Cobourg

 
Softball-Margie Matthews

by Patsy (Currelly) Hand

Margaret Anne Matthews was born on May 15, 1960, in Cobourg. From a very young age, Margie was an abundantly talented, multi-sport athlete who consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership. Her enthusiasm was contagious.

While in high school at CDCI West, 1974-1979, she played each year on the basketball, volleyball and badminton teams. She was on the track team and participated in javelin, discus, shotput and the 4 x 100 relay teams. It was in javelin that she excelled. In 1978 she was voted MVP of the basketball team, the volleyball team, she received a coaching award and was the school’s Athlete of the Year.

She was also awarded Cobourg's Athlete of the Year that year. In 1979, CDCI West created the “Matthews Award" which was presented to students for performance and leadership. After high school she played varsity hockey and basketball. She has been awarded Athletic Letters at all levels of school: public, high school and university levels.

Margie burst onto the provincial softball stage at the age of 12 when she played for David and Clarke Sommerville’s  Sinclair Mustangs. They were successful in capturing the Ontario Novice Championship in 1972. Here is how David recalls Margie’s contribution to the win in the qualifying tournament leading up to the finals….

At 14, Margie Matthews joined Paul Currelly’s Cobourg Angels Juvenile softball team and competed against players that were 18 and 19 years of age.
Margie’s talents continued to shine. While playing with the Angels, she won two more Ontario Titles at the Junior B level in 1975 and 1976. In 1977, Paul decided to start a Midget Cobourg Angel team and as Margie was still eligible to play at this level, he built the team around her.

She was the captain that year and won the batting championship. Her determination, positivity and talent motivated the team to achieve a higher standard of play. She continued to play with the Angels and won an Ontario title in 1979 (Juvenile). Comments from her coach, Paul Currelly follow: 

Margie left Cobourg for university and played Senior Tier I fastball with the Kitchener Kieswetters. She returned to Cobourg in 1984(Senior Tier II) and helped the Cobourg Angels win another Ontario Title. In 1985 Margie started a full-time job in New Hamburg and again left the area and played Senior Tier I softball with Kitchener.

She won their outstanding player award that year. In 1986 she was picked up by an opposing team, the St. Clements Suns to attend Expo ’86, a mini world tournament in Vancouver. In 1989 her team, the St. Clements Suns won an Ontario Senior Tier I Championship and went to the Canadians, placing 4th.

Margie continues to be an amazing athlete as a golfer. She has won 18 Club Championships (Stratford (16) & Craigowan-Oxford (2)). She played for team Ontario in 2004 and won a Canadian interprovincial title.

She won an Ontario 4-ball Tournament with MaryAnn Hayward in 2007 and an Ontario mid-Am tournament in 2009 (73-75-69). In 2011 she made the Ontario senior team that won a Canadian interprovincial title. She had a Golf Ontario Mid-Am ranking of 4th and 5th in 2009-2011.

Margie has not only been an amazing athlete but she also has coached volleyball and badminton at the high school level, coached softball at the Midget level and was assistant coach to the 1990 Cobourg Angels Senior Tier I fastball team that won the Ontario title and then went to the Canadian championship and placed 4th. She was a Softball Canada clinic instructor and has refereed volleyball, basketball and umpired softball.  

As an athlete Margie has had many accomplishments in multiple sports and continues to add to these accomplishments but it is her talent, her work ethic, her enthusiasm and her love for sports that raises her above her peers.

Biography

COBOURG DISTRICT COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE (CDCI) WEST HIGH SCHOOL - 1974-1979

1974 - 1979 Participated on basketball, volleyball, badminton, and track & field (javelin, discus, shotput and 4x100 relay) teams. (Lots of awards) 

1975 - won midget javelin (92' 4") & discus(74') both South Kawartha records, Kawartha javelin (92'6") and placed 6th at C.O.S.S.A.

1978 - MVP basketball, MVP volleyball, Coaching Award, Athlete of the Year

1978 - Cobourg Athlete of the Year

1979 - Won Senior South Kawartha javelin  (98'5"), won Kawartha Singles badminton

1977 - 1979 President co-ed Athlete Association

1979 - Awarded newly created 'Matthews Award' for Performance and Leadership (awarded annually until school closed)

1979 - awarded 'Citizenship Award' (Burnett - Drope)

Awarded public school, high school and university athletic letters

Refereed volleyball and basketball throughout high school

Umpired one summer, girls Cobourg softball

SOFTBALL/FASTBALL

1972 - Ontario Novice Champions 'Sinclair Mustangs'

1975 - Ontario Junior B Champions, 'Cobourg Angels'

1976 - Ontario Junior B Champions, 'Cobourg Angels' (team was voted Cobourg Athlete of the Year)

1979 - Ontario Juvenile A Champions, 'Cobourg Angels'

1984 - Ontario Sr Tier II Champions, 'Cobourg Angels'

1986 - St. Clements Suns picked Margie up to attend the Expo 86 'mini world fastball tournament', held in Vancouver, B.C. Teams participating were  from Japan, China, New Zealand, Australia, USA, Chinese-Taipei and the host Vancouver team

1989 - Ontario Sr Tier I Champions, Cambridge/St. Clements Suns

1989 - National Sr Tier I Championships Cambridge/St. Clements Suns (finished 4th)

1990 - Ontario Sr Tier I Champions, Asst. Coach, 'Cobourg Angels' 

1990 - National Sr Tier I Championships, Asst. Coach, 'Cobourg Angels' (finished 4th)

POST HIGH SCHOOL

1979 - 1980 Centennial College varsity College hockey- Co-MVP

1980 - 1981 Wilfrid Laurier University- varsity basketball team- Voted Rookie of the Year

1981 - 1982 Wilfrid Laurier University- varsity basketball team

1983 - 1989 competitive Senior womens  hockey- Kitchener and St Clements

COACHING

1978 - Midget girls volleyball - CDCI West

1979 - Midget girls volleyball - CDCI West

1983 - Badminton - CDCI West

1983 - Stratford Midget girls softball team

1983 - Softball Canada - clinic instructor

1990 - Cobourg Angels, assistant coach, senior fastball team

GOLF - 1993-present

2004 - made Ontario women's amateur team by placing 4th at ON tourney
- team Ontario won Canadian inter-provincial title

2007 - won Ontario 4-ball tournament with MaryAnn Hayward

2009 - won Ontario Mid-Am title at Markland Woods (73-75-69)

2011 - made Ontario senior team by placing 3rd at ON tournament
- team Ontario won Canadian inter-provincial title
- placed 8th at Canadian tournament at Whitevale G.C.

2009 - 2011 Golf Ontario mid-am ranking 4th and 5th 2009-2011

Won 16 Stratford Club championships, 2 at Craigowan-Oxford

NINE DAYS IN MAY

May 13 to 21, 2017 - The RBC Cup: The “Canadian National Junior A Championships” played throughout the week of May 13 to 21 at Cobourg Community Centre. 

The teams qualifying included the media darlings and favourites to win, “Brooks Bandits” from Alberta (West 1) featuring Cale Makar who was touted to go in the top ten in this year’s NHL draft. Also winning their way to the championships were the “Penticton Vees” of BC (West 2) who finished second to the Bandits; the OJHL’s Trenton Golden Hawks (Central) who defeated the Georgetown Raiders in the Dudley Hewitt Cup; the “Cobras de Terrebonne” from Quebec (East) and the host team Cobourg Cougars who were swept by Trenton back on April 6th.

The Cougars finished the preliminary round in first place by defeating Trenton 3-2 in OT; a 3-2 OT loss to Penticton and a 6-1win over Terrebonne; then defeated the Bandits 5-2 who choose to rest their top five players including their goaltender Mitch Benson and defenseman Cale Makar. In their semi-final game the Cougars defeated Penticton 3-1 to meet the Brooks Bandits in the championship final on May 21st with puck drop at 5:30 before a sold out house. The game, televised on TSN was everything it was expected to be with an exhilarating 3-2 overtime Cougar win when at 8:21 Nick Minerva one-timed it past goaltender Mitch Benson from the point on a pass from defenseman Matt Bumstead after Brenden Locke won the face-off in the offensive zone and Josh Maguire got the puck back to the blueline. 

Jamie Huber opened the scoring for Cobourg in the first and Brooks’ Connor Jean tied it up. The score remained tied until deep into the third when Bandits captain Nick Prkusik scored a big go-ahead goal with 8:31 left to play. Brooks was closing in on an RBC Cup victory in the third period when Cobourg's Ryan Casselman arguably scored the most important goal in Cobourg Cougar history when he buried a rebound from a Brennan Roy shot with 1:07 to play in regulation time to tie the game sending it into OT. The CCC exploded!

The rest was history for the Cougars, who went on to win their first championship as a Junior A franchise—a national one at that, which was their first since capturing the 1974 Ontario Junior C title. Goaltender Stefano Durante earns the top goalie award and is the final MVP. Spencer Roberts was the leading scorer and top forward for the tournament. Nick Minerva’s stick and gloves are enshrined at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
(Written with notes from Jeff Gard)

A number of graduates from this team moved on to further their education through hockey. Goaltender, Stefano Durante is playing for American International College's Yellow Jackets. Brennan Roy, Jesse Baird, Spencer Roberts and Cobourg native, Josh Maguire were recruited to UOIT by former Cobourg Cougars coach, Curtis Hodgins. Brenden Locke committed to Cornell University and Quinn Syrdiuk to McGill University. Sam Dunn of Hamilton Township played for the QMJHL's Ramparts before joining St. Mary's University Huskies in Halifax and Nick Minerva committed to Aurora College in Chicago. Assistant Coach, Corey Beer is now the Head Coach of the Timmins Rock of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League.

Emerging in 2014 as the newly amalgamated public high school in Cobourg, Cobourg Collegiate Institute (CCI) has brought together the rich athletic histories of the former Cobourg District Collegiate Institute East and Cobourg District Collegiate Institute West schools.  Moving from medium sized “AA” schools (between 500-900 students) to a larger AAA school (1150 students in 2020), C.C.I. offers its students an extensive selection of sports teams, with the continued pride and success that was enjoyed by the former East and West schools.  

Since its inaugural year in September of 2014, C.C.I. sports teams have won many Kawartha (local) and COSSA (regional) championships.  This has led to many trips to the Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association (OFSAA) provincial championships with its sports teams, including Girls Hockey, Boys Hockey, Boys Volleyball, Girls Volleyball, Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer, Wrestling, Cross Country, Badminton, Tennis, Track and Field, and Swimming.  

A trip to CCI’s Dillon-Lawless Gym (named after renowned local high school physical education teachers Del Dillon and Jerry Lawless) will also allow you to see the growing number of team and individual OFSAA honours, including medal performances for finishing in the top 4 in the province.  

As of the winter of 2020, OFSAA Honours include the Girls Hockey team with a 4th place finish, and the following individuals: Wrestlers-Amara Hill (4th place), and Jayden Sparks (3rd place), Track Athletes- Cameron Bruce (4th place, 300m Hurdles) and Kate Current (2nd place, 800m), and Swimmers- Lauren Burleigh (2x 1st place 50m Para Backstroke, and 1st place 100m Para backstroke), and Carlie Bilodeau (1st place, JR 50m Backstroke).  Some of these athletes, and many others have enjoyed success at the college and university sports level following their years of competing for Cobourg Collegiate Institute.

In addition to an impressive C.C.I. OFSAA presence to date, they also consistently have demonstrated exceptional character through sport. Two teams were awarded with the OFSAA Sportsmanship Award during their OFSAA debuts – the varsity girls’ hockey team in 2016, in Stratford, and the senior boys’ soccer team in 2018, in Thunder Bay.

Beyond the successes of sports teams to date, dedicated coaches have planned a variety of trips to enrich the students’ experiences, and to provide lasting memories.  One of the highlighted trips include rugby teams taking part in tournaments in New York City and New Brunswick (Rothesay Netherwood Private School in Rothesay, NB).  As well, basketball teams have annually made trips to prestigious American Colleges and Universities to play games, tour the facilities and watch high-level teams train and compete.  Recent trips have been to Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, Washington D.C., Virginia, West Virginia and New Hampshire.

Building on the excellent athletic facilities on the C.D.C.I. East school site, one major facility upgrade enjoyed by C.C.I. students was the installation of a 6-lane rubberized track.  This has attracted athletes and visitors, including the likes of Canadian Olympic medalist Andre De Grasse, for a training session before his trip to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.  Highlights on our track to date include running our school’s annual Relay for Life event, and a Board-Wide “Inclusive Track and Field Day”.  

The Inclusive track and field day is open to all Learning and Life Skills high school students around the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, and includes running, wheel-chair and field events, along with a barbeque lunch.  We are also happy to be able to accommodate local and regional elementary schools, housing our future C.C.I. athletes, who need a venue to run their annual track and field meets.

C.C.I has also been a support to many community members and visiting schools looking to access our gym facilities.  This has included a close relationship with the Lakeshore Minor Basketball Association, who has been a partner in helping us to invest in new glass backboards, adjustable nets and a padded score table.  The local Badminton Club, along with the Northumberland Sports Council, used our gym for the Ontario 55+ Winter Games in 2017, which was a unique opportunity to open our school to athletes from all age groups.  Our gyms are rented most nights, and weekends, throughout the year to service local sports clubs for training and competition, including volleyball, badminton, basketball, soccer, rugby, softball, baseball, lacrosse, rowing and more.

As Cobourg Collegiate Institute continues to grow its history, they are proud to be an important and vital part of the Cobourg community.

Updated August 2020