Category Archives: Sport

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

DAVE TAYLOR

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Davey Taylor received his first golf club on Christmas Day, 1905, in Alloway, Scotland. The club was in his stocking and he was just five years old.

He started knocking a golf ball around from that very day, and, he was still at it just 75 years later.

His greatest thrill came at 14 years of age when the family moved to the town of Troon, on Scotland’s west coast. Troon was surrounded by no fewer than six golf courses.

After serving with the First Highland Light Infantry Regiment in World War II, Davey came to Collingwood to work in the shipyard in 1923.

Since that time he has been a legend and a landmark on Collingwood golf courses. Always available, Davey never spared himself when it came to lending a helping hand to young golfer.

His golfing can be attested by the shelves of cups and trophies that adorned his comfortable home on Moberly Street. During his career in Collingwood he has won the Collingwood Senior Golf Club championship ten times.

He won the Saugeen Open in 1963, the Wasaga Beach open twice and the Collingwood Legion Trophy three times. Add the annual Shipyard tournament awards and a dozen local cups and shields and you find Davey Taylor sitting on top of a stone boast load of silver. He has ringed the cup many times on his tee shots but only once did he realize the golfer’s dream- a hole in one. His first and last ace came on a Toronto golf course back in 1931.

Par for the old Collingwood Golf Club is seventy. Mr. Taylor did not remember how many times he has pared that course. He shot a 64 at the age of 63.

He died in 1981.

1930 - 1949, 1950 - 1969, 2000 - 2009, All, Male, Track & Field

JOHN WALLACE COOK

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There was also the duty of serving in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1944-45. “In those days, scholarships were not worth that much and you had to work as well as pay a lot for the schooling, and there wasn’t enough to support that at home,” he said. Among his achievements were high school records in the 100-yard, 220-yard, 440-yard, 880-yard and mile races, along with the broad jump and shot put.

He also won several regional and military events thanks in part to the tutelage of local native and star athlete Charles “Bus” Portland. Cook was a keen volunteer and organizer who served as CCI student council president, and with the help of Marion Clarke and Blue Mountain Resort founder Jozo Weider, established the inaugural Collingwood Collegiate invitational alpine ski meet in 1947. He worked, then managed at Walker Stores outlets across Ontario and would settle in the hometown of his wife Mary, Carleton Place, where his family would own a store for 38 years until selling it in 1995.

During this time, Cook also served as a town councillor from 1960-64 and chaired a committee that oversaw business development for this Eastern Ontario region. He has three children, Richard, Mary Jane and Melinda. His granddaughter, Alex Cook, attends the famed Nick Bolleteri Tennis Academy in Florida, and grandson Brock Matheson plays for Brock University’s varsity hockey team after a successful run with the Tier II Jr. ‘A’ Kanata Stallions. “I can’t say my family hasn’t been holding up the athletic end of the bargain,” he quipped. “It’s been enjoyable to travel and see them perform.” In his later life, Cook still rides 10 miles a day on his bicycle, and is an avid skier and recreational badminton player. “It’s not a competitive thing. I just like to stay active and healthy!”

This evening, October 23, 2004, the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame welcomes Wallace ‘Wally’ Cook as an enshrined member for his Athletic achievements.

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

LARRY GIBBONS

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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.

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

ALBERT KIRBY

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If there ever was a Lady Byng Trophy for amateur hockey players, Ab Kirby would have won it ten years in a row.

Through a career of twenty years in O.H.A. competition, Kirby’s penalty record could be written on the head of a pin. Here was a player who exploded the Leo Durocher theory that “Nice guys finish last”.

Collingwood born Albert Kirby played on championship teams in the junior, intermediate and senior O.H.A. series with Barrie, Collingwood and Owen Sound
and he was always up there with the scoring leaders.

One of the high points in his great career came in 1939 when the helped the
Collingwood Shipbuilders win the O.H.A. Intermediate “A” title. In sixteen games he scored sixteen goals and assisted on sixteen others. He went through the entire series without drawing a single penalty.

This shifty little centre man never weighed any more than 135 pounds (soaking wet)
but he held his own with the hard bumping giants of that era. One of the best
stick handlers of his time. Ab never had to resort to rough play. He was a
gentleman on and off the ice. Like his long-time team mate, Eddie Bush, Ab learned his hockey basics on the East End mill ponds.

He made the Collingwood junior club at age fifteen in 1934 and the following
season went to the Barrie Colts. Barrie won the O.H.A. Junior “B” title and Kirby scored 30 goals in the regular season. He picked up seven goals in the five-game final series against St. Michael’s College.

He was back in Collingwood in 1938 but had to sit out most of the season after
MIDLAND PROTESTED HIS ELIGIBILITY UNDER THE RESIDENCE RULE.

Re-instated in ,1939, he played for the Collingwood Shipbuilders under the coaching of former N.H.L. star, Bern Brophy, and the Shipbuilders won the championship. Kirby played on a line with Alvie Wilson and Greg Coulson.

Ab scored six goals and had three assists in the five-game final against the Port
Colborne Incos. In 1940 he moved up to senior company with St. Catherine’s with
Collingwood team mates Don Jeffery and Dick Tracey. That team went to the
O.H.A. Senior “A” final against the Toronto Goodyears.

Kirby added a senior championship medal to his collection when he helped the Owen
Sound Trappers win the Ontario Senior title in 1947.

But he came back to his home town in 1951 when Jack Portland came back from a
ten-year N.H.L. career, coached the Shipbuilders and took them to the O.H.A.
Intermediate “A” semi-final round.

He finished his career with Eddie Bush and the Shipbuilders in 1952 and 1953 when
the Collingwood club won back to back provincial Intermediate “A” championships.

Ab did not confine his athletic endeavours to hockey. He was a better than average
baseball and softball player and had a hand in coaching midget hockey and baseball teams. He was Brit Burns’ assistant coach when the Collingwood Juveniles won the O.M.H.A. championship in 1956.

Along-time director in the Collingwood Minor Hockey Association, he served two years as president.

1950 - 1969, 1980 - 1989, All, Builder, Male

JOHN PALMER

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John Palmer’s racing boats were built for speed – at times exceeding 100 miles per
hour! Introduced to speed boat racing at that age of 14, John was Canada’s
highest profile, hardest working race boat builder, designer and racer.

John created the infamous Slokum II race boat in 1947 and captured Canada’s
Hydroplane championship for the next 7 consecutive years.

He reached the pinnacle of his career in 1969 when he rebuilt a 280 cc class
inboard hydroplane, including the engine to take the Canadian championships on
Couchiching Bay by 20 seconds in front of 10,000 spectators.

In later years, he transferred his mechanical engineering knowledge into an “ice
racing” boat.

John and his wife Phyllis are the proud parents of Sue Palmer-Komar, a world class
cyclist.

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

PAUL SHAKES

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Born in Collingwood, Paul Shakes scored one hundred goals in the novice division of Collingwood Minor Hockey, and that record still stands. Paul hockey skills caught the attention of our local junior team where he played at the midget age of 15.

Shakes was chosen 38th overall by the California Golden Seals (NHL) after accumulating 170 points in three seasons with the St. Catharines Black Hawks of the OHA. After scoring 20 goals in 1971-72 the young rearguard was voted on to the OHA  first all-star team.

A recognized fine playmaker, Paul played defense for Salt Lake City in 1972-73 where he registered a decent 42 points as a rookie pro with the WHL’s Salt Lake Golden Eagles. The next year he played 21 games for the California Golden Seals but was relegated to the minors for the last two years of his career before he retired in 1976 after surgery for a herniated disk.

He now has an interest in Harness Racing where he and son Brad have co-owned and trained many champions including 2002 Ontario Sires Stakes champion Meadowview Sunny.  In the same year, Meadowview Sunny was a recipient of the O’Brien Awards as the premiere 2 year old cold trotter in harness racing over a given year.

Paul was inducted into the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame in 1984.



1930 - 1949, 1950 - 1969, 2000 - 2009, All, Baseball, Hockey, Male

LEN COOKE

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A few years ago, the Ontario Hockey Association singled out the Collingwood Jr. ‘C’ Greenshirts as its Team of the Century for capturing four straight provincial titles in the early 1950s.

One of the leading scorers on that first championship team was Len Cooke, a skilled left-winger who was an all-around exceptional athlete during his elementary and high school days in Collingwood. In a span of five years, Cooke would play on four Ontario-champion hockey teams, beginning with the Brown’s Taxi juveniles in 1948-49, followed by the Greenshirts, followed by the Intermediate ‘A’ Shipbuilders during their celebrated run to glory. Then in 1952-53, an employment opportunity brought him to Simcoe, where Cooke helped the Gunners beat out Collingwood for the OHA crown. “What mattered most about those teams was that there were no individual stars and everyone did their part, right down to the executive,” Cooke said. “There are a lot of good memories and great people involved.” The native of Honora Bay, Ont., which is on the north shore of Manitoulin Island, also excelled in baseball and football in his youth.
He managed Beaver Lumber and Cashway Building Centres around the province until retiring four years ago. Cooke is a keen golfer with a five handicap who boasts club championship trophies from Blue Mountain, where he dueled often with fellow 2004 Hall of Fame inductee, Brian Jeffery, along with Port Dover and his current home course, Brantford Northridge. “I’ve lived in a lot of different places but I always consider Collingwood my hometown,” Cooke added. “Memories slip by but I’ll always remember what a great nucleus we had for those Jr. ‘C’ Greenshirt teams.”

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

1950 - 1969, 2000 - 2009, All, Golf, Male, Other

AL GREIR

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Since playing Old Timers he has competed in over 2000 games, many
tournaments, won many medals, too numerous to mention. Alan coached Minor hockey for twenty years.

Football 1952,53,54,55 – Played football for CDCI

Track & Field 1952,53,54,55 – Competed in 100, 200, half mile, pole
vault and 2 Senior Championships, also numerous track events including the
Tud-Hope meets & represented central Vancouver Island at the Senior B.C.
Summer Games.

1950-59 – Numerous Hardball and Fastball Teams in Collingwood, winning
Fastball Championship in 1959.

Golf 1953 – CDCI Golf Championship

1958 – Collingwood Golf & Country Club Handicap Championship

This evening June 9, 2000 marks the induction of Alan Greir into the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame in the Players’ category.

1970 - 1989, 1990 - 1999, All, Male, Skating

MICHAEL KOSHILKA

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Michael was born in Haileybury, Ontario April 19, 1964, moving to Collingwood in 1970, and at the time of his election to the Hall he was living in Collingwood. Michael’s schooling took place in Collingwood at Connaught Public School followed by Collingwood Collegiate Institute, Oshawa and Preston.

The reasons for naming Michael to the Hall of Fame are many and show strong dedication to his sport of figure skating.

In figure skating, he skated in the free-skate and later as a member of the free skating pairs’ team.  From 1975 to 1978, he represented Collingwood within this region, from 1979 to 1982 h e was in competition at the regional, provincial and national level.  As well as being an outstanding competitor and an asset to the sports community of Collingwood, he also excelled in the Canadian Figure Skating Association’s test system.

He has obtained his gold medal in free-skate, Canadian and American gold in dance, silver in free dance, novice competition, silver pairs and seventh figure test.

To continue his skating he left Collingwood and became a pairs competitor.  He continued to train in both Oshawa and Preston.

– 1980-81 Received a gold medal in the Ontario Sectional event and qualified to go                    Ontario Divisional’s where he and his partner qualified for the Canadian        Championships in Halifax.  They finish ninth overall.

– 1981-Michael was named to the City of Oshawa’s Outstanding Achievement Award.

– 1982-Michael and partner went to the nationals again and this time finished 7th.

At the time of his induction into the Hall, he was still active in his sport as a professional coach, coaching in and around Collingwood.  He also served as the area’s senior dance coach.  Because of his dedication to the skaters in this area, they did not have to leave home to train and progress at the senior dance level.

Michael was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame on June 20, 1992, in the players’ category.

1930 - 1949, 1950 - 1969, 1990 - 1999, All, Hockey, Male

CAL PATTERSON

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Born in Collingwood on July 29, 1929, Cal is a lifelong citizen of our community. A graduate of Victoria Public School and Collingwood Collegiate, Cal and his wife Lenora have five children – Wendy, Patricia, David, William and Carole.

Cal’s hockey career spanned 5 decades as a player and coach. In 1944-45, Cal began his playing career in the Town League as a South End Dynamiter ascending to the Collingwood Juveniles (1947), Collingwood Junior B Sailors (1948 & 49), Collingwood Intermediate A (1949-54 & 1955-56). He played with the Aylmer Intermediates in 1954-55 and returned to play with the Collingwood Senior B team in 1964-65. His competitive career ended in 1966 with the Senior B – Midland Flyers.

During his playing years, Cal won the Intermediate A Championships in 1951 and
1952 and OHA Senior B Georgian Bay Group Champions in 1965.

Immediately following his playing days, Cal coached the Stayner Lions to the
OHA Intermediate D Championship. He also managed the Senior A – Collingwood
Kings from 1967-69 and Collingwood Intermediate A team from 1972-74.

Cal is recognized for his hockey career, becoming a worthy member of the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame on June 12, 1998 in the Players’ category.