The development of skiing at Collingwood has been a process that had been continuing since 1934. This was the formative year when the plans were laid for the first active winter of 1934-35.

A number of people were involved but the one who spear-headed the organization of the Blue Mountain Ski Club of Collingwood was John L. Smart.

He was not an active skier, but he was very active in the administrative area. He provided an influence that was needed to stimulate the growth of a sport that was need to stimulate the growth of the sport that was not yet considered to have other potential.

Mr. Smart was involved with the acquisition of land, the cutting and clearing of trails, the contact that was made with the Toronto Ski Club and the subsequent  collaboration, the installation and building of ski tows, and eventually, the placing of club activities on a business basis.

When the late Jozo Weider became involved with the Collingwood Ski area, Mr.  Smart worked closely with him, later serving as an officer of the Blue Mountain Ski Club incorporated.

Through the years, he played an important role in the affairs of the Collingwood Ski Club, giving wise counsel and encouragement when it was required.

John L. Smart was one of the few Collingwood men who had the vision to see the full value of skiing as a sport and as a local industrial enterprise.

There is a popular cliché that goes “Let George Do It”. It is an expression
that is sometime bandied about in a light hearted manner when we are referring
to a person who will take everything you throw at him in the shape of work.

Just change that trite expression to “Let Andy Do It”, and, in the town of
Collingwood, it means only one individual-Andy Morritt of 5 Victory Drive (When you can find him at home).

More suitable addresses for Andy would be the Community Arena or ball park in town.

For almost twenty-five years Andy has been the eye pillar in Collingwood’s Minor
Hockey structure, the Collingwood Kiwanis Minor Softball League and the Blue
Mountain Softball League.

He first became involved in minor hockey in 1958 and since that time had served as
President, Vice-President, Secretary, Collingwood’s representative in the provincial Little N.H.L., equipment manager and the chief organizer for the difficult task of arranging ice time for seven leagues and a hundred or so tournaments.

He was the original organizer of the annual Blue Mountain Pee Wee hockey
Tournament always held during the Christmas school break.

One year the tournament netted fifteen hundred dollars through the sale of programs
and admissions. He was ably assisted by the ladies Auxiliary of the Collingwood Minor Hockey Association.

When he resigned as President, a trophy was dedicated in his honour. This annual
award goes to the person regarded as the most dedicated to Collingwood Minor
Hockey.

Andy, with the assistance of Sam McLeod, founded the Outdoor rink for children on Hurontario Street.

Back in 1957 Andy was a moving force behind the formation of the Collingwood Kiwanis Minor Softball Association under the guidance of Jim Durrant.

It was tough going for Morritt and the Kiwanis Club to keep a couple of dozen
teams in four divisions supplied with coaches, managers and umpires. As the
league grew, the Kiwanis Club found it getting more difficult to keep pace with
the growth and Andy went knocking on the doors for team sponsors. With the help
of the local media and the radio station merchants, service clubs and industries co-operated to keep the association going.

In 1975, a girls’ league was added to the association. Not long ago the  Collingwood Kiwanis Club presented Andy Morritt with and award in appreciation of his devoted efforts in helping the youth of the town.

He was the workhorse behind the Blue Mountain Softball League. On two occasions he rallied support for the league when it was on the verge of folding. He seemed
to be the chairman of every committee. He ran the league canteen, raked the
diamond, dusted off the sears, kept a sharp eye on the treasury and even took
on the duties of a Private Eye to track down the culprits who pilfered a couple
of fifty-dollar home plates.

It was a long time in coming but Andy Morritt is now a member of Collingwood’s
Sports Hall of Fame. No man deserves that honour more.

The Builders section of a Sports Hall of Fame is reserved for men and women who have contributed time, talent and leadership to the organization and
development of sports.

Generally, these dedicated men rarely hear the plaudits of the crowd; never see their names in headlines and most often are forgotten entirely.

Such a man was the late Lou Stapleton, the beloved former principal and physical education teacher at the Collingwood Collegiate. He is the one man who definitely had left his mark in the development of every phase of high school athletics in the Georgian Bay District. You of this generation, who never know Lou Stapleton, were deprived of the influence of this very special man.

He possessed the gift that enabled him to bring out the most and the best in every
athlete. His keen sense of sportsmanship and fair play left a lasting impression on every student fortunate enough to come under his guidance on a football field, a baseball diamond, the gymnasium or in track and field competition.

He drilled his junior and senior football teams in after school sessions that lasted until after dark and then he had them back at night for blackboard talks.

He was the man responsible for the formation of the Georgian Bay Secondary Schools
Athletic Association and he became its first president. When Stapes first came to Collingwood, football was only two bucks and a kick. But in less than two years he had his players away ahead of Barrie, Owen Sound, Midland and Orillia in the fine points
of the modern game.

His best football team was built around Jack Portland in 1929 and the squad won the
Ontario Secondary Schools championship. His track team brought national acclaim when he brought a small squad of ten jumpers and runners of the C.N.E. Intercollegiate title.

Lou Stapleton was a giant in the athletic field but he died all too soon. His untimely death took place in 1938 at the height of his brilliant career.

When Ron Ralph moved with his family from Kentucky to take over managership of the Canadian Mist Distillers in Collingwood in 1968, he had two things in mind.

He was going to see that his firm would become a good corporate citizen and that
he, himself, would be an active private citizen in the town of his adoption.

Interested in all phases of sport in his native Kentucky, he continued to dominate the sports scene in the a Collingwood as a competitor and an organizer.

Ron was the driving force behind the organization of the Georgian Bay Slo-Pitch Softball League, now one of the longest and best in Ontario. He served as President of the League in 1973 and 1974 and become the first chairman of the infamous Collingwood Summerfest Slo-Pitch tournament, an annual event which attracted fifty teams from all parts of Ontario, including a couple of clubs from the USA.

Ron played basketball in the Kentucky Little League up through high school. His team later won the junior district title and the regional championship in the senior ranks.

He played baseball for the 504 Paratroop Battalion at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and later played senior baseball in the Kentucky Tri-County League for the Beals Red Sox.

He organized a Babe Ruth League in Owensboro,  Kentucky. Ron coached a team, built the playing field, umpired and rustled up the team sponsors. For this project, Ron received the Kentucky Colonel Award. When he moved to Collingwood, Ron played fastball in the Blue Mountain League.

He found that fastball in Collingwood was as good as the US but preferred slo-pitch as it seemed more like baseball strategy and more all-around action.

In the summer of 1970, he was able to get a group of men to play challenge slo-pitch games and the following year organized the first Slo-Pitch Industrial League with the able assistance of John Hill and Tommy Murray. He continued direct involvement in the league until 1978, during which time he built the Canadian Mist team to championship caliber in the newly formed Ontario Slo-Pitch Association.

Along with Frank Smalley, Ron started the Collingwood Minor Baseball League in 1972. He coached several teams in the league for a couple of years before he was elected president of the league in 1974. The league grew by leaps and bounds and Collingwood hosted the All Ontario Bantam tournament in 1975.

A Collingwood team won the provincial title in 1979.