Rusty Butters was another rugged East Enders who learned his basic hockey on Legatt’s Mill Pond.
His hockey career spanned almost two decades but his long athletic career was not confined to the winter pastime.
Rusty was an exceptionally good football player-good enough to be offered a tryout with the Balmy Beach O.R.F.U. senior team back in 1930. He didn’t accept the offer but instead went to work in the Enterprise-Bulletin. It might have been the biggest mistake of his life. Several big league football coaches were of the opinion that the big outside winger could have made it easily.
His hockey career started with the East End junior and seniors in the old Collingwood Town Hockey League and he graduated to the local O.H.A. junior entry.
For the next fifteen years he made his presence known as a hard hitting, rock ribbed defense player with Collingwood Intermediate and Senior clubs. Rusty and the late Dutch Cain, the King of the body checkers, struck terror into the hearts of opposing forwards for a number of years. Dutch dropped them like stones with his wizardly body checks and the two hundred-pound Rusty crunched then into or over the boards.
Butters had the privilege of playing with such Collingwood hockey greats as Rabbi Fryer, Buck Walton, Jack Burns and Wink Foulis, when this formidable quartette was finishing off their careers in the thirties.
His one and only championship medal came in 1939 when the Collingwood Shipbuilders won the O.H.A. Intermediate “A” title.
Rusty played his last hockey game in Kingston in 1947 when the Shipbuilders were eliminated in the O.H.A. Senior “B” semi-finals round.
At the urging of Red Farrel, he took to refereeing in the O.H.A. and wound up by handling a hundred or so games in the Junior, Intermediate and Senior series before hanging up his skates in 1955.
His track and field career was short but despite his two hundred-pounds stocky stature, Rusty could step the 100 yard sprint in eleven seconds.
A good swimmer and a cracking fine diver, he won the annual Collingwood Aquatic Meet senior diving title three years in a row in the early thirties.
A hard hitting second baseman in the old Collingwood Senior Softball League, hit fifteen home runs in 1931 to help Huck Caesar’s Beavers win the championship. He had a short fling at lacrosse in 1937 on Collingwood’s last lacrosse team.
Category Archives: Inductee – Gender
SUE PALMER KOMAR
Sue was born in Collingwood on Jan. 27, 1967, lived in Collingwood until 1992, and now resides in Hamilton with her husband Chris Komar. Sue received her education at Mountain View Public School and Collingwood Collegiate Institute. She later attended McMaster University and received her Bachelor of Physical Education in 1992 followed by a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Windsor in 1993.
A summary of her career is as follows:
Collingwood Collegiate Institute – Cross Country Running & Cross Country Skiing
Cycling
1988-1993 – National Development
1993-1998 – National Team (6 times at World Championships, 50+ Career wins, 20 Mountain Jerseys
1993 – Tour de France Feminine yellow jersey
1994-97 – Tour de L’Aude mountain jersey
1994-97 – Power Bar mountain jersey
1996 – Canadian Road Champion
1996 – Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, 10th place finish
This evening June 9, 2000 marks the induction of Sue Palmer Komar into the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame in the Players’ category.
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.
MARIE & KATHY ROBINSON
The skiing careers of the sisters Marie and Kathy Robinson ran parallel to the point where we saw fit enter them in the Sports Hall of Fame together as near twins. They are not twins; Marie is one year older than Kathy.
The Robinson girls started skiing as members of the fledgling Collingwood Ski Club back in the early 1940’s at the ages of nine and ten. They started on home made skiis made by the late Alf Morrill and his son, Lawrence. Marie won the Ontario Junior title in 1945 at Owen Sound while Kathy picked up the 3rd prize. From then on, it was the Robinson sisters finishing one and two in the most of the important meets throughout Ontario.
In the 1934 Ontario High School meet in Owen Sound, Marie won the downhill and slalom and finished 2nd in the cross country, her first try in this event. She repeated in 1946 with Kathy picking up a pair of seconds. In the 1947 Junior high school championships, it was the Robinson sisters all the way. Marie won the slalom and placed second in the downhill while Kathy scored third places in both events. In 1948, Marie won the downhill and Kathy took the slalom. In the same year, Marie won the Senior Girls’ title and Kathy took top honours in the Junior championships. The two sisters scored aw total of fourteen points as the Collingwood Girls’ Ski team won the Senior High School championships for the 4th year in a row. Perhaps the highlight so Marie’s career came on February 27, 1949, in the Ontario Junior Provincial Championships. It turned out to a nip and tuck battle between Anne Heggtveit, the first Canadian to win a gold medal in the Olympics, and Marie Robinson of the Collingwood Ski Club. Anne, who was then racing under the colours of the Ottawa Ski Club, beat Marie by winning the downhill by an eyelash in the Slalom race but Marie turned the tables on Anne by winning the downhill. In the combined events, Heggtveit edged Marie by a fraction of a point – 77.06 to 76.28.
There is not telling just how far the Robinson girls would have gone in the world of skiing had they chose to make full career of the sport. Both sisters gave up competitive skiing at the end of the 1949 season at the peak of form. Incidentally, Marie is the mother of Doug Risebrough, former star forward of the N.H.L. Montreal Canadiens & Calgary Flames.
KATHERINE WEIDER CANNING
Kathy Weider, like her twin sister, Anna, started skiing at the age of four. She had the marks of a champion before she reached the age of ten and it came as no surprise when she captured the Southern Ontario Junior Alpine Combined title in 1959 and followed up this success with a second place in Canadian Alpine Combined, second in the Downhill and third in the Slalom at the Osler Bluffs the same year.
It was a banner year for Kathy in 1960 as this record attests: First in the Junior Ontario Alpine Combined and a first in the Slalom and second in the Downhill.Just two weeks later she picked up a bushel of silver trophies in the All- Ontario Junior Championships: First in the Alpine Combined, First in the three-way combined (Alpine and Cross Country); First in the Downhill and second in the Slalom. Then came the Canadian Junior championships: First in the Alpine and Cross Country, third in the Alpine Combined, third in the Slalom and she was a member of winning Ontario Ladies Team. That year the Canadian Championships were held in Thetford Mines, Quebec.
In 1961, Kathy added to her laurels with wins in the Southern Ontario Alpine Combined and Slalom and a second place finish in the Downhill.
In 1962 she made the Canadian National “B” team and won the Quebec Senior Downhill title.
In 1963 Kathy competed in the Middlebury College Bowl in Connecticut and placed third in the Alpine Combined and the Slalom.
1964 was a season of victories: Three first place finishes in the senior Alpine Combined and Slalom and Downhill in the Quebec Senior meet. Three more wins in the Quebec Senior Zone “A” Divisional (Alpine, Slalom and Downhill). It must be pointed out that in the years 1962-63-64 Kathy competed under the colours of the University of McGill in Quebec.
She finished off the 1964 season with sensational slalom victories at Mount Plante and Val Dord.
The following year (1965) her major win came in the feature Slalom in the French Zone Championships at Chambousse, France. At that time, she was competing under the colours of the University of Grenoble.
In 1966, Kathy won the Southern Ontario Senior Ladies’ Alpine Combined. She was invited to represent the Canadian-American Circuit.
ANNA WEIDER MARIK
The induction of Anna Weider Marik into Collingwood’s Sports Hall of Fame will probably complete a record we may never see equaled.Four members of one family in a Sports Hall of Fame-Helen Weider McGillivray, Kathy Weider Canning, Anna Weider Marik and their illustrious father, the pioneer of skiing in Collingwood , the late Jozo Weider.
Like her twin sister, Anna also donned skis just about the same time she learned to walk. Her first success came in 1959 in the Southern Ontario Junior Alpine Combined. 1960 was probably her most successful season: First in the All-Ontario Junior Slalom and second place finishes in the Alpine Combined and the Downhill. In the same year, four medals in the Canadian Junior Championships- a first in the Downhill, Silver medals in the Combined Alpine & Slalom and a member of the championship – Ontario Ladies Team. She topped off this highly successful season with a pair of firsts in the three-day combined and the Slalom and two silvers in the Downhill and Alpine Combined at the Canadian at the Canadian Junior Championships held at Jasper, Alberta.
In 1961 Anna completed in the Southern Ontario Junior championships and won a first in the Downhill and two second place finishes in the Slalom and Combined Alpine.
In 1962, her last season in major competition, Anna was named to the Canadian National Ski team.
HELEN WEIDER McGILLIVRAY
Many Collingwood skiers will follow in the footsteps of this little girl but Helen was the first local skier to win national honours. She was the first competitive skier to enter the Hall of Fame. Helen learned to ski about the same time she learned to walk. She was competing in recognized ski meets at the age of ten and was runner-up in the Ontario Junior Girls’ meet in Huntsville. Helen raised the eyes of the experts in 1952 when she won the Southern Ontario Zone Junior Championship and the little girl from the brow of the blue hills was on her way.
In 1953, Helen, aged 14, finished fourth in the Junior Canadian championships at Fort William. In 1954 she won the Junior title at Port Arthur and repeated the performance again in 1955 by making a clean sweep of the slalom, downhill and alpine events.
Her educational ambitions took precedence over skiing for almost two years but she returned to major ski competition in 1957 to win the Gabey Pleau Trophy, emblematic of combined skiing, Helen had given freely of her and talents in the promotion and development of young up and coming skiers.
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.
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.