Category Archives: Builder

Dave Chandler

On the ice, Dave Chandler has seen it all throughout his career having officiated 5000+ hockey games during his 37 year career.2014 - Dave Chandler

His career started as a 15 year old a the Ted Reeve Arena in Toronto. Dave moved to Collingwood to teach at Collingwood Collegiate Institute in the late 60’s at which time he became a fixture across the region.  In 1972, Dave was invited to the first World Hockey Association (WHA) officials camp.

During his career, he was invited to referee at International Silver Stick Tournaments, Quebec International PeeWee Tournament (1973) and officiated 11 International OMHA games featuring teams from Finland, Norway and Sweden. Dave instructed at the National Canadian Hockey Association referee certification program for 6 years.

His talents allowed for him to become the OMHA Supervisor of officials from 1983-1986.

The greatest compliment to Dave is obvious by the sheer number of referees that reference Dave’s valued mentorship in their early careers.

On Saturday, October 25, Dave Chandler was welcomed as an enshrined member of the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame.

 

BRIAN BAILEY

Brian Bailey is the wind beneath the wings of the Collingwood Sailing School, which has been recognized by the Canadian Yachting Association and teaches the ropes to
more than 100 youth and adults each year. A Collingwood Yacht Club member since
1973, the Manchester, U.K.-born Bailey raced DEIMOS, an Express 30, for 29
years. The long-time sailor has been the club’s Keel Boat Champion three times. He has been commodore of the local yacht club as well as a member of its board of directors for more than 20 years. In Toronto, he was part of a successful racing crew on a custom C & C 34 which won the Royal Canadian Yacht Club’s;Champion of Champions.

Bailey was the catalyst in the history of the successful Collingwood Sailing School. He
channeled his energy, knowledge and pride into a unique educational opportunity
for budding sailors in the region. Bailey’s early involvement in the sailing school resulted when his son, Kyle, was hired by the former Watts Skiff Sailing School in 2001 as its sole instructor. The following season, he became the volunteer course director helping to drive increased enrolment, improved classroom instruction on the second floor of the Collingwood Terminals warehouse, and organized the repair of a collection of cast-off boats.

The Sailing School, in 2011, had close to 120 students and five instructors. (Almost
all of the instructors hired have been former graduates of the program.) The school’s fleet of 20 boats receives heavy use throughout the summer season. Student volunteers earn valuable experience for their instructor certification and community placement hours for high school graduation requirements. The school offers Canadian Yachting Association White Sail I, II, III, and Bronze IV; V courses at the Collingwood Harbour. The school uses a variety of dinghies from 7.5 feet to 14 feet.

Bailey is an avid skier, working as a Blue Mountain patroller from 1995 to 2004. He was a Mosport racer from 1961 to 1967 with his Sunbeam Alpine car. His first race was in front of a crowd of 50,000 people. He is passionate about all three sports; sailing, skiing and racing; describing how participants carve into turns in each of them. “You feel it”, he said. “You slide through it. If you have done all three, you can relate.”

CAROL BROPHY-COLLINS

Carol was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame on June 20, 1992, in the Builders’ category. Carol is a former member of the Collingwood Blue Mountain Figure Skating Club. From there she moved on to bigger and better things teaching power skating at a professional level.

1974- Studied at the Institute of Sport and Physical Culture in Moscow, U.S.S.R. and with the Red Army Sports Club, majoring in hockey.

1981- Was the guest coach at the National Hockey League’s officials’ training camp in Toronto.

1985- Coached players of the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL, Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League and the Oshawa General of the OHA.

1995-1990- Ran Power skating camps for professional of the AHL and International Hockey League, as well as players from college and junior organizations.

1990- Named the skating coach of the Toronto Redwings Midget hockey club. She helped take the team to the Air Canada midget regional title and the national championship in Quebec.

Her career place her as coach of some 1,800 hockey players from age seven to professional for more than 20 years at the time of her induction.

ELSIE CRUIKSHANKS

While her son Clyde only played in Collingwood for a couple of years, most parents would be humbled at the minor hockey volunteer service record of Elsie Cruickshanks. Along with her late husband Frank, an Inductee in 1994, the 79-year-old Cruickshanks will enter the Builders’ category of the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame. Well-known in the community for her continuing tireless efforts as a volunteer at the Royal Canadian Legion, Cruickshanks is also occasionally stopped on the street by grown-ups who remember her for what she did at the hockey rink. “They haven’t forgotten us!” she muses. “Like they say, you’re only going to be rewarded with what you put into something. We enjoyed spending time with the children.” A ticket taker, raffle draw seller, registrar and an organizer of the annual Huronia Tournament for 25 years, Cruickshanks assisted Frank with the youth teams he coached. For these efforts, she has been recognized with the 2003 Order of Collingwood alongside a certificate presented by Mayor Terry Geddes for her service to youth in 1999.
Cruickshanks recalled an exhibition game hosted by Collingwood Minor Hockey in the 1970s against a touring midget team from Finland. Her family billeted four of the opposing players and the teams quickly made friends, despite the language barrier. Collingwood had been chosen to be a site for the game because of its reputation for hosting tournaments. “I know the Finnish boys had a great time here, because the next night they had another game in Markham. Clyde and a carload of boys who had played against them the night before went to Markham to watch the game. When (the Finns) came out on the ice, the fans booed them. What a disgrace! They treated those boys horribly. That would have never happened in Collingwood.” When asked about her favourite part about being a minor hockey volunteer, Cruickshanks recalled the massive breakfasts whipped up daily at the Huronia Tournament. “Frank Sheffield and a bunch of other people did such a tremendous job in the kitchen,” she added. “We never seemed to have trouble getting teams to come to play in Collingwood.”

This evening, October 23, 2004, the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame welcomes Elsie Cruikshanks as an enshrined member for her role as a Builder of our athletic community.

SADIE HOUGHTON

The Blue Mountain Figure Skating Club has been on of the main attractions in the Eddie Bush Memorial Arena for the past 35 years (as of 1986), and the person almost totally responsible for its foundation was the late Sadie Houghton. She was an enthusiastic and accomplished skater herself and she lost no time in creating interest in the sport when the new arena was built in 1948. She found out the late “Mac” McDermid, the first arena manager, was once a member of the famed Granite Club of Toronto, and she immediately went to work on Mac to help with the formation of a club in Collingwood.

In 1951, the arena staged a benefit night for the General and Marine Hospital and Sadie make sure that several of her top skaters, including her niece, Joanne Houghton, Carol Brophy and Pauline Pitz were on the program. The skaters were an immediate hit with the crowd and The Blue Mountain Figure Skating Club was born with Sadie Houghton as the first president. The group became a member of the Canadian Figure Skating Association and Pauline Pitz and Joanne Houghton were the first two Collingwood skaters to pass the difficult Canadian Figure Skating tests.

Sadie remained as president of the club during its first four years and then was made honorary President for the rest of her life.

She spent most of her free time in the arena and made sure that every child got full opportunity to take part in the ice shows. Sadie died on May 17, 1960, at the age of 58.

Sadie Houghton was inducted into the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame in 1986.

PAULINE PIITZ

Pauline Piitz began skating on outdoor rinks in this area in the mid 1940’s, eventually joining the Blue Mountain Figure Skating Club when the new Collingwood Arena was completed in 1947.

Pauline worked tirelessly with younger children at the club, and helped produce the first skating carnival in Collingwood. Skating took Pauline to many competitions and carnivals across Ontario in the years to follow, and in 1954 she placed fourth in the Northern Ontario Figure skating championships held in Sundridge.

As a professional, Pauline skated in many carnivals in the area, with a highlight of her professional career being her skating with the Royal Skating School where she received recognition from the Canadian Figure Skating Association as a silver medalist with five silver dances.

Today, Pauline in Mrs. Doug Simms (a sportsman, hunter and wildlife columnist originally form Collingwood). The couple are retired and live in Truro, Nova Scotia.

Pauline contributed as a Builder in figure skating for this area, with her efforts to organize figure skating clubs and carnivals.

JIM TROTT

Minor Hockey in Collingwood has gained much from the dedicated work of Jim.
Outside of the community, the Ontario Minor Hockey system has also gained because of this dedication.
Jim was a member of the OMHA Executive Committee, from 1953 to 1957.  In addition to his time on the Executive Committee, Jim was also a certified OMHA referee throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s.
James Trott was elected to the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame – Builder’s Category in 1984.

RON TIMPSON DR.

Whether it’s been for the elite or recreational athlete or the junior hockey player, local resident Dr. Ron Timpson has been a physician and supporter of sporting activities for almost 50 years.

“It really started back in 1968 at the Olympics in Mexico when we had 100 kids running for Canada come down with diarrhea,” said Dr. Timpson. “Diarrhea isn’t usually a major problem, but when you’re representing your country the next day, it’s a problem.” Dr. Timpson, a Sarnia native, helped form the Ontario Medical Association’s section for sports medicine with Drs. Alan Bass and James Melvin in response to the need of medically support for those athletes. He became president of the OMA’s sports medicine body in 1974 and oversaw the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine a year later, and was also a member of the five-person medical team who treated Canadian competitors at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. “Those were the first efforts at an organizational level of getting physicians who were involved with sports and had an interest in them together,” Dr. Timpson noted.

Junior hockey watchers in the area are no doubt aware of Dr. Timpson’s contributions to the sport at the grassroots level. He began his affiliation in hockey circles while training to be an MD in Edmonton with the Jr. ‘A’ Oil Kings and the WHA’s Flyers. He moved to Wawa, Ont. in 1962 and decided to help out with the Jr. ‘B’ team and the Northern Ontario league’s establishment. After moving to Collingwood, he would serve as the Collingwood Jr. ‘B’ Blues’ physician and consultant from 1969-81. With wife Ruth and three children, Dr. Timpson also farmed for several years in Duntroon. He became medical director of the Collingwood Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation Centre in 1991.

JOZO WEIDER

The name “Weider” will live as long as the Blue Mountain because that escarpment west of Collingwood will remain as a natural monument to Jozo Weider.

A former European ski champion, Jozo came to Collingwood from his native Czechoslovakia in 1940 as a ski instructor and manager of an area preliminarily developed but he Collingwood Ski Club.

He remained to mould this raw escarpment into a ski empire that is still growing
and will continue to grow with the passing years.

Bestowed with a remarkable sense of vision, perseverance in the face of adversity and narrow minded opposition, and a rugged physique, he literally stamped Collingwood on the map as a ski symbol.

Jozo Weider brought international skiing to Collingwood, and he constructed the facilities which made the Collingwood ski area equal in challenges to areas which had far greater natural potential.

There is no question, Jozo is rightfully the first of many Collingwood skiers to follow into the Sports Hall of Fame.

Jozo Weider – builder, promoter, athlete, artist, patron of the arts and dedicated citizen-he deserves a special niche in Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame.

LLOYD YOUNG

“Porky” Young will not only be remembered as one of the most rugged and effective defensive players in Collingwood’s hockey history, but he earns a special niche in the Sports Hall of Fame as a developer of young players in the minor hockey system.

Apart from his rearguard work as a member of the Collingwood Intermediate Shipbuilders, he will long be remembered for his coaching with the famed Collingwood Cubs.

“Porky” took over the Collingwood Juveniles in 1948 and the following year brought this team to the Ontario title without losing a game. The Cubs had reached the finals against Port  Colborne on the previous year after a five-game series that ended
with a sudden-death game in Midland. The Port Colborne star was none other than
Bronco Horvarth, now a member ofCanada’s Hockey Hall of Fame.

“Porky” started out in the junior town league at the old park arena and quickly graduated to the OHA juniors in the early thirties.

When he jumped to Intermediate, he teamed up with the legendary “Rabbi” Fryer and later with another Hall of Famer, the late Lawrence “Dutch” Cain.  He played his best hockey against Owen  Sound and his rugged-body-checking style brought the wrath of Owen Sound fans.  His brilliant rushing style played a large part in the 1939 Intermediate “A” title, won by the Shipbuilders, under the coaching of the late Bern Brophy.

An active and energetic member of the new arena committee, he was instrumental in the bylaw vote which gave Collingwood the Eddie Bush Memorial Arena on Collingwood’s main street.  “Porky” and the late Fred Brock (also a Collingwood Hall of Famer) went door to door during the bylaw campaign in 1947.

In 1949, he was offered the coaching job for the Brampton Juniors but turned it down as he was about to take over a business in Dundalk.

He was a solid softball player in the Blue Mountain League and once won the batting championship and the Most Valuable Player award.

It should be pointed out that the championship juvenile team, built and coached by Young in the late forties, converted to the Junior “C” ranks as a team and won four straight championships.

Lloyd “Porky” Young was inducted into the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame, in 1986.