Category Archives: Inductee – Gender

1950 - 1969, 1990 - 1999, All, Female, Skating

JOANNE HOUGHTON

Joanne was one of the original founding members of the Collingwood Blue Mountain
Figure Skating Club. Her hard work and dedication to the sport of skating helped establish the Blue Mountain Figure Skating Club. In addition to designing the clubs crest and pin, she was the clubs first amateur coach. She was also the first Collingwood born member of the club to teach as it’s professional.

Joanne skated as an amateur from 1951-1959. During which time she and Pauline Piitz
were the first club members to pass Canadian Figure Skating Association tests.

In 1956, 1957, 1958 Joanne skated in the ice dance competition in the Western Ontario Sectionals. Skating with Don Pherson, Joanne placed third and had two second place finishes in Senior Dance. This qualified her and her partner for Senior Dance at Canadians. In addition Joanne also competed in the Senior Ladies singles. She managed again to qualify to skate at Canadians.

As well as skating Joanne also was certified as a low test amateur judge in
figures, free skating and ice dance.

Joanne turned professional in 1960 to teach in Collingwood with triple fold test qualifications.

Joanne taught professionally from 1960 to 1977 in Collingwood, Fergus, Stratford, Ingersoll, Tavistock and London.

1990 - 1999, 2000 - 2009, 2000 - 2009, All, Female, Other

JILL MILLER

Jill Miller was born in Birmingham England in 1951, moving to Collingwood in 1977. After joining the Blue Mountain Weightlifting Club in 1991, she started competing Internationally on the Canadian Masters Weightlifting Team in 1993. During this time, Jill organized and competed provincially at competitions taking home numerous – Ontario Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, as well as the Ontario Open Championship. Jill has won the Canadian Masters Weight Lifting Championships in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2003.

Every year, since 1993, she has competed International at events hosted in Austria, Australia, Canada, United States, Scotland and the Dominican Republic.

Jill competed for 15+ years through to the World Masters Weightlifting Championships and was honored as “Best Lifter” in her age group on a number of occasions which is determined by the use of a formula that equalizes both age and body weight. 

Record Lifts:

World Masters Games Record Holder
Pan American Record Holder
Commonwealth Record Holder
Canadian Record Holder

Weight-lifting accomplishments include:

Pan American Masters Champion – 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2005
World Masters Championship – 2nd Place – 1999, 2000
Canadian National Masters Champion – 2001, 2002, 2003
World Masters Champion – 2003, 2004
World Masters Games – 2nd Place 2005

Jill’s passion for weightlifting is not focused entirely on competition as she has often assumed the required administrative tasks to ensure that the sport of weightlifting continues to flourish not only in Collingwood but provincially and nationally. Her various undertakings have brought Collingwood worldwide recognition.

In addition to weightlifting, Jill’s is a Level alpine ski instructor, Swimming Instructor, Lifeguard and Swimming Course Instructor.

1) Co-chair of World Master Weightlifting Championships – Collingwood 1996
2) Co-chair of Pan American Masters Weightlifting Championships – Collingwood 1999
3) Co-chair Canadian Weightlifting Championships – Collingwood 2001
4) Co-chair of annual Collingwood Open Weightlifting Championships Approx 8 times
5) Representative of Collingwood on the Provincial , National & International weightlifting scene
6) President of the Ontario Weightlifting Association
7) Member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Weightlifting Federation
8) Chairperson of a Coaching Association of Canada committee for the development of new coaching resources for Weightlifting Canadian Coaches
9) Master Learning Facilitator training coaches in Canada
10) Level 3 Nationally Certified Coach
11) Coach of the Blue Mountain Weightlifting Club – 50+ members
12) Developer of strength (Olympic style weightlifting ) training program for older adults
1980 - 1989, All, Builder, Female, Skating

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.

1930 - 1949, 1950 - 1969, 1980 - 1989, All, Female, Skiing, Track & Field

MARCELLA PLATER KEITH

Marcella Keith was inducted into the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame in July, l984 through her exploits in Track & Field and Alpine Skiing.

Marcella was a recognized Track and Field Champion in 1946, 1947 & 1948 at meets in Kitchener-Waterloo, Owen Sound, Orillia. In 1947, she was the C.C.I. Girls Champion while in 1946 & 47 Marcella was 1st in C.C.I.’s inaugural Alpine Ski meet. In 1947, 1948 & 1949, Marcella was combined champion at meets in Huntsville, Own Sound & Collingwood.

Marcella was a graduate of Blue Mountain’s first Ski Patrol class in 1949. When not patrolling the hills to assist others, Marcella was crowned Collingwood Ski Club Senior Ladies Champion in 1963 & 1964.

The sporting community was saddened when Marcella passed away in November 2021

1950 - 1969, 1980 - 1989, All, Female, Skiing

GRETA McGILLIVRAY

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Skiing became part of Greta Jepsen’s life five years after she was born in the Caledon Hills and she followed the snow trails in competition and for pleasure for forty-five years.
A member of an athletic family, (her father, the late Svend Jepsen was once a star member of the Danish National Gymnastic Team), Mrs. McGillivray not only excelled in skiing but was proficient in tennis, swimming, gymnastics and figure skating. Ski training came natural as she skied two and a half miles to school every day in the wintertime from her Caledon home to Inglewood.
She went to work at Quebec’s Mount Tremblant in 1952 and started competing in all races in that area to gain rating with the Laurentian Zone. At that time there was no rating in Ontario. She won Class “A” rating with her performances at St. Savieur, Mount Gabriel, St. Jovite and Val Cartier.
Her first big victory came in the 1952 Tachereau, where she set a record. This success was followed by a Gold Medal win at Mount Tremblant and another record for women. In 1953 she competed in all the major Class “A” races-Ryan Cup, Canadian Championships, Kandahar-and finally was selected to go win the Canadian National Team to the North America and World Championships at Mount Mansfield, Stowe, in Vermont. At the world championships she placed thirteenth. In 1956 Greta won the Ontario Ladies Class “A” title and repeated in 1957.
She has won the Southern Ontario title six times and the Osler Bluff Senior championship on several occasions. Over the years she has taken a keen interest in the development of young skiers and at the present time conducts a cross country school two days a week in the winter months. Greta was been a valued official in local ski meets for twenty years – principally as a chief starter.
Mrs. McGillivray is very much into cross country skiing and she feels she is part of her beloved Blue Mountain. “There is no part of the Blue Mountain that is foreign to me. “I’ve criss-crossed its contours on foot and on skis and usually climb it three or four times a week. Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter- the Blue Mountain is my home” she stated recently. Mrs. McGillivray’s son and three daughters all competed for the Queen’s University Ski Team.
Greta McGillivray had come along way in the world of skiing since she cavorted over the hills of Caledon. She is a worthy and welcome addition to Collingwood’s Sports Hall of Fame.

 

1930 - 1949, 1990 - 1999, All, Baseball, Female

IZORA MUSSELMAN

Izorz (Keith) Musselman attended King George Public School and Collingwood Collegiate Institute. She was an outstanding athlete and was always considered a team player.

From 1942 to 1944 Izora played for the Clyde Aircraft sponsored baseball team. They played in a league with Thornbury, Wyeville, Barrie and Base Borden. Izora was the teams number one pitcher as well as an excellent outfielder.

In 1945 Clyde Aircraft closed and Izora was recruited by the Stratford Krochler Team. The Krochlers played in the Provincial Women’s Softball Association League. The other teams were from Brantford, Preston, Hespler, Waterloo, Kitchener and London.

Izora was a much valued member of the team. Her personality and team value were always held in high regard by her teammates as well as management. During Izors’s term with the Krochler’s they won five Provincial Championships in 1946, 49, 50, 53, and 55. Izora was very versatile, playing both infield and outfield, but was very outstanding as a right fielder.

Izora moved to Stratford with her husband Stan where they raised their son who served in the Canadian Navy.

 

 

1900 - 1929, 1930 - 1949, 1970 - 1979, All, Football, Male

HAWLEY “HUCK” WELCH

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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.

1900 - 1929, 1930 - 1949, 1970 - 1979, All, Hockey, Male

JOHN “BUCK” WALTON

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They called him a hockey policeman and there never was a better one than Buck Walton.

Never a fancy skater or a fast one, Buck made up for his lack of speed and finesse with his courage, stick handling and dogged determination.

He played on three Collingwood O.H.A. Intermediate “A” championship teams in 1918, 1919 and 1920 and on the runner-up team in 1921.

When the going got tough and the opposition started carrying the sticks high, the call went out for the “policeman”.

He never spared himself and he never made excuses. If he took a butt end in the corner there was no squawking from the “Buckaroo”

He just lowered his head and hit with everything he had. Buck took many beating but he handed out some pretty good lumps himself. No fast skating forward ever came in on Walton with his head down-at least not after the first time.

I remember the night, fifty-four years ago, when the Buckaroo took a bad on big Dick Simple, the great Midland star of that era. Dick stepped deftly aside and Walton took a Barnum and Bailey dive into the end boards. The crowd groaned as his head and shoulders crunched against the planks and his body slipped down to the ice. The legendary Rabbi Fryer skated over to the fans and called out “Get a dust pan and a broom!” Buck was on his feet in a minute, skated over to the bench, took a long drink of water, or whatever, and joined the affray again. Two minutes later he went from end to end and scored.

Back in 1915, he scored a winning goal in Hamilton that put Collingwood into the O.H.A. semi-finals round. He had been knocked out twice during the game. For twenty years, Buck Walton gave everything he had for Collingwood junior and intermediate teams.

Buck and Rabbi Fryer were lured out of retirement in the thirties and turned out to be bad decision.

In a play-off game between Collingwood and Camp Borden for the Georgian Baygroup title, referee Ernie Wortley fingered buck for five cheap penalties and the Buck lost his cool. He dropped his stick and went for the official, the first time he did that in his life. Fryer came to Buck’s assistance, although he really didn’t=t need it, and both players were suspended indefinitely by the O.H.A.

Two years later, Fryer made application and was re-instated. Buck refused to go hat in hand and said. “Let them keep the O.H.A. it’s only a pink tea party now, anyway. Next thing you know they’ll penalize you for spitting out your own teeth”.

He never was re-instated and I was always sorry about that. I tried to persuade him to apply for re-instatement just so he could retire with a clean slate. It was no dice. Buck was just too proud and that application for re-instatement sounded too much like begging to suit the Buck.

 

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

DON WESTBROOKE

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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.

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

REG WESTBROOKE

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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.