Reid Little

Reid Little was one of the most successful fastball coaches in city history. During a span of two decades, Little consistently took his teams into contention for league and provincial finals. Little began in the sport as a player in 1954, pitching house league softball, and the next year his team won the pee wee […]

Russ Gillow

Hespeler’s Russ Gillow played goal in the World Hockey Association (WHA) with the Los Angeles Sharks and San Diego Mariners. He played junior hockey with the Edmonton Oil Kings and in 1960, with Gillow in goal, the Kings played St. Catharines Teepees for the Memorial Cup. The Oil Kings ousted Flin Flon in six games, […]

Scott Walker

Scott Walker was one of the most talented hockey players to come out of the city as his lengthy NHL record shows. It’s an impressive record. During his 17 seasons as a professional hockey player, he played in 829 regular season games in the big league. He scored 397 points and earned 1,135 minutes in […]

Galt Intermediates 1920-21

The Galt Intermediate AAA hockey club came into its own in the 1920-21 season. It was right after the Great War, and at least one of the players, Reid (Speedy) Oliver, and coach Percy LeSueur, had served overseas. Galt’s 11 players, 10 of whom were Galt natives, gained a formidable province-wide reputation that season, and […]

Preston Flyers 1974

The year 1974 was eventful: there was the epic flood on the Grand and Speed Rivers; and that was the year the Preston Auditorum burned to the ground. But it was also the year of the Preston Flyers, who captured the bantam girls championship in the Preston Wo- mens Softball Union, and then went on […]

Cam Allan

A native of Guelph, Ontario, Cam Allan’s youth was cen- tred around sports, especially baseball. In 1960 he played on Guelph’s Ontario Juvenile Championship baseball team, and a year later, coached the Guelph Midget squad to an Intercounty Championship. He was also junior runner-up at the Guelph Cutten Club golf championship in 1958. In 1965, […]

Martha Deacon

When Oakville native Martha Deacon graduated from teacher’s college at the University of Western Ontario in 1984, she likely had no idea where her future career, and sporting interests, would take her. She always wanted to be a teacher, of course. At Western, she had won the D.C. Williams Gold Medal. She had prepared for […]

Sandra Goodwin

Sandra Goodwin grew up in Grand’Mere, Quebec, and attended school in Shawinigan, then began her adult life as a nurse. After working for various hospitals she came to Galt in the late 1960s, where her parents had retired to, and where her sister had been living for many years. Here she took a position at […]

Robert Benedetti

Robert Benedetti’s journey to Canada’s national soccer team included a lot of twists and turns along the way. Born in France to Italian parents who were studying there in the early part of the war, they returned to Italy and raised Bob in a small com- munity less than an hour’s drive from Rome. There […]

Clarence (Dolly) Dolson

May 23, 1897 – Aug. 19-1976 Clarence “Dolly” Dolson played 93 games in the National Hockey League for the Detroit Cougars/Falcons. Dolson, a Hespeler native who moved to Galt in 1903, holds the distinction of having the all-time lowest goals-against average for Detroit. He also held the NHL record for shutouts in a season, with […]