Ron Shaver
Ron Shaver came to figure skating as a toddler, joining the Galt Figure Skating Club at Galt Arena Gardens at about the same time as a youngster by the name of Toller Cranston. Years later the two would have some legendary battles at the national championships. Born and raised in Galt, Shaver got his start […]
Galt Curling Team 1948
National Brier finalists 1948 Success in competition is undoubtedly most rewarding when least expected. In 1948, a rink from the Galt Curling Club became the first, and to this day, the only team from this city to compete in the Brier, Canada’s national curling championship. Skipped by Jack Patrick, with vice-skip Bill Meyer, second Walter […]
Galt Hornets 1968-69
On Saturday night, May 3, 1969, as the Galt Hornets completed their pre-game warmup, four men dreamed that they again could be part of an Allan Cup championship team. Joe Hogan and Boat Hurley were players on the 1961 winners; Doc ‘Toots’ Last was the trainer and Bill ‘Wiggie’ Wylie, now the coach, was a […]
Carl Fletcher
August 30, 1931 – November 19, 1989 They called him ‘Fletch,’ and for 32 years, he was a familiar face to thousands of local residents as the sports editor of the Galt, and later, Cambridge Reporter. A Hespeler native, Fletcher was active in sports as a youngster and played goaltender for the Hespeler juvenile Shamrocks […]
Bob Gignac
Proudly wearing his Canadian mens’ five-pin bowling gold medal, Cambridge’s Bob Gignac thought back to his boyhood when doctors informed his family that he would probably be wheelchair bound by the time he was 40. Instead, at 47, Gignac not only competed at the 1987 Canadian Five-Pin Bowling Championships in Winnipeg, but reached the pinnacle. […]
Mark Greenan
Cambridge native and Southwood Secondary School graduate, Mark Greenan, is the top tennis player to ever emerge from Cambridge. And well into his career, he was also likely the finest doubles player Canada ever produced. A product of the well-known Greenan tennis family, he is the son of Harry Greenan, a mainstay in Ontario tennis. […]
Bob Hodges
When 53-year-old Bob Hodges retired as an NHL linesman after 25 seasons, he had amassed quite a resume. It included 1701 regular season games, 157 playoff games, three All-Star Games and three Stanley Cup finals. Not bad for a guy who didn’t get his start as an NHL official until the relatively late age of […]
Bill ‘Wiggie’ Wylie
July 15, 1928 – November 24, 1983 When people talk of the great athletes to emerge from Cambridge, they usually mention Galt’s Bill ‘Wiggie’ Wylie. But for all his athletic prowess – baseball and hockey were his two big sports, and between them, he was best at hockey – the first major championship he won […]
Galt Gores
Inter-City Fastball Champions 1963, 1964, 1966 The Galt Gores fastball team of the mid-1960s was not lacking for talent, and none were as talented on the field as pitcher Gerry Hopcraft. The late Hopcraft, several times an Inter-City league MVP – he won the batting title in 1965 – was a legend in fastball circles. […]
Lorne Johannes
July 3, 1902 – May 18, 1984 Years after the Ontario Rural Softball (ORSA) and Hockey (ORHA) Associations were formed, they were still regarded as “the best things to come out of the lean thirties for Ontario’s rural population.” And they came about thanks to Blair’s Lorne Johannes. Johannes was helped in both ventures by […]