REMINISCING by BARNEY MOORHOUSE
Someday I intend to write my memoirs. Not an autobiography but a memoir. Simply because our individual memory banks can play tricks. Have you ever wondered, “Did this REALLY happen or am I imagining it?” Certainly it helps if there is someone available who can affirm or deny.
In conversation with fellow Landowner scribe, Lyle Dillabough, I have been inspired to write about my small world of sport. Read on; you’ll catch my drift.
As readers may know I have been writing for The Bancroft Times, one of the few remaining family owned weeklies in Ontario, since the early ‘80s. Lyle was born and raised in this area, namely McArthur’s Mills. His uncle Bob, whose Dillabough roots are firmly planted in McArthur’s Mills, was born in Belleville, Ontario, on April 24, 1941 and played 283 games in the NHL and 72 games in the World Hockey Association. When I arrived in Bancroft in 1971 Bob was a known hockey star. In fact Bob’s wife Karin was the only paid employee on volunteer radio station CJNH, a satellite of CJBQ, Belleville where I honed my on air skills. As THEY say, that’ s a story for another time.
According to Lyle, Bob Dillabough, a centre, played for Detroit, Boston, the California Golden Seals, Pittsburgh and the Cleveland Crusaders of the defunct WHA.
As an aside, former university classmate Brian Glennie captained the Toronto Marlies to the Memorial Cup in 1967 and began his NHL career with the Maple Leafs. His first blue line partner was Tim Horton. His pee-wee coach was Roger Neilson who coincidentally taught high school in Peterboro where our soccer teams competed. My university gymnastic coach (and Glennie’s) was Tom Watt who went on to coach the Leafs and was Coach of the Year with the Winnipeg Jets, if memory serves. Glennie closed his NHL career with the Los Angeles Kings.
Bob Dillabough entered the NHL “in 1961 with Detroit. During his first encounter with Gordie Howe ‘I went into the corner chasing the puck during an early training camp practice.’” Howe nailed Dillabough from behind and when Bob stared at him wondering why a teammate would do this “Gordie just looked at me and said ‘welcome to the NHL kid.’”
Bob Dillabough worked in Bancroft’s uranium mines until they closed. In the early ‘70s I recall many obituaries of the miners who had passed – on a regular basis. Bob died March 27, 1997, at Elliot Lake.
“Don Cherry wrote me just after Bob’s passing and said he was the fastest skater I ever saw,” said Lyle. “Paul Henderson told me the same.” In his Times’ obit it simply read “Just gone fishing with Dad.”
Another Bancroft boy, Bryan Watson, was a star defenceman with the Peterboro Petes under Coach Scotty Bowman. Montreal drafted Watson in 1963. He played 16 seasons in the NHL for Detroit, the Oakland Seals, Pittsburgh and Washington. Like Bob Dillabough Watson still has relatives living in the Bancroft area.
I asked The Times’ publisher Dave Walker if he remembered Watson. Dave asked me if I wanted to see a souvenir. Apparently Bryan was half way across the arena when he shot a puck that hit Dave on the shin. “I still have the marks!” Dave confided. In fact, according to Walker, Bryan’s brother Bill, a local lawyer, was a smoother skater. “But he was too small (for the NHL).”
Perhaps readers remember Ward Cornell, Foster & Bill Hewitt, Murray Westgate, or Brian McFarlane – all associated with the Hot Stove Lounge and Hockey Night in Canada? Did you know that Brian McFarlane’s father, Leslie, was the original Franklin W. Dixon of The Hardy Boys series which he first authored in a small cabin on Ramsay Lake, now home to Science North?
As a kid growing up in the land of the Dixie Bee Hives the closest I ever came to meeting an NHL player was Eddie “Clear the Track” Shack. A neighbour ran a carpet business from his house and my mother was his secretary. She told me that once a month her employer hosted a poker game which Shack attended. I was in bed by that time.
Do you recall that television broadcasts of NHL games didn’t begin until the 2nd period? Then telecasts began for Wednesday night games. I could watch if “I had been a good boy.” And my mother often threatened to turn off the TV when my father and I became overly animated at a ref’s call. By the way a neighbour, Tom Smith, toiled as an AHL referee for years before finally ascending to the NHL.
Closer to home The Resident Wife (TRW) was babysat by Frank Mahovolich’s girlfriend and future wife Marie Devaney. One summer, following a ball game, Marie “brought Frank to the house and introduced him to my parents.” (TRW) “My father, who was very British, looked at Frank thoughtfully for a moment and said, ‘Golf isn’t it?’” According to TRW that put the normally shy Frank at ease and they enjoyed a pleasant visit. TRW also claims to have dated Syl Apps Jr. (And look who she ended up with!)
I was researching an article about coyote hunting when a friend of a friend introduced me to some Mennonites, all in their ‘60s, who hunted coyotes three times a week in the St. Jacob’s area. All on snowshoe. Turns out that Butch, my host, used to babysit Daryl Sittler. “Taught him everything he knows!”
Most of the games we attended at Maple Leaf Gardens involved the grays, the “nose bleed section.” But now and then a neighbour, who played wingback for the Toronto Argonauts in the ‘20s, would give us two tickets in the Red Section at ice level. We were once located at one end near the goal and I’m certain that most of the game was played in our end.
Speaking of football – do you recall the 50th Grey Cup “Fog Bowl” played December 1, 1962 at Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium which was postponed with 9 minutes, 29 seconds remaining in the game? The Winnipeg Blue Bombers edged out the Hamilton Tiger Cats 28-27 in what is considered to be one of the ten best Grey Cup games – ever. To which I add – “was never seen.” A neighbour offered my dad his tickets to the day two final but we graciously declined.
As for hockey, Graphite Bible Camp, located just north of Bancroft, was started by Mike Fisher’s maternal grands’ side where he counseled and helped out with odd jobs such as painting and cutting grass. His aunt tells me that he apparently well remembers one occasion when they were moving a “tabin” (combination of a cabin bottom and tent top) in preparation for camp and uncovered a huge nest of snakes. Although from Peterboro, Fisher’s lineage is clearly established in Bancroft. Of course he went on to star with Ottawa and Nashville. The camp is owned and operated by his relatives so he is considered another “Bancroft boy.” If you are a country & Western fan you probably know that he is married to Carrie Underwood. Of course, as all hockey pundits are aware, Mike retired in 2017; then rejoined the Predators in 2018. He was drafted by Ottawa in 1998.
Most recently, at the 8 Wing Pond Hockey Tournament, the captain in charge of scheduling told me that her great uncle, Aubrey Victor “Dit” Clapper of Hastings, near Peterboro, played for the Boston Bruins and was the first player to be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame while still living. I couldn’t confirm that but Maple Leaf legend Ron Ellis, of the Hockey Hall of Fame, told me that, “There was a class of players inducted in 1945 and 1947 and at this time there were no induction ceremonies. Dit was part of the 1947 class. He was the first to be inducted without a waiting period. Wayne Gretzky was the last.”
I also learned that Clapper was the only player to be named an All-Star at both forward and defense. He also apparently “punched out” referee, and future NHL Commissioner, Clarence Campbell during a game against the Montreal Maroons.
Gather a group of balding grey beards and it won’t be long before their hockey stories inspire lots of conversation as they reminisce about the days when there were only 6 teams in the NHL. Now, apparently, there are 31. As one pundit asked, “Who can name them all?” 2018
