All posts by Mark

1950 - 1969, 2000 - 2009, All, Baseball, Male

JIM McALLISTER

October 29, 2011 Mark

A very talented athlete since 1958, JimMcAllister dominated area ball diamonds throughout his 20-year fastball career.

Recognized for his excellent control with his drop, rise and slow pitches, Jim was a catcher’s dream as he seldom refused a pitch signal and on the rare occasion the catcher could expect ‘heat’ on the following pitch. He knew what his job was when he stepped on the mound and made sure he did his best for himself and his team.

His reputation elevated him to local legend status with the community often referring to him as “Big Jim” or “Wendell”.

A great team player, Jim’s maintained his focus on the job he was asked to do on the mound with little concern of what was going on around him. He never showed frustration and just worked harder!

Although it was his pitching exploits that are often referenced, his batting abilities were characterized as heavy moon shots that often soared over the outfield
fences. Throughout his career, he would close out his own game at the plate!

Upon review of his career, many of his personal statistics deserve recognition in League Ball comprising of 3 time – Most Valuable Player, 5 time –
Batting Title, 5 time – League Championships as he recorded 4 No-Hitters per season, 15 Strike outs per game while allowing only 3 hits per game.

Additional achievements included:

1963 Pitched First No-Hitter in Collingwood Softball

1965-66 Blue Mountain Softball League Batting & Home Run Champion

1967 Top Pitcher in Wins-Losses (210 Strike Outs)

1968 Blue Mountain Softball League Most Strike Outs

1969 Blue Mountain Softball League MVP

1970 New League Record of 300 Strikeouts in 20 games

Jim’s local Competitive Career:

Co-operators Insurance Fastball Team 1958

Beaver Valley League Champions 1958

Collingwood Shipyard Fastball Team 1959

Browns Lumber Kings Fastball Team 1960-1965

Beaver Valley League Champions 1963 & 1965

Gurney’s Sports Fastball Team 1965-1966

Collingwood & District League Champions 1966

Fisher Electric Fastball Team 1967

Elmvale Palace Hotel 1967 – 1970

LOF Glass Fastball Team 1968 – 1971

Blue Mountain League Champions 1970

Blue Mountain League All Star Team 1970

Woods BA Senior Fast Ball Team Barrie 1971-1972

George’s Furniture Senior Fastball Team – Angus 1972-1974

Clarkson Hotel Senior Fastball Team – Barrie 1976-1978

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

ALEX MACMURCHY

October 29, 2011 Mark

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.

1970 - 1979, All, Builder, Harness Racing, Male

CLARENCE “SHORTY” LOCKHART

October 29, 2011 Mark Leave a comment

The name of Shorty Lockhart must have top billing when Collingwood harness racing
history is written Horsemen like Paddy Stone, Joe Welch and Paddy Neville were
big names in the sulky game at the turn of the century but Shorty completed dominated the scene for thirty-five years. Born in Honeywood, Shorty farmed in the Osprey district before he took to harness racing seriously in his early twenties. His
first good horse Dorothy Peters, was an instant success and he always likes to
talk about Make Believe, a handsome trotter that won him forty races in a
single season.

As implicated by his nickname, “Shorty” is small of stature but his courage and determination offsets the size handicap. He needs nobody to run interference for him because the little man from the Osprey Hills has always been on his own.

One of his greatest triumphs was a victory with Sonny Creed against top drivers like Keith Waples, Dell McTavish and Harold McKinley. Three outstanding match races stand out in his memory; Two against his old rival, Honourable Earl Rowe at Greenwood with Make Believe and at Grand Valley with Dorothy Peters. His match race with Sonny Creed against Dr. Morrish’s – Lochlinvar King was staged before the largest crowed ever to witness a harness race at London Raceway.

Shorty has trained and owned more than one hundred trotters in his days. His ace pacers, Sonny Creed and Single Chips have carried him over the mile at 2.03 at one time ore another and A.W. Chips and McCarr Hanover have stepped it in 2.04 with Shorty in the sulky.

He has fine memories in the racing exploits of such fine horses as Dorothy Peters, Make Believe, Dr. Fleet, Laurentide, Prince Demon, True Spencer, Frisco Van R., Alex Hardy and Collingwood Boy.

Clarence “Shorty” Lockhart has left his mark on the big tracks like the Blue Bonnett and Richelieu in Quebec, Greenwood, Mohawk, Garden City, the old Thorncliffe and Dufferin in Ontario and Batavia and Hamburg across the border.

He just had to be No.1 in the harness racing section of Collingwood’s Sports Hall of Fame.

1990 - 1999, All, Football, Male

SCOTT LECKY

October 29, 2011 Mark 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.

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

MICHAEL KOSHILKA

October 29, 2011 Mark Leave a comment

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 to the 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, 1980 - 1989, All, Hockey, Male

ALBERT KIRBY

October 29, 2011 Mark Leave a comment

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.

1930 - 1949, 1950 - 1969, 1970 - 1989, 1980 - 1989, All, Male, Skiing

JOHN KEITH

October 29, 2011 Mark Leave a comment

The alpine skiing career of John Keith spans across a period of 36 years of competition under the colours of the Collingwood Collegiate Ski Club and the Collingwood Ski Club. It started back when he was a teenager. He won his first downhill title in 1948. The very next year he was earmarked as a comer when he took the top honours in the Ontario Junior High School championships.

After that the silverware came by the carload. He added two more medals in high school competition in the combined and downhill competition in the combined and downhill competitions. His 1950 achievements included an important victory by winning the Dr. W.M. Blakely Trophy, emblematic of the Collingwood Ski Club championships in the men’s class “A”.

The same season he placed second in the Ontario high school downhill race and also in the Ontario Intermediate competition. He was also a member of the Ontario team in the Canadian Junior Ski Championships.

In 1951, John won the Dr. W.M. Blakely Trophy and was runner-up in the men’s slalom and downhill races and the senior combined competition held in London, Ontario.

As a member of the Beaver Valley Ski team in 1961 he won another medal as the team went to the finals in the Southern Division Adult Ski Championships.

With John Keith, skiing became a family affair as attested in four Beaver Valley Family Cup Championships, with John, David and Andrew, in 1979, 1984, 1985, and 1986.

John finished his competitive skiing career with sparkling Beaver Valley titles for men over the age of 45 in 1984, and again in 1986.

The brilliant on-hill exploits of John Keith earned him a special niche in Collingwood’s Sports Hall of Fame on June 11, 1986.

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

DON KEITH

October 29, 2011 Mark Leave a comment

We have often heard it said that Donnie Keith is one of the most mild-mannered gentlemen in Collingwood, until he puts on a pair of skates.

When he puts on a hockey uniform, it’s a different story. He plays the game for keeps, gives no quarter and asks for none. It has been like that for nearly 20 years since he helped the old West End Wildcats win the town league championship under Coach Reg. Westbrooke back in 1947. He was the policeman on two great Juvenile teams when the Cubs went to the Ontario finals in 1948 and then won the title in 1949 without losing a single contest.

He jumped into the Junior “B” ranks with Guelph the following year and then spent two star-studded years with the Guelph “A” team in a league that boasted such coming NHL stars as Harry Howell, Lou Fontinato, Andy Bathgate and Dean Prentice.

He gained great respect in his knock-down, drag-out duels with the all time tough Fontinato. Keith backed down from nobody and he took as much as he handed out. Eddie Bush lured him back to Collingwood in 1951, and he was instrumental
in helping the Shipbuilders win a pair of OHA Intermediate “A” Titles.

He stayed with the Shipbuilders until the end of 1953 and then went over to the strong Meaford Knights. His rugged-checking and accurate-shooting were the main cogs in Meaford’s OHA Senior “B” Championship.

That season he led the league in scoring and penalties.

Donnie played the last 10 years of his active career in senior company with Shipbuilders. His OHA career spanned 20 years, but he is still starring with the Old Timers well into the 1990’s, along with such other old time Collingwood stars, as Robert Sandell, Don Rich, and Don Cook.

Don Keith was inducted into the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame, in 1986.

The local sporting community was saddened when Don passed away 2010.

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

ED KEA

October 29, 2011 Mark Leave a comment

Ed Kea was born in Weesp, Holland but his family of fourteen relocated to Collingwood, Ontario when he was just four years old. In Canada he was exposed to the game of hockey and took to it very well. Kea never played Junior hockey, nor did he play collegiate hockey but he managed to turn professional in 1969 nonetheless. After two years with the Jersey Devils, and stops with the Seattle Totems and the St. Petersburg Suns, he was signed as a free agent by the Atlanta Flames in 1972.

Kea played 583 games over 10 seasons in the NHL, scoring 30 goals and
175 points. He spent his first six seasons with the Atlanta Flames, who signed him as a free-agent on Oct. 6, 1972.

The defenseman made his NHL during the 1973-74 season when he played three games for the Flames, but he was a regular the following season. Kea spent the next five seasons playing his solid, steady game on the Flames blue line before being dealt to St. Louis just prior to the 1979-80 season. With the Blues, Kea played three and half seasons before being sent to the minors.

During the 1982-83 season, St. Louis shipped him to their farm team in Salt Lake. Unfortunately, while toiling for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles tragedy struck. Kea hit his head on the ice during a game and suffered severe head trauma and was left handicapped as a result. Though a series of operations saved his life, Kea’s hockey career was obviously over and he retired and spent time with his wife and children.

Sadly, this wouldn’t be the only tragedy for Ed Kea and his family. In September 1999, Kea drowned at his family cottage. Kea was just 51 years old.

1980 - 1989, All, Builder, Male

DON JEFFERY

October 29, 2011 Mark 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.