All posts by Mark

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.

KELLIE CASEY

In 1973, at the age of 8, Kellie Casey moved to the
Collingwood area with her family and promptly began
training for a career in freestyle skiing.

She attended school in Thornbury and Meaford before transferring to Collingwood Collegiate for Grade 12 and 13. At age 12, she decided that her main skiing interest was not freestyle but rather the challenging downhill events. She began competing in the Toronto Ski Club racing programs, her firm goal now was to be an Olympic downhiller.

In 1980, she made the Southern Ontario Division team. She graduated in 1982 to the Ontario team and began racing
internationally. Her top finishes in the Pontiac Cup series of 1982 and 1983 earned her a place on the development squad of the
national team in 1984. In 1985, she became a member of the Canadian
National Alpine Ski Team and began a regular tour of competition on the prestigious World Cup circuit. She competed and trained throughout the world, proudly carrying the name, Collingwood through many countries in Europe and America as well as into numerous major ski centres in North America. Injuries prevented her from a serious run at the 1984 Olympic Games in Sarajevo. In 1985, she placed 4th in Canada in the downhill. In 1986, she won the overall downhill title in the Nor-Am International series. In 1987, she vaulted into the 1st seed in the World Cup Downhill standings with 5th, 8th and two 12th place finishes in Europe just prior to the Olympics. She capped her bid for Olympic selection later that year with a 2nd place finish in the Canadian Championships.

At the Calgary Olympics on February 18, 1988 she was 7th out of the
starting gate. On a steep twisting high speed turn at the top of Mt. Allan she lost visual contact with the terrain and crashed heavily into a safety net. The resulting torn knee ligament ended her quest for an Olympic medal. Following surgery and extensive knee rehabilitation she returned to World Cup competition in 1989, still ranked in the first seed on the World Cup tour.

In 1990, during a downhill training run in Argentina, she sustained a back injury. This latest problem along with a still-imperfect knee was enough for Kellie to heed the medical advice, and call it a career.

Kellie attended the University of Guelph for a Bachelor of Commerce
degree, and Brock University for a Bachelor of Education. She has been a
special education teacher and a local ski coach for two decades. Her
passion is teaching youth at-risk and teaching Indigenous youth to
reconnect with their Indigenous ancestry while she does the same. She is devoted to her three children and still spends as much time as possible skiing with them.

Kellie still proudly calls the Collingwood area her home.

WERNER ZOTTER

Werner Zotter was born to ski in his native Austria, a country famous for champions down through the ages.

He came to Canada with his parents at the age of nine in 1953 and it was not long before he was recognized as an up and comer.

Werner practically lived on the slopes of theBlueMountainbut he found time to launch a modest minor hockey career. He was a better than average goalkeeper on several teams in the Collingwood Minor Hockey system.

In 1959, he won the Southern Ontario Zone championship, repeated in 1960 and won the Canadian title the same season.

A year later, Werner won the Zone title again and annexed the Alpine and Nordic titles with the Ontario Combined.

The same year he captured Junior championship and in 1962 was crowned the Ontario Senior Champion.

His greatest season was in 1966 when he won theOntariofour-way title (Downhill, Alpine, Jumping and Slalom), the Canadian Junior Alpine and his crowing achievement, the Wilkinson Sword Speed Trails atGeorgianPeaks. On that day he averaged eighty-four miles per hour in three downhill runs. It was a record that has never been broken to this day.

He won several competitions in theUnited Statesin 1967 and 68 and came back to win the Southern Ontario Alpine in 1969.

The next two years he coached Canadian Junior team in Trail and later was a ski instructor and coach at Broadmore, Colorado.

Werner spend  many summers in California but returned to Blue Mountain to work with his father in Zotter’s Ski Shop.

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.

ED YOUNG

Eddie Young joins his brother, “Porky” in the Hall of Fame and this will be the eighth time that brother acts have graced this charmed circle of Collingwood athletes.

Eddie was born in Collingwood and like most hockey members of the Hall of Fame, came all the way up through the Collingwood Minor Hockey Association from Novice to Juvenile.

After his graduation from minor hockey status, he played one year with the Collingwood Junior “B” Blues. He led the team in scoring for defencemen and the following season was snapped up by the Guelph Biltmore’s where he performed exceptionally well in Junior “A” company for three consecutive years.

For the next three seasons, Eddie was regarded as one of the top senior “A” players with Port Colbourne, Niagara Falls and Hamilton. During World War II he enlisted and played on army championship teams with Brampton and Camp Borden.

Following his discharge from service, Edie was signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs, but was assigned to the Central Pro League with Tulsa and Houston, where he performed for four years. His active pro career came to an end in 1959 when he returned to Port Colbourne for three seasons as playing coach.

Eddie Young was inducted into the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame on June 11, 1986.

EARL WILSON

With little fanfare, it was 20 years ago that Earl began his journey to become the
most recent inductee into the Canadian Arm-Wrestling Federation – Hall of Fame.

At the age of 16, Earl natural physique and strength directed his competitive
spirit towards this “Power” sports. In 1995, in his first major competition,
Earl received 2nd place in the left & right arm division with the 110 kg category. In the coming years, Earl continued to refine his tactics and strength conditional that resulted in his arrival as a World Champion in Finland – 2000. In fact, he became the first person to win 3 gold medals within a 24 hour period; Left arm (110 kg), Left Arm and Right Arm (Masters) to go along with a silver medal for Right Arm (110 kg).

In the next 9 years, Earl chalked up an unbelievable 11 Gold – World Championships
alongside 4 Silver & 2 Bronze medals. During this time, Earl travelled
across Europe, USA & Canada that quickly earned him the title as the man to
beat in the 100 & 110 kg division! Incredibly, Earl repeated his record
performance during the 2009 World Championships in Italy as he won another 3
gold medals within 24 hours. His reputation was cemented during the 2009 Event
as a record number of competitors – 1600 witnessed his conquests.

On our home turf, Earl has captured 11 Provincial & 28 Canadian
Arm-Wrestling titles to accompany 6 Silver & 2 Bronze finishes. Additionally, Earl set a Canadian Bench Press record at the time of 421.25 lbs – in competition. At home, Earl actively promotes his sport through his ongoing 17 year commitment to the Great Northern Exhibition – Arm-Wrestling event. As Chair, this event is free to all participants with all competitors taking home an award.

In 2010, Earl’s good fortune has returned with another run of 3’s: Inducted into the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame and Canadian Arm-Wrestling Federation – Hall of Fame while in August, he was recently married.

ANCEL WILLIAMSON

Ancel was part of Collingwood’s greatest long distance running team back in the first ten years of this century. The other two members were the late Hec Lamont and Jack Rowe the dean of all Collingwood athletes.

Williamson also excelled at lacrosse, basketball and hockey but most of his team games were played in Vancouver, Seattle and New West Minister. We cannot gloss over Ancel’s career without bringing to mind the time he hitched up with Rowe and Lamont in an exhibition race in Collingwood against the great Tom Longboat. The race was run in the old Pine Street Rink in Laps over a five-mile distance. The three Collingwood runners were supposed to each run a mile and two thirds against the great Indian racer. Instead they kept popping out from behind pillars at one-hundred yard intervals. They beat the champion by a few steps. Tom Flanagan, Longboat’s crafty manager, was fit to be tied. It was Longboat’s Canadian barnstorming tour. Williamson won the Canadian Junior one-mile championship inTorontoin 1908 and just missed making the Olympic team. He won the Georgian Baycross-country run and then moved out to the west coast. In 1910, he played with the Vancouver senior lacrosse team, the British Columbia champions.

He moved on to New Westminister in 1911 and once again he was a member of a provincial title winning club. IN the next two yeas he was a member of Mann Cup winning clubs in Vancouver and New Westminister. He played senior baseball and basketball for New Westminister and a member of the Mount Lehman soccer team in the Fraser Valley League.

After being out of hockey for almost twenty years, he donned a pair of skates and played one season in the Vancouver Senior Hockey League.

While serving as a Sgt Major in the Canadian Army, he was good enough to win the army featherweight boxing title.

While serving in the Army, he played on two army lacrosse and hickey teams and it was here that he realized his greatest athletic thrill. He was assigned to the task of checking the great Newsy Lalonde.

REG WESTBROOKE

Reg Westbrooke was around the Collingwood sports scene so long his presence was almost taken for granted.

Fourteen seasons as the first string goalkeeper for the Collingwood Shipbuilders, A permanent first baseman on local baseball and softball teams, and, all sports scene as sports editor of the Enterprise-Bulletin.

After World War 11, Reg and a few other returning veterans resurrected the Collingwood Softball League and a merry six-year span was whetted but prolific newspaper coverage.

And while he was beating the drums for the softball loop, Reg was walking off with three batting titles. One season his average was an unbelievable .615.

He was a member of Collingwood at the age of twelve, played in the Junior Town League, the Junior O.H.A. team for three years and moved up into the Intermediate ranks in 1938.

Although still of junior age, Reg stayed with the Intermediates and was the back-up goalie for the late Tony Nobes when the Shipbuilders won the O.H.A. Intermediate “A” championship in 1939.

Two more seasons as the regular goalie for the Shipbuilders and Reg’s career was interrupted in 1941 when he enlisted in the armed forces.

The Army team pulled some strings inTorontoand he landed in a Senior League with a team of professionals, playing in theMapleLeafGardensbefore crowds of ten thousand and more.

Another two years of army service followed and Reg found himself playing on a couple of strong Camp Borden teams, one a championship club that was rated with the best amateur hockey teams ever assembled.

After the war, Westbrooke returned home and went in between the goal posts for the Shipbuilders. He became a fixture in this position for the next nine years from 1945 to 1954.

A couple of times, herald aspirants came on the scene but Reg always ended up as the first string goalie. For a good many seasons he operated without benefit of a back-up goalie.

He played goal for two O.H.A. title winning teams under the leadership of Eddie Bush, in 1951 and 1952 and on the 1953 finalists.

A rather unique experience over his ten post-war Shipbuilders seasons was his selection was made by the fans, another time by the club executive and a third time by his fellow players.

His hockey swan song came in March, 1954. Appreciative fans gave him a testimonial presentation when he hung up the pads and moved to Creemore to pursue a career in the newspaper publishing field. Reg married a Collingwood girl, Beverly Mirrlees, and had three children. One son, Don, has just completed a long professional hockey career.

 

DON WESTBROOKE

Don Westbrooke rose through the local minor system and went on to play Junior “B”, Intermediate, and Senior.  He also played professional hockey with International teams followed by the IHL Toldedo Blades in 1963-64 when he won Longman Trophy as “Rookie of The Year”.

1968-69                       Awarded the Gatschene Memorial Trophy as IHL-MVP Award

1969-70                       Awarded the Leo Lamoureux Trophy as IHL Top Scorer

As a 20-year-old IHL rookie for Toledo Blades in 1964, Don scored in overtime to beat defending champion Fort Wayne Komets in deciding sixth game of Turner Cup Finals.

In 1970-71, Don played under the infamous coach – Eddie Shore – with the Springfield Kings & Eddie Shore of American Hockey League. Later he was traded to Rochester Americans where he played with Collingwood native Darryl Sly & roommate Don Cherry.  In 1971-72, Don played in Seattle and led the team in scoring.

On January 5, 1974, Don Westbrooke became a North American trivial answer as he became the “only” North American player to score 3 goals against Vadislav Tretiak (of the Soviet Red Army Selects) and defeated the World Champions 6-4.

In July 1984, Don Westbrooke joined his goaltending father, the late Reg. Westbrooke, as an enshrined member of the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame.

HAWLEY “HUCK” WELCH

Fifty years ago the late Lou Stapleton made this remark when he watched a gangling,
square-jawed fifteen year-old schoolboy trot out on a football field for the first time.

“That kid will be a great football player some day”. Lou couldn’t have made a
more exact prediction because that kid was Hawley “Huck” Welch, who, after a brilliant career with Hamilton and Montreal was inducted into Canada’s Football Hall of Fame in 1966.

He did everything the right way when he performed for the Collingwood Collegiate that season but what impressed Lou most of all was the ease in which Huck sent up those long, smooth sailing spiraling punts with his educated toe.

Huck left Collingwood in his sophomore year and moved off to Hamilton. It did not take Huck very long to get established in that hotbed of football. He helped Delta Collegiate win two successive Ontario Secondary Schools titles and the Tigers picked him up at the end of the 1927 season. He never looked back.

The Tigers won Grey Cups back to back in 1927 and 1928 and the deadly right foot and broken field running of Huck Welch played no small part in the success of that great Tiger team. They still talk about the kicking duels between Welch and Ab Box of the Argos.

One Saturday afternoon Welch kicked three singles and Box kicked two. Hamilton won 3-2. Ted Reeve wrote in his column. “Ab Box kicked the ball clean over Hamilton  Mountain and Huck Welch kicked it back.”

He moved over to the Montreal Winged Wheelers in 1930 when Warren Stevens introduced the forward pass to Canadian football. He helped Montreal win the Grey Cup in 1931 and in 1933 crowned his great football career by winning the Jeff Russell Trophy as the most valuable player in Canadian Football.

He finished his career back in Hamilton in 1937.

Huck served with distinction as an officer in the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry in World War 11 and we had the pleasure of watching Huck and an all-star Canadian service football team beat the Americans in London=s White City Stadium in the spring of 1944. As a matter of fact we managed to pick up a bit of that 5 to 1 money the Yanks were tossing around.