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>. 32A THE OSHAWA TIMES, Thursday, December 10, 1964 Wren "Mr. Hockey" Blair Brings Generals Back Again Oshawa's "Mir. Hockey", at ' cepeelfe Fz 28 t 17, and remained there war ended. Then he orked at General Motors for years, and moved on to Beaton's Dairy. It was thea that he first began to develop hockey clubs. "There were a lot of players back from the war, and few feagues to play in," he said. '"'A tot of these guys were really good hockey players." A Canadian Order of Forest- ers League was formed, with games in the Brooklin Arena. Biair organized,coached, man- caged and played his Dodd Motor Sales team to the Cham- pionship. He moved them the following year into what was then a WREN BLAIR General Manager Oshawa Generals Ships in every league he was ever in. "I'd love to win the Memorial Cup with the Generals," he said. "But the Memorial Cup is the toughest ef them aii." His first assignment with the Bruins was in Kingston, where he. handled the Frontenacs and made them inte the Eastern Professional League champions. He hives with his family at 472 Juliana drive. He married his wife, Elma, in Oshawa, and they have two children, Danny, 11, and Jill, atrong Mercantile loop, and/7 won two straight champion- ships. From this Mercantile League, Bhair acquired the players for an Oshawa entry into the On- tario Senior "B" Hockey. *"'We had no sponsor, and en- tering a pro team is an expen- sive operation," Blair said, 'I tramped the streets of Oshawa looking for someone to handle the financial end."' Eventually, S. P. "Sam" Smith, of Smith Transport, agreed to look at a team prac- tice. "I never worked any team 60 hard in my life,' Blair said. "Afterward, Mr. Smith came to me and agreed to underwrite the whole operation." The Oshawa Truckmen were bom. They met with tragedy their next season in the league, as the Oshawa Arena burned down with all of their equip- ment, Joseph Bolahood provided new outfitting on credit, and the Truckmen moved to Bowman- ville to win the league cham- pionship for the 1953-1954 Sea- son. ' When the next season opened, Biair had moved his players to Whitby and through the co- operation of the Dunlop Tire and Rubber Company, molded the greatest senior hockey team of modern times, the Dunnies. "Through the help of Mayor Harry Jermyn, and Industrial Cammissioner Charley Chator, Dunlop agreed to pay $1000 fo the 1954-1955 team to use their name," Blair said. The success of the Dunnies is legend. They won the Senior B crown in 1955-1056, .then awitched to Senior A, won the Allan Cup, the Worll's Cham- pionship, and another Allan Cup, in the two years following. Blair both coached and man- aged his teams. As Canada's entry in the World Hockey Tournament in Oslo in 1958, the Dunnies won aa their Tournament Games, the only Canadian team to sweep the championship after that time. In 1960, Lynn Patrick ap- proached Blair in Toronto, and offered him the Boston job, which now entails the General Managership of three teams: the Generals, the Minneapolis Bruins of the American Cen- tral Professional League, and the Clinton Comets of the Unit-| - ed States Eastern League, He is the: only person in Blair reminisced on some of the greatest players he had coached and managed over his 18 years in hockey: "I had three guys in King- ston that are going well for the Bruins now -- Bobby Lieter, Ted Green and Tommy Wil- liams. "Former NHL greats like Sid Grand Opening Short, Simple Y the RE oe it F 17! : ' it fs vf ma i and Rabbi N. Kutziner. if } F : afk z fs bi better Coke FRADE MARK REG. DRINK CM iy A project we all can be proud of -- Congratulations to the people of Oshawa HAMBLY'S BEVERAGES LTD. Authorized Bottler of Coca-Cola Under Contract with Coca-Cola Ltd. beckey who has won champion Congratulations to | The Citizens of Oshawa GONSTRUCTION