from his score. Bowmanville still won 38 and 91, Cobourg, 64 and 40.

Trinity College and Port Hope also had cricket teams. At a match in June 1878 Port Hope had 91 and 50 for 5 wickets and Cobourg had 89 and 52. For Cobourg, Osier made 45. For Port Hope, H. Ward made 15 and 15, Weston 14 and 5 (not out), H. Read 14 (not out), G. F. Hall 5 and 14, Butcher 1 and 13 (not out).

A Cobourg cricket team in the 1880s toured the United States with success and played many matches in Cobourg with visiting clubs. Members of the touring team included J.D. Hayden, Fred Smith, J.H. Munson, Douglas Armour, Alex Hargraft, John Hargraft, Albert Woods and Lyman Kennedy.

The New York Times of August 11, 1880 reported that the Longwood Club of Boston would be playing at the Cobourg club after playing matches in Hamilton and Toronto.

Cricket continued to be popular for a number of years. A meeting to organize the sport for 1894 was described in the Sentinel Star on April 13, 1894: “One of the most successful cricket meetings ever held in Cobourg took place in the Dominion Bank last Monday evening. Over 30 members were present, and regrets were read from a number who were unable to be present. The membership fee was fixed at $2.00 and no doubt all lovers of the game will join the Cobourg club.”

One of the earliest references to a Grafton team occurs in 1867 when The Cobourg World reported a match between Grafton and the Brighton Cricket Club. The 1868 Grafton Cricket team included players Alex Godard, Jock Willoughby, Dr. William Willoughby, F.J. Bingley, John Johnston Jr., E.G. Tremain, J. Charles Rogers, Robert Z. Rogers, W. Standly, A.W.C. Bruce, James Barnum, F. Burnett, S.W. Cummings, and Alex Patterson. Local matches were played on the Roger’s field, west of Grafton’s Anglican church where the Haldimand arena stands today.

In “Sporting Notes” of the June 7, 1907 edition of the Cobourg Sentinel Star “The cricket club are arranging home games with Peterboro, Trinity College School of Port Hope, and Grace Church, Toronto. Tomorrow’s game between Port Hope and Cobourg should be a hot one. Port Hope defeated Cobourg in Port Hope last Saturday and Cobourg will have to win to keep at the head of the league. Cobourg’s home brews can be depended to win tomorrow against Port Hope Imports. Game called at 3 o’clock. Admission 25c, ladies and children 10c, ladies will be admitted free to the grandstand but gentlemen will be charged 10c extra”

The fate of cricket and baseball was inevitably tied up in the changing nature of Ontario society. Cricket began to decline as it and lacrosse were gradually supplanted by baseball’s growing popular appeal.

Sources:
“Cobourg 1798-1948” – E.C. Guillet, author
“Memories of Haldimand Township: When the Lakes Roared” – Haldimand’s History Committee, author
“Bowmanville: A Small Town at the Edge” – William Humber, author
“Sixty Years of Canadian Cricket” – Hall & McCulloch

Updated August 2020

Lynn Bottoms was born July 2, 1933 in Calgary Alberta. Lynn attended the University of Washington playing with the Huskies football team in the Pacific Coast Conference. Following graduation Lynn signed with his hometown Calgary Stampeders in 1954.

He played both offensive and defensive halfback. In his rookie year Bottoms had 379 yards rushing and caught 30 passes for another 368 yards. He also had one interception. Besides playing offense and defense, Bottoms saw action returning kicks, and was normally among the division leaders in punt returns. In that first year he won the Dr. Beattie Martin Trophy for Best Canadian Rookie in the West.

In 1955 he had 402 yards rushing to lead the Stamps. In 1956 he had 332 yards rushing. And in 1957 he had 326 yards rushing. In 1955 Lynn had 252 yards returning kickoffs, punts and missed field goals. In 1956 he had 248 yards and in 1957 he had 113 yards. He had the honour of representing the Western Canadian Football League in three Shrine All Star Games.

In 1960 Lynn was traded to the Toronto Argonauts. He played in 40 games as a defensive half plus 5 playoff games. In 1961 he had 251 yards returned on punts and kickoffs and missed field goals. In 1962 he had 319 yards. In 1963 he had 156 yards. Lynn retired after the 1963 season. Over his ten-year career with Calgary and Toronto, Lynn rushed for 1,560 yards, caught 96 passes and had 12 interceptions.

After retiring from football, Lynn and his family moved to the Cobourg area and Lynn became a welding/tech teacher at Cobourg District Collegiate East from the mid-1960s until the late 1980s. He was a much loved and respected teacher while at the school and of course, was heavily involved as a coach in their football program.

“Lynn Bottoms...he would show us video of himself when he played for the Calgary Stampeders and the Toronto Argos. He knew how to relate to the class which was made up of mostly guys that really didn't want to be in school and for the most part caused a bit of trouble whenever possible. He was tough but fair and he had our respect. He had a go kart track near Grafton and he barred me for life after I wrecked one of his karts.” (Former student on Tree52)

Lynn also became very involved in local sports, playing fastball, old timers’ hockey and golf. He had only one speed in any of his athletic endeavours - “Full Out”. He was fun to be around.

Lynn Bottoms died of a heart infection on December 22, 1995.

Lynn Bottoms was a small man by football standards but was oh so rugged, by any standard.

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

Memories About a Legend

I first met Lynn in January 1976 when I became Vice Principal at Cobourg East.

January is an unusual time to move into this position. September is more a reality. The staff was guarded in their welcome as they thought someone from Cobourg was going to get the position. Lynn broke the ice by coming to me at the office to welcome me and offer his support. He engaged me in his conversation and made me feel a part of the team. This was a special talent that he had. It was appreciated by me. 

I recall one occasion when Lynn came into my office to say he would be late for school the next day as he had to go to the Cobourg hospital to have his big toes broken and straightened out. This was a result of pro football injuries. I could not imagine anyone even thinking about coming in to teach right after that morning procedure even if there was freezing. 

I told him to take time off until the pain subsided. He would have none of that and so at about 9:15 in came Lynn with bandaged toes and slippers on, to start teaching. It was not a pretty sight but he persevered and taught for the whole day. He had immense pain tolerance!

Lynn, naturally, coached the school football team. His assistant coaches mentioned that they would be watching their players performing in the game. Not Lynn. He would be focused on the opposing team, looking for weaknesses and when he spotted one, he focused on his team exploiting it until the other team adjusted. Perhaps that is why he had great success as a coach. That, and his ability to make every player feel a vital part of the team.

Athletic banquets, at the East, were always interesting. Lynn would get as guest speakers retired Argo players like Danny Nykoluk or NHLers like Bobby Hull. These former athletes wanted to be there with Lynn.

Lynn came late to the game of hockey but that never stopped him from entering the fray full bore. He decided he needed to improve his shot so he made metal pucks and set up a plywood sheet at the shed at his home with the outline of a net and practiced his shot.

He played whatever position the team wanted him to - forward, defence or goalie. He was the heart and spirit of any team he was on. He only knew one way to play - full out and with a great big smile.

One of the staff told me of Lynn playing basketball in the town league and literally tackling the opposing player with the ball. His comment was starkly “well, he had the ball” and then, a roar of laughter!

One of the funniest memories of Lynn was his organization of having the male staff at the East attend a Blue Jay game. Lynn had an old school bus which was painted light blue and this was to be our transportation up to Toronto. Lynn had taken all the seats out and replaced them with tables and chairs so we could play cards. He also had put in a bbq with a vent coming out the back.

Most of the fellows got on board at Lynn’s home in Grafton but Lynn said he would pick me up at my house. Being new to the staff I had no concept about the bus but assumed it was a coach. When it arrived in front of our house on Hamilton Ave our four young children and Suzanne came to the door to see us off. Lynn, in the driver’s seat, opened the school bus door and waved at me to get on board. My son John said to Suzanne “look mom at all the beer cases beside the bus driver! “ 

Anyways, off we went to the game, playing cards and hoping Lynn did not have to apply the brakes too harshly. There were problems with the motor but nothing major. Upon arriving at the stadium parking lot, on came the bbq and we feasted on hamburgers, etc. I am not sure if the Blue Jays won but after the game off we went up the Don Valley Expressway. 

Halfway up, the motor conked out and there we were in the right lane, stalled! Cars were swerving around us and, thankfully a Toronto police cruiser arrived to assist us. By this time Lynn had the hood up and with the assistance of others was trying to unclog the gas line. The police officer said he would put flares out on the DVP to save us from a rear-ender. He risked his life setting them out. 

Little did he know that Lynn had fixed the problem and had started driving away. We looked out the back window to see the officer fading in the distance, looking up at us and bolting to his car. When he caught up to us with all his lights glowing, he was not happy and told us so in no uncertain words and to get the bus off the DVP ASAP. We approached the Don Mills exit and Lynn said “Everyone out and push”. We finally got to a garage, got the bus fixed and arrived back in Cobourg very late but safe!

On another occasion, Lynn invited all the male staff out to his house for cards, etc. We were having a great time but as eleven o’clock came we were getting ready to call it a night. It was then that Lynn announced that he had flood lights in the back yard and we were going to finish off the evening with a touch football game. Needless to say, Lynn’s idea of touch was different than most. It was well after twelve that the game gratefully ended. 

I am sure there are literally hundreds of other funny tales that others could tell. There are probably many stories of how he helped kids at school. He was loved by all. He was someone you were lucky to know. He was kind, he was generous of thought and deed. He knew only one way to tackle life - full on and with abandonment. He was a LEGEND!

by Peter Delanty

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

Just a Couple of Many Fond Memories

One summer evening I got a phone call from Lynn Bottoms asking if I would like to play 9 holes of golf the next morning. I told him I was sorry but I had to work the next morning. He replied “So do I.” 

“Well” I asked, “how are we going to play 9 holes of golf and still get to work on time?” “That’s easy” he replied, “Just bring 4 clubs – a driver, a couple of irons and a putter. We’ll each hit 2 balls and then run down the fairway to our respective balls, hit them again and then run again.”

We proceeded to do this for every hole on the old 9 hole golf course at the corner of Division and Elgin Streets. We started at 6:00 am and were finished at about 7:20 am. There was time to go home, have a shower and off to work on time.

There was only one “Bot”. He was an absolute bundle of energy and so much fun to be around.

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

This story also took place in the warmer months. We had a fastball team that played in Grafton. There were a few Cobourg guys but it was mostly made up of Grafton players such as Tony Beauchamp, John Eagleson, Jim Helps, Mike and Rick Hall and others. One of the unique customs of the team was to return to different homes after each game to sip a few coolies and partake in some fun stuff like horseshoes, swimming, etc. 

Well, the night we went to Lynn’s house he had 2 basketball nets set up and we picked teams for a little competition. Well into the wee hours of the morning Len “Pancho” Bazay drove to the basket for a layup. Lynn being Lynn went up aggressively to block him. Pancho’s head caught Lynn right on the cheekbone and badly cut him. Game over?? No way!! “Bot” went into the house and found a large box of gauze. We wrapped it around his head several times and then held it in place with electrical tape. The game went on for another hour or so. Everyone went home. The “Bot” went to the hospital, got 8 stitches in his cheek and then went off to teach his classes. What a man!! And as tough as they come!!

by Ross Quigley

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Lynn Bottoms - One Of A Kind

December 9, 1996 in Cobourg Daily Star

I wrote this article a few days after Lynn Bottoms’ death on December 22nd, 1995, and just filed it away. But a year has passed and, as we approach the first anniversary of his passing, please consider this my memorial tribute to a unique character and a devoted lover of life.

Many of you knew Lynn Bottoms much better than I. But I’ll wager that few knew him any longer.

I first met Lynn in the early ‘60s when he was an MBA student at the U of T and a Toronto Argonauts star. Within minutes of our introduction, I knew instinctively that this was one warm and affable human being – entirely devoid of pretension. A first impression that endured.

In those early years, I was often a fourth for euchre in the little semi in west Toronto that the young Bottoms family called home. I remember Lynn’s endless energy and how mere mortals were cajoled into playing long after any reasonable person would succumb to fatigue.

Lynn was of average stature – but ox strong. I’ll never forget the arm wrestle to the finish - a brief break in one of those interminable euchre tournaments. Bottles and playing cards flew in all directions. It ended when Lynn’s adversary extricated his hand from the death grip to display an oddly contorted, less-than-mint-condition index finger. No matter. A mere diversion. The cards continued until first light. 

Shortly after that, Lynn retired from football and moved to Cobourg. A couple of months later, three of his “old buddies” visited for a weekend and a little R and R. Some R and R! By contrast, the Ironman Triathlon is for sissies. 

We went almost nonstop for the entire time. From one athletic competition to another. Touch football, two on two basketball, ball hockey, baseball. 

Then the cycle would repeat itself again and again. Of course, Lynn would let us do just well enough to save face, but it was obvious who the real athlete was. 
After dark – euchre, euchre, euchre. Finally – sleep. But scarcely had we closed our eyes when daylight and Lynn returned. Raring to go.

Some of you may remember the old go-cart track which once occupied the field opposite Lynn’s house on Highway 2 east of town. Sunday morning business at the track was slow and Lynn decided that this would be a fine opportunity to take on the little old lady who ran the place. 

He rode his dirt bike across the road and issued the challenge. I will always remember the sight of that grandmother in her cart and Lynn on his bike, neck and neck, careening wildly around the track. And the sound of Lynn’s maniacal laughter audible above the roar of the air-cooled engines. That was the last I was to see of Lynn for years.

In the mid “70s, I moved to this area and renewed my acquaintanceship with Lynn. But we usually only crossed paths on the street or at some education-related function. Still, he remained the same gregarious, ebullient character I had met years earlier. He never knew how to be unfriendly or how to slow down.

About 15 months ago, Lynn had his first brush with illness. When I last saw him back in June, he looked great. I wondered if anyone had ever been less compromised by heart problems. But now he is gone. It is hard to believe that this incredible bundle of energy will never play another game of old-timer hockey, laugh madly at some crazy prank or crush my hand in an enthusiastic greeting.

We can be sure of one thing though. If a zest for life and a love of people count for anything, Lynn Bottoms is sitting up on a cloud at this very moment – a big smile on that broad face of his as he plans his next game of five-a-side football. And once the whistle blows, even the angels had better keep their heads up.

by George Smith

Reviewed August 2020