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Pledge... Run/Walk... Help end hunger in Oakville LOCATION Heritage Square, Kerr St & Florence Drive Oakville, Ontario (Parking at Kerr St & Speers Rd) in support of Kerr Street Ministries Help Fill the Food Bank Shelves: Bring Non-Perishable Food Items Out To The Race www.5ksmturkeyrun.com5K Run/Walk + 1K Childrens Run TEAM CHALLENGE Team up with your family, friends, co-workers or school and make a difference together! Prizes for the top team. SCHEDULE Start Times: 7:30am Registration 9:00am 1km Childrens Fun Run 9:30am 5km Run 9:35am 5km Power Walk Thanksgiving Monday October 11, 2010 O.T.F.A. Certifi ed Course 33 Friday , O ctober 8, 2010 O A KVILLE BEA V ER w w w .o akvillebeaver .co m By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Peter Morris and Mike Smith were both flattered to be two of the first inductees into the North Oakville Mens Touch Football Association hall of fame. But what brought the local residents the most satisfaction Saturday at Crusader Park was seeing the state of the league, still the same today as when they founded it nearly 30 years ago. What Im happy to see is that the league is still going, said the 66-year-old Morris, who hasnt been involved with the league since he stopped playing 15 years ago. It was nice for them to remember us, but Im just glad to see theres still a fair bunch of guys playing out there every Saturday and having a good time at it. Morris played in the Kirkland Touch Football League in the 1970s when he lived in Montreal. After moving to Oakville in 1980, he looked for a similar league to play in a recreational loop for men over 30 but couldnt find one. Smith was Morris next-door neighbour and was also interested in playing touch foot- ball. The two men played in pickup games on area fields for a year, then decided to create their own league. Smith and Morris printed out 1,400 flyers and, with help from their families, distributed them door to door throughout their north- east Oakville neighbourhood. They managed to recruit 60 players to form six teams for the leagues first season in 1981. We didnt know what we were going to get, said Smith, also 66. We were quite excited to open up with six teams. Within a couple years, the league grew to 112 players and eight teams. The league stayed at eight teams for many years before going back to six teams, the number of squads it features today. The league has always used a house league format, holding a draft before each season to allow players to change teams each year and get to know everybody else. The play isnt the highest of calibers, the co-founders are quick to admit. But that was- nt the objective of the league, either. The main driving force of this was having a good time with the boys, said Morris. It wasnt proving our skills. The league uses Canadian football rules, with three downs to gain 10 yards. The yardage lines arent marked on the fields, so beanbags are used to mark the line of scrim- mage, where the rusher lines up and the line to gain. Teams play a 14- game regular season, plus playoffs, each fall at Crusader Park on Ninth Line. The league also added a winter indoor season seven years ago. Former ref also honoured Smith and Morris werent the only inau- gural inductees to the NOMTFA hall of fame. Bob Betts, the original head referee who served in that capacity for more than 15 years and was widely respected by all players, was also recognized. Smith took a friendly jab at Betts during an informal acceptance speech Saturday. I still dream about playing football and the most common dream is me in the end zone, heading towards the far right corner, feet barely in bounds, catching the ball, Smith said, and seeing Bob Betts blowing the whistle, saying You were out of bounds. The refs were just as much a part of the league as the players were, Smith added. Bob was cut out to be a ref. Hes decisive, hes smart, he was good at it. TAGGED: Alouettes ball carrier Len Watkins (left) is tagged by the Lions Mike Watson during one of Saturdays North Oakville Mens Touch Football Association games at Crusader Park. Peter Morris Mike Smith Bob Betts Touch football association recognizes co-founders ERIC RIEHL / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Hinchcliffe won three races this year Though that first race ended in a disap- pointing manner Hinchcliffe was rammed from behind and sent into the wall on the first turn as another car attempted a risky pass he would top the podium three weeks later at the Streets of Long Beach. By the time the circuit returned to Toronto in July, it looked like Hinchcliffe and the rest of the field would be battling for sec- ond in the standings behind series leader J.K. Vernay. But Hinchcliffe won the following week in Edmonton and closed the season with four straight podium finishes, including his third victory of the season and first on an oval track at Chicagoland. We made them sweat a little bit, said Hinchcliffe, who cut Vernays lead from 71 points to 23 over the final three weeks. To have my most successful season since 2004 and to have it at this level was pretty special, especially winning in Edmonton on home soil and not have (the win) be a walk in the park... we had to fight tooth and nail for that. Though a better result in the first week of See Driver page 36 Continued from page 32