Legion Week 2021- Branch 240 — Almonte– Little Olympics 1968

CLIPPED FROM
The Ottawa Journal
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada27 Apr 1968, Sat  •  Page 16

This being an Olympic year, Almonte is moving in to grab a piece of the action. The Almonte Legion Little Olympics they plan to call it and It’s scheduled for July I, Dominion Day, 1968 at a 50-acr site built to official Olympic specifications. ‘The Almonte Legion has sponsored a July 1 track and field meet at this Ottawa Valley town 30 miles southwest of Ottawa for the past three years; and it has grown in size and quality every year on til in 1967 more than 200 of Ontario’s top athletes took part.

Runners, pole vaulters and hop-step-and-jumpers from all over the Valley and as far away as Toronto took part. Ottawa sent the Uplands Harriers and Olympia club members. In gearing this summer’s event for national recognition by the Amateur Athletes- Little Athletic Union as a top-flight Canadian track and field meet, Almonte is laying its unblemished record of triumphs in its own meet on the line.

“I think it was sheer weight of numbers,” jokes -Almonte High School track coach Don Maynard. That may be part of it, but in fact Almonte High School has dominated the Lanark County track and field scene in recent years. Almonte’s championship hopes this year are pegged on such performers as potential Canadian champ, Doug Sonnenberg. who reputedly can heave the eight – pound shot 56 feet outdoors, and pole, vaulter Ron Robinson, who has cleared close to 11 feet in intermediate “B” company.

Maynard and his troops would like a head-on collision with perennial Renfrew County champions from Arnprior District High School. Amprior athletes have won the Renfrew. County meet almost from the day Champlain lost his astrolobe near Cobden and last year became the first Valley school to win the Eastern Ontario aggregate championship in Ottawa.

Last year Almonte ran a series of twilight meets with athletes from such places as Cornwall and Toronto, and may try to set up the clash with Arnprior at such a dual meet this summer. The Almonte Legion, helped by a host of enthusiastic town citizens, has come up with a first rate layout and additional improvements are planned.

On the betterment list this year improved sanitary facilities to handle the big crowds expected. Ten years ago the high school athletes could expect two meets a year their own school’s and the county’s and that was it,” says Maynard. By comparison, May of this year will see the individual meets, the county meets (Lanark’s is at Almonte May 14), a Cornwall invitation meet May 10. and a Kemptville Legion invitation meet May 20.

The EOSSA meet at Cornwall May 18, and so on, and so on.Track and field. in Eastern Ontario is booming and with its fine quarter-mile cinder track and permanent pits at its big layout beside the Community Centre, Almonte figures to stay in the forefront of the boom.

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa JournalOttawa, Ontario, Canada27 Apr 1968, Sat  •  Page 16

Support Your Local Legion!

Every Mile is a Memory -Linda Knight Seccaspina

Almonte Legion
February 6  · 

Almonte Legion
February 13  · 

My Family – Larry Clark — Hilda Strike — Olympic Medallist

Linda,

I saw a reference to a Gary Strike in one of your posts and recalled that Beth’s family were neighbours of Hilda Strike in 1946/47 when they moved into a new “wartime” house in Montreal. At the time, so new that they had no water or hydro for several days-they were the 1st to occupy the house. I don’t know of any relationship with Gary Strike but I thought you might be interested in Hilda’s career. Following is a short history-typed by someone in the family (Beth’s)-the info may have come from Hilda. I googled her and came up with a couple of other versions. Beth remembers her very well but unfortunately we lost contact in the 60s sometime after we last visited them in the Ottawa area. 

Larry Clark

AC-Athletic Club

Hilda H. Strike (later Sisson)-She was a Canadian track athlete and Olympic medalist. She was born in Montreal and died in Ottawa. Competing in the 1932 Summer Olympics, she won a silver medal in the 4×100 metre relay and a silver medal in the 100 metre losing to Stanisawa Walasiewicz. In 1972, she was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. When Walasiewicz was shot to death in 1980 during a store robbery, it was discovered that Walasiewicz was a hermaphrodite. Many subsequently argued that the gold medal should be given to Strike. At the 1934 Empire Games she won the silver medal in the 100 yards event. She also was a member of the Canadian relay team which won the silver medal in the 110-220-110 yards relay competition. She died in 1989.

Photo- Larry Clark

Photo Larry Clark

Larry Clark

Hilda Strike, (born at Montréal, 1 Sep 1910; died at Ottawa, 9 Mar 1989). Hilda Strike was an athlete in the 1932 SUMMER OLYMPICS in TRACK AND FIELD.

In 1964, she was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, and eight years later into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.

Hilda Strike’s achievements resurfaced in the early 1980s at the death of her major rival Stella Walsh. Since Walsh died following a burglary in Cleveland, Ohio, an autopsy was performed, and the American proved to be a hermaphrodite, with both masculine and feminine characteristics.

A few years later, in 1984, Hilda Strike claimed the medal won by Walsh in the 1932 Olympic Games, but unfortunately, since sex verification tests were not carried until the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, her request went unheeded.

Hilda Strike, the fastest woman in the world in 1932, died on 9 Mar 1989 in Ottawa.

Montreal-born Strike made history at the 1932 Olympic Games when she lost a gold medal to a hermaphrodite.

It looked like Strike had the 100-metre final within her grasp until Poland’s Stella Walsh made a late surge and edged Strike at the finish line. Although the judges clocked both runners at 11.9 seconds, they decided to award Walsh the gold.

Nearly 50 years later, on Dec. 4, 1980, Walsh, who had lived most of her life in the U.S. even though she competed for her native Poland, was shot and killed during an armed robbery at a Cleveland store. She had gone to the store to buy ribbons for a visiting Polish women’s basketball team. She was 69.

An autopsy revealed that Walsh, born Stanis{lstrok}awa Walasiewicz, was a hermaphrodite, having both female and male sexual organs, including a small penis. While gender tests weren’t instituted at the Olympics until 1968, Walsh, who had set more than 18 world records in sprinting and jumping events, probably would have been disqualified from competing as a woman had officials known of her status during the 1930s, says Olympics historian David Wallechinsky. “There really weren’t any rules dealing with that at the time. It was not something they anticipated in 1932.”

Canada’s Hilda Strike (centre) celebrates her silver medal win in the women’s 100m event at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. (CP Photo/COA)

I Was Axed — Memories of Larry Clark — Bell Street

1954 CPHS Graduation Pictures — Larry Clark

Cruisin Through the Dance Halls- From Carleton Place and Beyond!! Larry Clark

The Summer of 1956- Larry Clark

The Carleton Place Night Patrol: Aka Skin Dogging — Larry Clark

Larry Clark — Upper Bridge Street in Carleton Place

Memories of a Photo — The Forgotten Canadian Forestry Corps, Booze and a Mud Quagmire

Update to the Charles Lindbergh Story — Larry Clark

 Tales You Did Not Know About—Charles Lindbergh Landed in Carleton Place

Memories of Neighbourhood Kids — Larry Clark

Larry Clark Memories : Billings Bridge, Willow Trees and the Orange Lodge

Skating on Fraser’s Pond and Hobo Haven — Larry Clark

Glory Days in Carleton Place– Larry Clark

Larry Clark — Your Veribest Agent

A Personal Story — Caught in the Ice– Rocky Point- Larry Clark

Women of the Red Cross — Mary Slade –Larry Clark

Old Notebooks Larry Clark and I Once Had a Math Teacher like This!

Memories of Mulvey’s Candy Store and Joie Bond — Larry Clark

The Young Olympic Hopefuls-1970’s Carleton Place Canoe Club

I did a piece on John Edwards last week, and this week I found more photos from the old Carleton Place Canadian files from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

 

If you recognize anyone in these pictures– let me know

Wendy Healey–The picture you have posted with the girls war canoe has Lisa and Louise Armour, Heather Kneen, Tracey Mills, Deanna Barry, Julie Kirkpatrick, Linda Black. Probably in the back may be myself, Wendy Armstrong, Catherine Elliot, Margot Findlay, Debbie Hine, Louise Hine etc. The war canoe changed every year…

 

 

 

Olympian John Edwards in front

 

Carleton Place Mayor Eldon Henderson and Bill Morris

Know Your Carleton Place Olympians!

The Ministry of Propaganda in Carleton Place — Carleton Place Canoe Club

Looking for Information on Pooh Bell & The Powder Puffs

Three Cheers for Dave Findlay –The Movie

Who Was Mickey Morphy? Noteworthy Paddles to Portage

 

Know Your Carleton Place Olympians!

The summer Olympics are almost upon us. Did you know we have a former Olympian in our midst? When I was volunteering at the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum  today I found this picture from the old Carleton Place Canadian photo files at the museum.

       Photo of John Edwards-Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

1975 Almonte Gazette–After four years of trying, Carlton Place’s John Edwards has won a berth on the senior Canadian canoe team. John finished first in the mens. 100ft m tre C -l event and came second in the 500 metre event in Toronto last week-end. John will participate in the senior men’s world championships in Yugoslavia this summer.

 

John Edwards (born July 1, 1954) is a Canadian sprint canoer who competed in the mid-1970s. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, he was eliminated in the repechages of the C-2 1000 m event while finishing ninth in the C-1 1000 m event.

Edwards grew up paddling at the Carleton Place Canoe Club in Carleton Place, Ontario, and became the first Olympic competitor from that club when he competed in C-1 1000m and C-2 1000m at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.

Edwards served as the Domestic Development Director at CanoeKayak Canada (CKC), then known as the Canadian Canoe Association, from 1999 until 2015. In that role, Edwards oversaw a period of significant evolution in the sport in Canada and around the world. Under Edwards, the number of racing clubs and the number of participants in the sport in Canada grew by an unprecedented amount. Edwards also initiated CKC’s Aboriginal Paddling Initiative and the PaddleALL program for paddlers with disabilities, and championed the expansion of opportunities for women in canoeing.

Edwards has also had significant influence on the sport internationally, serving as a member of the Board of the International Canoe Federation and as Chair of the ICF’s Paracanoe Committee. Edwards was the driving force behind acceptance of Paracanoe into the Paralympic Games, and his committee is charged with expanding the accessibility of the sport on a world-wide basis.

Concurrent with his employment at CKC, Edwards enjoyed a long career in politics, serving as a municipal councillor for Ramsay Ward in Mississippi Mills, Ontario for more than 17 years. He still holds that position today.

Edwards is married, with two daughters and four grandchildren.–Wikipedia

Well done John!!

NB-Andrew willows who was a paddler also made Carleton Place proud in the Olympics.

John Edwards speaks…

Dear Linda,
Thanks for the old photo from the archives. I still have my Olympic parade uniforms! It was such a great time for me in those days. I don’t know who did the Wikipedia biography…..just one error: I was at the 1972 Munich Olympics as well.
My ‘takeaway’ from my experience was the amount of support and faith the Town of Carleton Place put into me. I was only one of the beneficiaries of this positive attitude. Many others performed way beyond what a small town of 5,000 people (1970) could expect. I think of Janet Findlay, Madeleine Montreuil, Susan Gifford(:), Roger Tuttle, Linda Tuttle, Peter Pommerville, Eric Grantner, Lynn Armour, Andrew Shepherd, Scott MacIntosh, Helen Code, Steve Bittle, John Drader, all of whom went on to become Champions of Canada, Canada Games Ontario Team members, Junior National Team members or Canadian Senior Team members.
CPCC punched way above its weight and it did so because we believed we could and the whole Town supported us. It was simply a question of faith and a positive attitude.
Between 1988 and 1993, I was Commodore and with Susan’s youth leadership was able to reinvigorate our attitude of faith in young paddlers. Two more Olympic paddlers were produced; Ryan Cuthbert and Andrew Willows (Athens & Beijing). Good coaching was always the solution.
Today CPCC paddlers are still participating in national team projects for the next generation.
Think BIG and have faith!!

The Ministry of Propaganda in Carleton Place — Carleton Place Canoe Club

Looking for Information on Pooh Bell & The Powder Puffs

Three Cheers for Dave Findlay –The Movie

Who Was Mickey Morphy? Noteworthy Paddles to Portage