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the examiner Monday Dec 24 1979 Barrie is hockey town It is hockey more than any other sport that hs brought recogni tion to Barrie in the 1970s Two teams during the 705 thrilled Barrie fans more than any others the 197475 CoOp Midget team that defied all odds and won the General manager Jim Short pours the cham pagne into the Allan Cup after the Barrie Flyers won it in Cranbrook BC in l974 By TONY PNl Of The Examiner The 1970s will in part be remembered as the decade females made great strides in taking their places beside their male counterparts in sports and athletics There were of course great female athletes before the 705 but in no other titne in history have women athletes commanded the respect and in some cases money that they have during this past decade IIIR EATENEI BOYCOTT At Forest Hills the women threatened to boycott one of the two top tennis tournaments in the world in 1978 unless they were paid the same prize money as the men In 1979 women and men and women received the same prize money at the US Open In golf it is now possible for woman to make very decent living on the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour What female or male athletes during the past decade have received as much world wide ink and kudos than Olga Korbut and Nadia omaneci for their remarkable gym nastics performances at the Olympics And what Canadian amateur athlete has been tnorc closely followed than Diatte Jones Konihowski Ircnc Nicowski has been with the Physical Education department at Barrie Central 01 legiate since 1966 and she says women have taken great strides in the 70s but there is still long way to go IISI TO PLAY remember when first came here girls used to sign up for sports simply because they wanted to play Nicowski said They are now more serious about achieving excellence lll sports Nicowski said that there has been change til the philosophy on the part of the female tthlete think females now realize that they can be very good competitors and also remain feminine at the same time she said The female now takes pride in being good athlete whereas before they were sometimes embarrassed by it Marilyn Pocock has been around Simcoe high school female sports for the past 14 years She has been at Eastview Collegiate for the past seven IOIITIIIY ITITED The calibre of girls sports has improved incredibly in the past 10 years Pocock said think the changes in female sports were somewhat politically motivated politi cians wanted to better Canadas showing at the international level and it has filtered down to the high school level Nicowski and Pocock both credit Helen turney high school physed inspector for many years for the beneficial changes brought about in female high school sports turney is the woman who is most responsible for female athletes being given the opportuni ty to cotnpete for championships at the pro vinctal level Before 1970 only coed and male sports were competed at the provincial level Pocock who aside from being head of the girls phys ed department at Eastview is also vicechairman of the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association tOFSAAI said the push to include womens competitions at the provincial level came from female teachers Female teachers volunteered to run the events at the provincial level Pocock said Most female sports now go to OFSAA level RILES HANGED it was not until 1968 that girls basketball rules were changed so that they played under the same rules the men do Before that women played six players aSIde and the court was twothirds the size as the one used by men think the belief then was that women just could not run fast enough or jump high enough to use the mens rules Pocock said The best high school female teams in the province could now give boys teams run for their monev Females take their places in world of athletics Anne Carol Madill is one of Central Collegiates top Gymnast athletes lrene Nicowski head of the physed department at Central says females are much more willing to make sacrifices now to achieve excellence in athletics than they were in the l9605 Ex aminer Photo Nicowski thinks the biggest change the female athlete has undergone is in skill level think females like the physical and men tal challenges sports offers them Nicowski said It is good for their selfimage to excel at sports ENCOLRAGE INVOLVEMENT Both Pocock and Nicowski encourage their students to get involved in as many physical activities as possible We want females to get involved in physical activity Nicowski said And hopefully they will carry this attitude on to their own children whether they be male or female Nicowski said she still notices that females are attracted to different types of sports than males are still think males gravitate to the so called professional sports such as football hockey and basketball she said However few years back girls at Central decided to start their own football team and that team is still part of the school athletic program today GENERAL RENESS In the 1970s there has also been general awareness on the parts of females and males Wrigley tournament and the 197374 Barrie Flyers team that came back from poor season to win the Allan Cup GIVEN LITTLE CHANCE The 1975 CoOp team coached by Lloyd Pearsall was given little chance of winning the allCanadian championship Afterall they were from one of the smallest cities in Canada and to win it all they had to take on all comers The CoOps did just that During their run at the Wrigley they became known as the giantkillers To earn trip to Oshawa for the Wrigley tournament the CoOps had to first knock off area champions from Kingston Kitchener and Sarnia Those victories gave Barrie berth in the Ontario Minor Hockey Associa tion final against Sarnia and again the CoOps rose to the occasion The victories in those four series took the CoOps to the provincial championships in Sarnia where they were once again the under do Son Mills the best team Toronto had to of fer was pegged as the squad to beat in Sar nia And it looked like Don Mills would go all the way in roundrobin play they dumped the CoOps 73 However the giantkillers were not quite done yet They took wins over the other two teams in the tourney Sault Ste Marie and Hearst to face Don Mills again in the final The thrilling game went into overtime with Barrie scoring four times to Don Millss once in the extra session to take 63 victory Bob Coulson had two goals in that big game Pearsall and his giant killers then moved on to Oshawa where they were to do battle with the representatives of the other pro vinces plus Thunder Bay Ottawa and Oshawa who got in by special arrangement Again the CoOps were the underdogs but Pearsall and his troops werent about to give up If we have one strength it must be that we are balanced club Pearsall said The players are welldisciplined on and off the ice And they are determined LED BY GARNER Led by Rob Garner the Midgets swept that keeping fit is important and Nicowski says that has contributed to women taking more interest in sports think women realize that fit people are better people Nicowski said think there has also been encouragement on the part of employers to help employees keep fit think that females dont get involved in sports because they hope to make career out of it Nicowski said They get involved for the simple love of sport and to better themselves As previously mentioned Nicowski thinks the top school athletes are more dedicated now than their older sisters of the 60s Ruth Edwards who has been phys ed teacher at Eastview for the past 10 years and was at North before that disagrees with Nicowski on that point think the top athletes had in the 60s were just as determined as the ones have now and they were just as willing to make sacrifices to excel The major changes that have come in the 705 are in the opportunities that are now open to female athletes Edwards said RECRLITING FEMALES Before universities did not show much in terest in recruiting the top female athletes so girl could only go so far in sports she said In the 605 there wasnt the emphasis in giv ing males and females the same op portunities in sports now there is and Im glad tosee it Edwards said that todays female athletes are more aggressive in basketball in par ticular think that has to do with the coaching rule changes and with the girls watching the top players on TV more and seeing how the game should be played Edwards said When first started there were few male coaches in girls basketball Now many of the coaches are male Edwards said she does see one negative point in the boom in women athletics T00 SPECIALIZED It has become highly specialized now she said For female to excel at par ticular sport she must play that sport year round which means she cannot take part in other ones think that is too bad because like to see females participate in several sports Gurney in her book Girls Sports Cen tury of Progress credits the likes of Nicowski Pocock and Edwards for the ad vancetnent in womens sports But from the earliest days enlighted women teachers have been force in break ing down the barriers and creating op portunities for girls and young women to ex perience the joy and the thrill of competing in wellplayed sports competitions Gurney also says that from the early days there have been opponents to women taking part in athletics In Gurneys book is quote frotn an article written by Peggy McCallum which appeared in the Globe and Mail in 1890 The FEMALE SEX should avoid any pursuit or diversion which necessarily involves violent running She can do it after fashion just as the domestic hen will on occasion make shift to fly but the movement is kind of precipitate waddle with neither grace fitness nor dignity PARODIES OF MEN Eightythree years later Dick Beddoes wrote in the same newspaper Women can not run as fast or as far They cannot jump as high or as long the attempts of women idn athletics are only parodies of what men That is the kind of thing that Gurney Ed wards Nicowski Pocock and proponents of female sports have had to overcome and 19705 will be remembered as breakthrough decade in the battle Anyone who has seen good female athletes in action knows that they lack neither grace fitness nor dignity And as for Beddoes argu ment it is totally irrelevant The pursuit of rts by women was never meant as allenge or threat to men but simply for the enrichment and fullfilment of themselves through their first four games of the Wrigley taking wins over Thunder Bay Yorkton British Columbia and Newfoundland Only one of the games against Yorkton was close Barrie defeated Oshawa again to take the Division championship and advance to the final It was the toughest game of the tourna ment for the CoOps Verdun representing Quebec and the team that had taken the inaugural Wrigley the year before won the Division crown and were to be Barries opposition in the final Don Martin and Shane Pearsall scored first period goals to give the CoOps 21 lead heading into the second frame Early in the second Verdun came back to tie it Barrie then got in the second period goals from Kevin Beaupre and Peter Trzecak The third period belonged to Barrie as they scored three to Verduns one Pearsall Coulson and Garner wre the marksmen Victory in he Wrigley came to the CoOps in January and their biggest reward for winning would come in March As Canadian cham pions the CoOps earned trip to the Soviet Union trip that for most of them would be the highlight of their athletic lives In the Soviet Union the CoOps were scheduled to play six games against their best hockey teams two against Spartak two against the Soviet midget champs and one each against Central Red Army and Soviet Wings They were to be in the Soviet Union for six weeks so much more than hockey was on the agenda In their first game Barrie tied Spartak 55 with Coulson getting three goals TOO MANY PENALTIES In their second game Barrie went up against the Soviets midget champions and were downed trl after scoring the games first goal It was penalties that did the CoOps in as they took 23 minutes to the Soviet teams 10 Doug Keans was outstanding in the Barrie net Keans was even better in the CoOps next outing as he sparkled in Barries 33 tie with the same Soviet midget champion had big glove tonight and that made the dif ference Keans said afterwards In the fourth game the CoOps had their worst showing in the Soviet Union losing 81 to the Red Army In that game reports stated the CoOps were completely frustrated by the officiating and gave up midway through the second period Garner had their only goal The tour ended in tragic note as the last two games of the series had to be cancelled Several Russian fans were crushed to death on the arena stairway forcing the cancella tions Two ties in four outings for the CoOps against topflight Soviet competition was very respectable considering they were play ing on foreign land and with officiating they were not accustomed to TWO WENT PRO Two players off that team Garner and Mike Gartner went on to play in the National Hockey League Brad Tamblyn is now the captain of the University of Toronto Blues However it was solid team effort and Jnselfish play that gave the CoOps the Cinderella victory in the Wrigley BARRIE FLYERS Like the CoOps the Barrie Flyers were surprised winners of the Allan Cup as the season before they had finished last in the OHA Senior League However manager Jim Short and coach Darryl Sly put together good mixture of ex perience and youth in 197374 and tha mixture carried the Flyers to their firstever and on ly Allan Cup The veteran contingent was composed of the likes of Corby Adams the team captain Ernie Miller Jim Thompson Bob Baird Dave Nicholishen and Jack Smith And in the under 24 group as they were called were net minder Ron Patterson Paul Regan John Lunn and Stan Gross Later in the season Kent Rhunke proved to be quite an addition THREE STRONG CLUBS The Senior Lague featured three strong clus that year with Barrie Orillia and Cam bridge being wihin four points of one another By finishing first the Flyers went up against Brantford in the first round of the plavoffs while Orillia and Cambridge were left toybat tle one another in the other semifinal It did not take the Flyers long to dispose of Brantford as they took the best of seven series in five games even though captain Adams played only one of the matches Winning the league title was only the first step for the Flyers as the trek to the Allan Cup began PITTEI AGAINT TWINS For the Eastern Canadian championship the Flyers were pitted against the Thunder Bay Twins the Northern Ontario Hockey League champions The bestoffive seriss was played in Barrie Led by Ruhnke the Flyers took care of the Wins in three straight Two of the wins were by 21 scores and the other by 74 One more obstacle remained in the way of Slys troops and the Allan Cup the Western champion Cranbrook Royals The Royals were to have one disadvantage as the series was to be out West but as Sly said as the team boarded the plane Were not going all the way to Cranbrook tolose The Flyers fell behind in the series two games to one but Smiths goal in the fourth game tied up the series The fifth game was another tight one with the Flyers prevailing 43 to take back the series lead they had relinquished after the first game WENT ALL OLT Barrie went all out in the sixth ame not wanting to play what was sure to be very emotional seventh game on foreign turf Baird scored twice before the game was five minutes old to give the Flyers command early and before the first frame was out Runhke had put third Barrie marker on the board It may also be the last time ever that the Flyers win the Allan Cup as they are now an Intermediate team and will be setting their sights on the Hardy Cup As for the midget championship it is no longer known as the Wrigley Cup It is now the Air Canada Cup and this years Barrie Midgets will take the first step towards winn ing it when the Ontario finals are here in March Fastball in Barrie has been through its on downs By CATHY HEATHER Of The Examiner Its been an up and down decade for fastball in the Barrie area Especially for the Barrie and District Senior league The Barrie area has always supported fastball with great enthusiasm over the years But the fan support for all three mens leagues Barrie recreational in termediate and senior leagues as well as the Barrie Ladies and district ladies fastball leagues has dwindled over the past few years And fastball players and personnel are hard pressed to find an answer to the question why The recreation league has never been big crowd league says Rec league president George Panting But we cer tainly didnt have the crowds last year that we have had in the past and really dont know why NO EXCITEMENT just dont think the excitement is there adds Panting think we have to generate the enthusiasm among the spec tators But think that the people in fastball have to realize that its not going to happen by itself We need to get other people in Barrie more aware of whats go ing on There are so many other things for people to do says Garry Calvert presi dent of the Barrie senior league Atythe Labor Day tournament we had fantastic crowds but then not too many out for the regular games think we could get the crowds back by going back to the way the senior league used to be with different teams from around the Barrie area com peting instead of the three local teams Beatrice Foods Church Homes and Slessor and Periard playing so many games between themselves People are getting sick of watching those three teams play Nick Owen president of the Barrie and District Intermediate league says that the lack of fan intersst is puzzling Barrie has had so many successful teams but they dont seem to get the fan support and dont understand it says Owen Maybe its because there isnt as much action in the fastball games as say in slow pitch where this is always something happening As far as the womens league goes player Debbie Emms member of the Ontario champion Complete Mabile Wash Hustlers says she really doesnt know why there havent been more fans PARK lNKNOWN We havent had many spectators till playoffs says Emms Maybe its because we play in Shear Park and the wellknown fastball parks are MacMor rison and Queens It is apparent that for whatever reasons all four leagues have seen their fan sup port dwindlc in the last years of the 1970s However as Owen points out this phenomenon is not particular to just fastball witness the examples of the Barrie Colts and the Barrie Flyers SENIOR LEAGLE In the Senior league there have been two teams that have dominated play throughout the 705 until the last two seasons Those teams are Lakeview Dairy the forerunner of Beatrice Foods and Church Mobile Homes Between them they have won the league championship every year but three which included the past two won by Slessor and Periard The senior league has an impressive list of fastball credentials in the 705 Three of their teams have won Ontario Amateur Softball Association OASA champion ships Slessor and Periard Juveniles won the OASA Jr championship in 1972 and very nearly won the league champion ship that year as well In 1975 Lakeview Dairy won the league championship as well as the Ontario In termediate title And in 1978 Slessor and Periard won the league playoffs and then went on to win the Intermediate Dou ble Ontario championships There have also been some very good ball players to come out of the senior Pictured here is the Lakeview Dairy team that captured the title of the Barrie and District Senior Fastball league and then went on to win the ln termediate Ontario fastball championship Front row left to right Wally Collins Bill Grant Ken Michaud batboy Jake Miller Bob Mallion and George Boorman Back row left to right coach John Feltis Jeff Hines Leo Belcourt Chuck McNicol Ross Edmonstone Corby Adams Gary Hines and Charlie Fletcher Examiner Photo league and play on Ontario and Canadian championship teams Bob Walton has played on the Canadian team and was chosen as an AllCanadian player Brothers Gerry and Dave Raycraft have played on an Ontario Senior champion sip team and in the Canadian champion ships Don McFadden and Corby Adams were regarded as two of the best ballplayers in Ontario and Adams played with Newmarket Rays in the early 708 who this year won the Barrie Labor Day tournament IN TROlBLE But despite these credentials the Senior league has been in trouble over the past few years This season for fear of not hav ing enough teams to compete they again set up an interlocking schedule with the Intermediate league So wherein lies the problem Well the league has had its ups and downs in the 705 says Calvert But think were on an upright now We didnt think wed have enough teams for as many games as we wanted so we arranged an interlocking schedule again this year with the Intermediate league But then we found out that there were three or four other teams that wanted in Teams like Lakeview DairyBeatrice and Church have dominated play in the Senior league and this has been one of the major problems The teams have been together for so long now that they have started to decline in calibre Unless teams like Beatrice make per sonnel changes they are oing to have problems says Calvert ey just wont be competitive with Slessor and Periard However making personnel changes itself is problem Because most of the guys on team like Beatrice or Church have played together for so many years if one goes it is probable that seven or eight might go And where to find new players Calvert and Owen have conflicting views on the future of the senior league While Calvert says the league will be back next year with hopefully five teams Owen says he is surprised that it is returning at all Im surprised they are coming back says Owen We put it in our constitution that if they folded then wed have draft for all the players that wanted to come in to ourleague INTERMEDIATE LEAGUE In the intermediate league the league titles have been more equally divided although Barrie CoOp has dominated the league for several years Probably the biggest change through the 705 in the in termediate league is its role with respect to the senior league We used to be feeder league to the senior leaguesays Owen People like Don McFadden played for flarkson Hotel and then moved up into the senior league In the same way weve been feeder for the rec league Whole teams have played in the intermediate league and then mov ed up to play intermediate But in the past six or seven years the feeder relation bet ween us and the senior league has gone says Owen The senior league clubs were packed because they never changed players So there wasnt much chance for players to move up Owen says that players who did move up often sat on the bench in the senior league and returned to the Intermediate league Consequently he says the senior league may have trouble finding players to entice up to the senior league when they need them REC LEAGUE The recreation league in Barrie was creation of the 19715 six years ago Pan ting says that if it hadnt been for the for mation of the rec league lot of players wouldnt have been able to participate in fastball in Barrie Especially junior teams We have three junior teams this year in the league says Panting think it is essential to give these young players somehwere to play because they are the ones that will go on to play in the other two leagues Where else will the players and teams come from Panting is worried that the expansion of baseball in the area will hurt fastball Right now past certain age there is nowhere for baseball players to play so they come to fastball But in the future this might not happen LADIES LEAGLE Six years ago Ron Collingbourne decid ed that there was enough interest in fastball on the part of the ladies in Barrie to form ladies league He was right The league started with two teams has developed to IOteam league and they could increase to even more if they wanted There are some teams like CMW hustlers and Peter Reino that have been the same for the last six years says Emms They have also been the consistent league winners she said The most impressive team in the ladies league during the 7051 has been Complete Mobile Wash hustlers which besides win ning the league every year since its incep tion has also won the Ontario In termediate womens fastball title twice the latest time last season It is apparent that the senior league is in trouble The other leagues while also lacking fan support seem to be relatively stable But it is hard to predict what the 80s hold in store for fastball in Barrie Most agree that fastball goes through cycles and the 70s seem to bear that out Will the tins 11