Category Archives: Year Inducted

1950 - 1969, 1970 - 1989, 1980 - 1989, All, Hockey, Male

LARRY GIBBONS

Leave a comment

Larry Gibbons makes the Sports Hall of Fame as an aggressive all-around athlete.

Born in Collingwood, he grew up fast and always looked three or four years older  than his team mates and opponents when he performed for the minor hockey and ball teams.

He came through the Collingwood Minor Hockey system and looked like a Juvenile  when he played bantam, much to the consternation of the other kids and their parents.

Larry drew the attention of the scouts when he played a major part in helping the Collingwood Bantams reach the finals in the Bantam Division of the O.M.H.A.

After a season with the Collingwood Junior “C” club, he was drafted by the Toronto Marlboros and sent to the Markham Junior “B” club for the 1965-66 season where he was named to the Metro Junior “B” All-Star team.

Drafted in the second round by the Chicago Black Hawks while still Midget age, he was assigned to the St. Catherine’s Black Hawks in the Junior “A” loop for two seasons in 1967 and 68.

Although he never made the N.H.L. he played eight years in the Black Hawk organization.

Larry joined the Greensboro Generals in the Eastern Hockey League in the 1968-69 season and was with the same team when the Generals won the Southern Division championship in 1970.

He jumped back to Senior “A” hockey with Oakville in 1971 and was voted the league’s most valuable defenseman.

After another season with the Greensboro club in 1972 he went to the Flint Generals in the International League where he set a team record in scoring for defensemen in 1973.Flint won the Northern Division championship.

He starred with the Dallas Black Hawks when that team won the Central League title and the Adams Trophy in 1974.

After another full season with Dallas, Larry moved back with the Flint Generals in the International League and retired at the end of the 1975-76 season.

For three summers he directed the Detroit Red Wings Hockey School in Bracebridge and for two more summers conducted the Wasaga Stars School at Wasaga Beach.

He coached the Alliston Juniors to the Ontario semi-finals before calling it a hockey career.

Larry was an exceptionally good football player and was named the most valuable player with the Collingwood Collegiate Seniors in 1965.  He had considerable placed well up in the Ontario Schools Ski Racing programme.

Always a lover of horses, he became a certified farrier and was assistant manager of the Ontario Harnessmens’ Association for two years. Involved as an owner, trainer and driver of Standard Bred horses since 1972, Larry owned and operated the Intosh Harness Supplies Ltd. and Custom Blend Horse Feeds, coupled with a busy mail order horse supply businesses and the operation of the Tack Store at Windsor Raceway.

His uncle, Alex MacMurchy, a well known former long distance runner, was one of the first athletes to be inducted into the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame.

1990 - 1999, All, Builder, Male, Wrestling

RALPH SNEYD

Leave a comment

Ralph was born in Vancouver BC in January of 1945 and spent his early years of school competition moving from Montreal, Daytona Beach Fla., Port Hope and Toronto.

He participated on several championship teams in high school and represented his school at the Ontario Athletic Leadership Camp where he was introduced to the sport of amateur wrestling. He competed in wrestling’s early years as a
high school and university sport. In 1969 he started his teaching career in North York’s, Northview Heights SS where he began his coaching career and convened and won several Team Championships with three Canadian Champions and six OFSAA medalists.

Ralph moved to Collingwood in 1976 and began the Collingwood Wrestling Club that saw just fewer than 3,000 members in its 30 year operation. His high school wrestlers collected 26 OFSSA medals and 51 GBSSA Championships. The club continued to compete in Canadian Amateur events and won 18 Ontario Team Championships and 7 Canadian team titles. 147 wrestlers won Ontario Amateur Wrestling Medals and sixty two of them winning Canadian medals. Three of his wrestlers went on to win silver and bronze medals in World Championships. Fourteen former wrestlers of the program are now coaching wrestling in other programs across Canada. Ralph was the Team Leader for several Ontario teams who all won Gold at the National Championships. He coached Canadian teams at World Championships in France,
Hungary and Washington DC.

He hosted 148 wrestling tournaments including 9 OFSAA Championships, 16 Ontario Championships, 7 Canadian Championships including 4 in Collingwood and the World Youth Wrestling Championships held in Collingwood in 1987. He retired from teaching in 2000 but still is involved with the sport of Wrestling in Ontario and committees such as the Multiuse Committee in Collingwood.

– President of Central Ontario Wrestling 1979-1992 and member of OAWA Board of Directors

-Member of OFSSA Sports Advisory Committee for Wrestling 1983-1998

-Founded Wrestling Drawmasters Association of Canada in 1988

– Wrote all 3 OFSSA Rulebooks on Wrestling

– Was a co-founder of Ontario Youth Wrestling and Canadian Youth Wrestling and
chaired the committee for 12 years.

– Established Simcoe County Elementary School Wrestling program for boys and girls

-Assisted in the development of Women’s Wrestling as an OFSSA and Amateur Olympic Sport

– Chaired committees in Ontario, National or World sporting events held in Collingwood 1989-2003

– Founder and Chair of the Federation of Collingwood Sports Inc (transportation support to sports teams)

– Creator of the Black and Gold Society to honour outstanding alumni at CCI and first Chairperson

Understandably, Ralph has been recognized with numerous awards for his dedication. Some of these include:

– Ontario Special Achievement Award 1988

– FILA Gold Star 1987 (the sport of wrestling’s highest international award)

– Ontario Coach of the Year Awards 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1994

– Inductee Canadian Wrestling Sport Hall of Fame 1998

– OFSSA Leadership in School Sport Award 1992

– Simcoe County Excellence in Education Award 2003

– Order of Collingwood 1987 and Companion to the Order of Collingwood 2004

 

1970 - 1989, 1990 - 1999, 2000 - 2009, 2000 - 2009, 2010 - 2019, All, Golf, Male

BRIAN JEFFERY

2 Comments

Considering all of the accomplishments in the golfing career of local resident Brian
Jeffery, one figure stands out when all of the numbers are compiled. Twenty-Eight (28)
holes-in-one! He’s done it at the famed Turnberry links in Scotland, twice
within two weeks earlier this year while wintering in Florida, and several
times on his home Blue Mountain Golf & Country Club. “There has to be
some skill involved, but largely it’s a lucky shot,” said the 60-year-old
Jeffery, who placed 12th at the 2004 Canadian senior amateur championships in North Bay, prior to his Induction.

Some luck and a lot of practice has helped Jeffery become the top-ranked senior amateur player (55 yrs. & up) in Ontario. He was introduced to the sport at the age of two by his grandfather, Bill Thompson, at the old Collingwood Golf Club. As a teen, he won several area tournaments and captured the Simcoe County Invitational four years running (1964-67). His father Don managed the Collingwood arena for 25 years and is in the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame for his years of hockey at the OHA Junior and Senior levels.

At just 140 pounds, Brian played junior hockey but preferred sticks of the iron variety. Jeffery would go on to work 30 years and one day at Bell Canada before retiring and getting into the senior golf ranks. Among his golfing achievements, was runner-up at the 1999 Canadian Senior Match Play Championships, 3x Ontario senior amateur title (2002, 2005 & 2008) and taking the National Senior Association title in 2003. Locally, he has claimed the Scenic Caves Invitational and Blue Mountain Golf & Country Club titles seven times each.

Jeffery credits long-time playing partner Don Cook for pushing him to be a sharper player and competitor.  “I tend to get ahead of myself sometimes,” joked Jeffery. “Just because you can see the clubhouse, it doesn’t mean you’ve won anything yet. I remember I was leading a tournament in Midland by five strokes with five holes to play and then made a 10 on one hole. Sure I lost that tournament, but I learned a lot from the experience and it helped me later.”

This evening, October 23, 2004, the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame welcomes Brian Jeffery as an enshrined member for his Athletic achievements.

1970 - 1979, All, Builder, Male

WALTER ROBINSON

Leave a comment

Born in Streetsville, Walt Robinson came to Collingwood with his parents as a very
young boy.

He played hockey, lacrosse and baseball for Collingwood junior teams in the early
parts of this century but his mark was made as a coach and trainer.

Walt played and coached to win and he never tired to cover his contempt for laughing
losers. He regarded a loss as a team to show it on their faces.

He started coaching Collingwood hockey and lacrosse teams in 1910 but his greatest
success came in 1918-19-20 when he guided the Collingwood Shipbuilders to three
consecutive O.H.A. Intermediate “A” championships. Newly Lalonde
brought him up to the international Hockey League as a trainer with the Niagara
Falls Cataracts in 1930. He ended up coaching that team when Newsy quit in mid
season.

The Falls club disbanded and Walt went back to the O.H.A. where he brought the
Parry Sound Shamrocks to the Junior semi-finals.

For the next three years he was head hockey coach for the R.C.A.F. at Camp Borden
and twice brought the Flyers top the semi-finals.

He finished his coaching career with Collingwood in the early thirties.

On Walt’s recommendation, Leo Dandurand signed Jack Portland after only one year’s experience in Intermediate ranks. Portland starred for ten years in the National Hockey League and was a member of the  Stanley Cup winning Boston Bruins in 1939.

Walter Robinson died on June 23rd, 1968. He was seventy-eight.

1900 - 1929, 1930 - 1949, 1970 - 1979, All, Hockey, Male

ALBERT “ABBIE” HUGHES

2 Comments

Ab Hughes was 30 years old when he began his National Hockey League career. That is considered to be an advantage age for a rookie but he stayed up there for three years with the old New York Americans and went on to a successful coaching career in St. Louis.

Born in Guelph, Abbie started as a junior with Collingwood and immediately caught the eye of a Toronto hockey scout who induced him to come to Toronto in 1917. He was only sixteen at the time but he starred with Aura Lee and helped that team win the Ontario Junior “A” title.

His career was interrupted for almost three years when he served with the Canadian armed forces in World War 1 but he took up right where he broke off and was a
member of the Collingwood Intermediate O.H.A. champions in 1920.

He saw a great deal of senior action with Toronto, Hamilton and Welland and then signed a professional contract with the New Haven Eagles and later played two years with the New York Americans in the N.H.L. in 1931 and 32.

Scotty Carmichael  (founder of the Hall of Fame) was one of a group of Collingwood fans who made the trip to Toronto to see Hughes play his first game as a N.H.L. pro in the new Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931. What a show he put on for the home town fans. Abbie scored two goals and the Amerks beat the Leafs 3-2.

In the late thirties he was signed as a player-manager of the team fledging St. Louis
team in the American Association. He is credited with educating St. Louis to the ice game as he held skull sessions with the fans between periods and before games and organized the first hockey school.

1980 - 1989, All, Builder, Male

DON JEFFERY

Leave a comment

Big Don Jeffery, long time manager of the Collingwood Community Arena, was a born
diplomat.

He had to be to keep everybody happy in the day to day operation of the town’s
main recreation centre.

For a quarter of a century, Don wrestled with the problems of the Figure Skating
and Adult Skating Clubs, junior, intermediate and senior hockey organization,
community skating and hustling attractions to pay the light bills during the
off season.

On top of that he had to keep the Collingwood Council and the Arena Commission
happy by keeping the budget under control.

Since 1955, until his retirement in 1981, he served under five Mayors and eight Arena
Commissioners. “Jeff” was a police force in himself. It was a familiar sight to watch him elbowing a path through a hockey crowd to get to the scene of a disturbance in the seats. Usually, he managed to smooth things out by appealing to reason but if he was forced to use muscle he had the equipment. Even if the trouble makers were inflamed with the grape, they thought twice before tangling with his 6 feet 1 inch-230 pound frame and the courage to match. Jeff believed in that old adage,” Speak softly but carry a big stick.”

Besides running the rink, he served on the executive of the junior and intermediate teams. Born in Collingwood, Jeff’s own active playing career spanned a decade. He played on Collingwood Junior O.H.A. clubs in 1936 and 1937 and then jumped to the Senior “A” ranks with Amour Mines in 1938. That team was ousted by the famed
Kirkland Lake Blue Devils who went on to win the Allan Cup.

He came back to his old home town in 1939 to help Bern Brophy and the Collingwood
Shipbuilders win the O.H.A. Intermediate “A” title. Jeff was on the move again the following year with St. Catherine’s and that team went to the O.H.A. Senior “A” finals against a strong Toronto Goodyear team.

He returned home in 1941 with the Shipbuilders where his active career came to an end after a serious eye injury in a game with the Orillia Terriers.

Before his appointment to the manager ship of the arena he served as bench manager
under Coach Eddie Bush when the Shipbuilders won the Intermediate “A” title in 1951 and 1952.

Right from the start Jeff made it a point to try to keep the arena open to the public
the year around. The building closed for only two weeks during the early summer
when his staff painted the building from stem to stern.

During his tenure as arena manager he supervised many new additions to the complex and instigated the plan to add blocks of new seats every year. During the last ten years the renovation plans included a new floor and roof, new sideboards and glass backstops.

Don Jeffery is a welcome addition to the Sports Hall of Fame. He earned his induction as an Athlete and  Builder.

1930 - 1949, 1950 - 1969, 1980 - 1989, All, Hockey, Male

DON HUDSON

Leave a comment

Donnie Hudson never weighed more than 140 Pounds, but he had the heart of a lion and can be considered as one of the fastest goalkeepers ever developed in Collingwood.

Born in Collingwood’s South End, he came up through the Collingwood Minor Hockey system from atom to juvenile.  When he finished his active career about 25 years ago, he had amassed a total of six OHA championships.

His first provincial title came in 1949 when he shared goalkeeping duties with Murray Blackburn, under the coaching of Porky Young, when the Peerless Collingwood Cubs won the Ontario Juvenile title without losing a game.

Then came four straight Junior “C” OHA championships with the Collingwood Greenshirts.  A feat that has never been duplicated in OHA history.

The Greenshirts finally lost to Welland in the 1954 semi-final round.  Roy Connacher was coaching the Midland team that same year, Midland had qualified for the final against Welland and Connacher, asked for, and got permission to use Hudson after his own goalie was injured.  Midland won the title and Donnie Hudson won his sixth straight provincial championship.

Like most star goalies of that era, Hudson rarely left his feet, but it was his lightening-fast hands that gave him the edge on other goalkeepers.

We can safely say that he made more stops with his gloves than his pads or stick. For this reason he was not bothered by those troublesome rebounds that haunted other goalies.

Hap Emms wanted Donnie for the Barrie Colts in Junior “A” company, but he finally and reluctantly decided that at five-feet five inches he was too small for the major leagues.  He had tryouts with Guelph and Kitchener and played one season with Queens’ University.  He played one year with the Collingwood Shipbuilders in Intermediate “A” hockey before hanging up his skates.

 

Ill health ended his active career 16years ago, but on his return from Texas continued to assist as a coach in the Collingwood Minor Hockey system.  Donnie was also a better that average baseball player during the fifties.

 

One month before his induction into the Hall of Fame, Donnie Hudson’s succumbed to cancer after a long battle on May 3, 1986.  He was 52.

1990 - 1999, All, Football, Male

SCOTT LECKY

Leave a comment

Scott was born in Staten Island, New York, U.S.A., December 9, 1964, and at the time of his 1992 election to the Hall he was living in Collingwood.

Following his schooling in Collingwood and Cameron Street Public School, Collingwood Collegiate Institute and at the University of Guelph, football
became his life.

A summary of his playing career is seen in the following:

–  1979-1982 -Played football, and other sports, at Collingwood Collegiate Institute

-1979-80 Scott was the junior boys’ athlete of the year at Collingwood Collegiate
Institute

-1980 He was the MVP on the CCI junior football team and played on the midget
basketball team.

– 1982-MVP senior football at CCI and winner of the Robertson-Titus Football
Award.

– 1982-83-Competed in track and field and as of his induction to the Hall of Fame
still held five records in that sport at Collingwood Collegiate Institute.

-Played football at the University of Guelph 1983-1985

– 1983 –was named the University  of Guelph’s ‘Rookie of the Year’

-1984 – Played with the Ottawa Schooners Junior Football Club and won the  Canadian Championships.

-Member of the Canadian Football League’s B.C. Lions 1986-1989

– 1986-Scott was named the B.C. Lions ‘Rookie of the Year’

-In 1986, in his starting game with the Lions, he played slotback and scored a
touchdown

-In 1988 he helped take the Lions to the Western Conference Finals and played as the starting slotback in the Grey Cup contest played in Ottawa.

Scott was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame on Junes 20, 1992, in the Players’
category.

 

1900 - 1929, 1930 - 1949, 1950 - 1969, 1980 - 1989, All, Athlete, Male

GEORGE “CHUB ” BUTTERS

2 Comments

Chub Butters could be classed as one of Collingwood’s best all around athletes because he excelled in track and field, hockey, football, basketball and swimming.
While attending the Collingwood Collegiate he won the Intermediate and Senior track and field  championships in 1932 and 1933. A foxy broken field runner on junior and senior high school football teams, he was a star half back with the 1933 Central Ontario Secondary Schools Senior champions in 1933 when his team defeated St. Catherines 12-9 in the final. Chub scored the winning touchdown.
In Inter-Collegiate track and field competitions he set school records in the 100 and 220 yard sprints and in the low hurdles.
His long amateur hockey career started in the old Collingwood Junior Town League when he captained the champion East End Club. At the age of 15, Chub made the Collingwood Junior O.H.A. team and after four years in junior company graduated to the Intermediate Collingwood Shipbuilders.
In 1937, he played for Geralton in the Northern Ontario Senior “A” series and then performed two seasons with Timmins in the same league. Returning to Collingwood in 1940, he played Senior “B” and Intermediate “A” for his home town until his retirement from hockey in 1952.
In 1951 he captained the Collingwood Shipbuilders, under coach Eddie Bush, to the provincial championship. He was outstanding in the finals series against Fort Erie.
He was considered one of Collingwood’s most outstanding swimmers and divers and in the summer of 1929, won the first Collingwood Aquatics Cup with five firsts in swimming seconds to Don McMinn, one of this town’s really great distance swimmers. He liked to remember how he played on the wing with Rabbi Fryer
when that great old timer played his last game against Midland in 1934.
He was also a better than average softball player with the Pros in the old Collingwood Softball League and he had a one-season fling at the game of lacrosse when the late Lou Dique tried to revive the game in 1927.

1930 - 1949, 1970 - 1979, All, Builder, Hockey, Male

BERN BROPHY

Leave a comment

Born on Aug 9, 1903, Bern Brophy was truly one of Collingwood’s best all-around athletes. His induction into the Sports Hall of Fame was automatic.

In hockey, Bern wore the uniforms of the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Maroons and you will find his name on the Stanley Cup with such names as Reg Noble, Clint Benedict, Punch Broadbent, Babe Seibert and Nels Stewart- all of them in the National Hockey Hall of Fame.

The Maroons sold him to Canadians, the Canadians sent him to Providence and Jack Adams brought him to Detroit to team up with a couple of more Collingwood natives-Reg Noble and Jack Herberts. He finished his pro career in the International League with Cleveland, Windsor and London and helped London win the league title in 1936.

Bern was re-instated as an amateur in 1938 and in 1939 he came back to Collingwood, and as a player-coach, led the Shipbuilders to the O.H.A. Intermediate “A” championship.

His athletic prowess was not confined to hockey. Visit the Sports Hall of Fame at Toronto and you will see a picture of the 1922 Queens University Football team, Canadian Intercollegiate champions. Seated in the middle row is Flying Wing B.L. Brophy.

An outstanding baseball player, Bern performed for many Collingwood ball clubs and was a member of Victoria Harbor provincial intermediate champs in the early twenties. His exploits in the realm of track and field are recorded in the archives of the Collingwood Collegiate where he won the junior, intermediate and senior athletic championships in three consecutive years.

He could qualify for Collingwood’s Hall of Fame as a Builder because it was Brophy who revived Intermediate hockey in Collingwood after the game had sunk to a low ebb from 1922 to 1938. It was a fitting climax to a great athletic career. He once said, “Before I hang up my skates, I would like to help Collingwood win another Intermediate Title!” Bern’s wish was granted. He died in his hometown of Collingwood on July 19, 1982.