Category Archives: 1950 – 1969

1950 - 1969, 1970 - 1989, 1990 - 1999, 2000 - 2009, 2000 - 2009, All, Athlete, Male

JIM GEORGAS

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Jimmie is an ageless sports legend, a lifelong advocate for physical fitness and not surprisingly, a tenacious, fearless, no-quit competitor.

His athletic talents spans numerous decades as he dominated the sports of skiing, cycling, duo-athlete and runner.  He has won 200+ duathalons including 10+ world & 14 national and provincial masters duathalon championships.

Jimmie has won an astonishing 209 out of 257 masters cycling events that feature hill climbs, time trials, criteriums and road races. As a runner, he participated in 39races ranging from 5-10 kms. taking home 30 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze medals.

In addition to his membership in the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame, Jim’s accomplishments are honoured in the Owen Sound and Ontario Ski Pro Hall of Fame.

 

1930 - 1949, 1950 - 1969, 1970 - 1979, All, Hockey, Male

BOBBY MORRILL

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One of the greatest stick handlers of his time, Bobby Morrill holds the time record
in Collingwood’s long hockey history for goals scored in a single season.

Fifty-three years ago, while playing centre for the Collingwood Juniors, he scored
ninety-five goals in twenty-one games.

You would almost think he had some kind of a rubber-to-wood magnet on the blade of his stick. He had a supernatural knack of pulling the puck from the back of the
net, pivoting around the post and slipping the puck under the goalie’s skates.

Mike Rodden actually compared Morrill to Howie Morenz when the two centers met in the 1921 O.H.A. Junior semi-finals and by a strange quirk of fate, both players
died only a week apart in 1937. Morenz died after he received a broken leg in
an N.H.L. game at the Montreal Forum and Morrill met a tragic death in an
industrial accident at the International Nickel Plant inPort Colborne.

Rodden was really sweet on Morrill and he induced him to go for a try-out with the
Toronto St. Pats. Bobby turned out for one practice, and according to Mike, he
was a sensation. But he was convinced that he was not fast enough as a skater
to hold his own in the N.H.L. and he never went back.

So Morrill went to Port Colborne where he became the toast of the canal town for many years when the Sailors ruled the roost in the Senior O.H.A. ranks.

We saw a carbon copy of Bobby some thirty years ago when his eldest son, Allan,
spearheaded the Collingwood Greenshirts to four straight O.H.A. Junior “C” championships.

The fading art of stickhandle ran in the blood of the Morills. Four of Bobbie’s
nephews, Barney and Ab Walmsley and Morrill and Ab Kirby left their marks on
the Collingwood hockey scene over the past four decades.

1930 - 1949, 1950 - 1969, 1970 - 1979, All, Male, Track & Field

ALEX MACMURCHY

The careers of many great athletes have been directly or indirectly affected by wars.

Such was the case of Alex MacMurchy, undoubtedly Collingwood’s most successful long distance runner who twice represented Canadain International meets and crowned his brilliant career by winning the Canadian and Allied Army Cross Country championship in Holland in 1945.

At the tender age of sixteen he had the brashness to enter a race against such top Canadian runners as Percy Wyer, Jim Bartlett and Jim Wilding over the full marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards.

He was matching stride for stride with the big guns until he tore off a running shoe between Washago and Orillia and dropped back to 25th place. He changed over to a pair of ordinary street shoes, passed sixteen runners and finished in tenth place.

A few months later he gave Scotty Rankine a good run in the C.N.E marathon.

The following year he won eight major races and finished fourth behind Dick Wilding, Bill Reynolds and Jim Cummings in the Hamilton marathon. It was his third marathon in two months. He rolled up another string of victories with the Forest Hill Recreation Club and then won the three-mile C.N.E. race over a field of the best runners of  Canada and the U.S.A. In the British Empire trails at Hamilton, he lost a shoe at the end of the first half-mile lap and finished in his bare feet, only five yards behind Rankine and Longman. He was considered a cinch to make the Canadian Olympic team in 1939 but the war cancelled out the 1940 Olympiad and Alex had already joined the armed forces.

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, 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.

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

RANDY OSBURN

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Randy Osburn was born in Collingwood, played all his minor hockey in Collingwood under such competent coaches as Dennis Robinson, Harvey Pearen and the late Merv Smith.

When he as ready to move up in t faster company in 1969, he was picked up by another Collingwood coach, Eddie Bush, who sent him to the Hamilton Mountain Junior B club. Eddie was coaching the Memorial Cup winning Hamilton Red Wings at the time.

Randy verified Eddie’s assessment of his ability by winning the scoring title in the Junior “B” League. The team lost out in the Ontario finals to the Dixie Bee Hives.

In 1970, he went up to the Hamilton “A” club but was traded the London Knights half way through the season. In 1971, he had a very good season with the Knights and the line of Reg Thomas, Dennis Ververgard and Osburn finished second in the scoring department, just 3 pints behind three future NHL stars named Shutt, Gardner and Harris of the Toronto Marlboros. Osburn scored forty goals and sixty assists for an even 100 points and the All-Star team.

The following year he was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs and after a full season was sent to Oklahoma City in the Central Pro League.

He won the goal scoring title for the league and was again picked on the first All-Star team. Dallas won over Oklahoma City in the league finals.

In 1974, the Leafs traded him for Bill Flett to the Philadelphia Flyers, then the Stanley Cup Champions.  He played with the Flyers for over half a season and was then assigned to the Philadelphia Firebirds of the American Hockey League. A severe neck injury ended his playing career in 1978.

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.

1930 - 1949, 1950 - 1969, 1980 - 1989, All, Athlete, Male, Other, Wrestling

LARRY SMITH

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Larry Smith’s qualifications for the Sports Hall of Fame can come under any of the
following headings: Boxing, wrestling, softball, baseball, football, track and field, bowling and coaching.

A very astute business man, he has often been known as “Square Deal Larry”. His
idea of a square deal is to trade you a pork chop for a pig and the pork chop would probably be a shoulder cut.

Larry did not come into athletic prominence until around the age of 16 due to the fact that he was an only son and was more than urged to lead a sheltered life. He played a pretty good football game with

Collingwood Collegiate under the coaching of the late Lou Stapleton, earned a letter in Track & Field and made quite an impression in the Coronation Meet at Owen Sound by winning the 100 and 220 yard sprint in a pair of great duels with Eddie Sergeant, the well-known former M.P.P. for Grey. He finished his secondary school education at Glebe Collegiate in Ottawa At Glebe, he took up boxing and wrestling and went to the finals in both these sports in the Ottawa Valley championships.
Incidentally, he lost out in the boxing final to the late Johnny Quilty of St. Patricks College. Quilty later became a hockey star with the Montreal Canadiens.

At the Aggie College in Guelph, he played football and made the college track and
field team in the sprints and relay races. Along came WWII and Larry enlisted with the 541 st Parachute Regiment. He won the light heavyweight boxing title at Fort Bragg and found in several important military boxing tournaments at Camp MacKall, Fort Jackson, Camp Gordon and Fort Benning.

He was selected to represent Airborne Command in the All American Army Golden Gloves at Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1943. He won three bouts and lost in the final. During his active duty in Europe, he made sixty parachute jumps and took part in the bloody battle of Arnheim. While in the army of occupation in Germany and Austria, Larry took part in several wrestling bouts with Captain Vern Smith, former American Amateur Union and American Intercollegiate champion. He won points in the General Patton Third Army Track and Field Meet and ran the anchor leg on
the 506th Regiment Relay team in Munich.

After the war, Smith returned to Collingwood, where he pitched softball for the Collingwood Legion softball team. The Legion team won the Blue Mountain League title in 1949, the Legion District title and went to the Ontario final. In 1950, he played centre filed for the Collingwood Intermediate baseball team and won the Georgian Bay League batting championship. This team also went to the provincial final.

He took up 5-pin bowling after he settled down to business as  the owner and operator of the Collingwood Bowling Lanes and had a 250 average for 6 straight years. His best effort was a 256 average and a 975 triple in Senior play. He also won the Legion District Singles title at Newmarket.

Larry coached the Collingwood Collegiate Senior Football team in 1947, acted as wrestling and boxing instructor for the Collingwood Sea Cadet Corps and supervised a bowling school for Grade School children.

Collingwood fans got a chance to Larry in action when he challenged the Masked Marvel, who was then giving wrestling exhibitions with the Kings Brothers Circus. With the assistance of a thick coating of olive oil and the referee (long-time friend Don Jeffrey) Smith beat the Masked Marvel, much to the delight of the hometown fans.

1950 - 1969, 1970 - 1989, 1990 - 1999, All, Builder, Harness Racing, Male

ROBERT STEWART

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Robert Stewart, secretary-manager of the Canadian Standard bred Horse Society, died suddenly after collapsing while playing in an Oldtimers’ hockey game. He was 38.

A native of Collingwood, Stewart had a lifelong involvement in almost all facets
of harness racing and served as the Society’s chief executive officer for
almost 16 years.

In his early teens he trained horses owned by his parents, Ray and Edna Stewart,
including Spencer’s Pride, Muddy Heel, If, Success Curl and Trivia.  During the summer school breaks he worked as a groom at the raceways for Clarence Lockhart and Pat Crowe and also trained horses for Jack Smith and Russ Irwin. He was licensed as a driver in 1969 and drove primarily in races at “B” tracks such as Owen Sound and at fall fair meets in the Collingwood and Barrie area.

Stewart was also licensed as a starter and associate judge from 1970 to 1978 and
officiated in these capacities at various non-extended meetings. In recent years, his Adanac Farms co-owned such outstanding racehorses as Happy Little B, Mon View, Saunders Alpine Label and Trojan Leroy, all winners of more than $165,000.

Stewart was widely known and highly respected throughout the standard bred industry in both Canada and the U.S.  He was primarily responsible for making the
three horse sales conducted annually by the Society among the most successful
in North America and was a strong advocate of having all horses’ blood typed and foals identified by freeze branding to ensure their identity and to verify their parentage.

After receiving his early education in Collingwood, Stewart graduated in Business
Administration from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto and then from
the Akron School of Business Administration where he made the Dean’s List both
years.

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.