Bowmanville High School - Screech Owl Yearbook (Bowmanville, Ontario Canada)

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Inter-Collegiate Hockey Champions 1921- '22 STANDING: Mr. Morrison, Ross Tilley, Will Pointen, Captain, Sandy Somer- ville, Kenneth Fraser, Raymond Armstrong, Mr. Scott. KNEELING: Harry Weiler, Coach. SITTING: Kenneth Hall, Stuart James, Bill Oliver. Senior and Junior Track Teams 1921-'22 BACK ROW: Ross Tilley, Sandy Somerville, Anzac McKessock, Wreford Souch, Coachg Ralph Carruthers, Maitland Gould, Kenneth Foster. MIDDLE ROW: Jack Reynolds, Deac Goddard, Bill Oliver, Percy Muirhead, Alex McGregor, Stanley Osborne, Ernest Goddard. FRONT ROW: Cedric Needham, Rubber, Ernest Roach, Stuart James, Rubber. Football Team 1921- '22 BACK ROW: Ross Tilley, Will Pointen, Mr. Scott, Deac Goddard, Alex McGregor, Robert McCullough. FRONT ROW: Kenneth Fraser, Stuart James, Jack Reynolds, Capt.: Percy Cowling, Charlie White.

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In the game of rugby the player had to be tackled below the waist, the forward pass was still in the future, and field goals had to be kicked with the drop-kick, rather than the placement kick of today. The game of football in the 20's was the glamour sport of school life. The Saturday af- ternoon football hero was the biggest man on campus - the secret heart throb of most of the female students, and the envy of the male students. The game was played by the large city high schools and universities, but not, however, by the smaller high schools situated in small towns and rural areas of Ontario. Soc- cer was then, as it still is, the big sport in rural Ontario communities, with the result the soccer was the game most played as an inter-school sport. A small group of students received per- mission, early in 1927 to form a football team. The principal, in granting this permission, gave us to understand that the three male teachers knew nothing about the game and did not have the time to give it any of their attention. The students were entirely on their own. Mr. Dick Rovan, formerly of Toronto and a merchant here at that time, had played football for Argo Juniors. He was contacted and agreed to teach us the game and also to coach the team. The greatest difficulty encountered by the team was to find enough players to make up two full teams in order to have a proper prac- tice. I do not think any player, in the era I am writing about, ever had a serious injury. The players were all in superb physical condition. The affluent society that we know today was many years in the future. Young people did not spend their leisure watching TV. No one had a car, a lucky few owned a bicycle, and the rest just walked if they wished to go anywhere. Maybe two or three boys smoked, but alcohol was something used by some mysterious adults, and dope was just a tool of criminals to gain their nefarious ends. The playing equipment, in retrospect, was most interesting. We first used the hockey team sweaters, making up the difference in numbers by trying to match them as closely as possible with borrowed sweaters. Rugby was much har- der on sweaters than hockey and the school board soon bought the required number - the cheapest available. The regular players all had helmets, such as they were, and some of the spares. It was quite a common sight, on a sub- stitution, to see the player on leaving the field hand his helmet to his replacement. There was not one real pair of shoulder pads on the whole team. They consisted of horsefelt sewn into the shoulders and arms of an old sweater. Real football pants were just like the shoulder pads - non existant. The players who also played hockey, wore their hockey pants, the remain- der as a mixture of soccer pants, lacrosse pants and baseball pants. Gregory Colmer was quite ingenious. He packed the legs of an old pair of baseball pants with excelsior for padding. The quarterback of the team, John James, also did the kicking and it was imperative for the kicker to have a proper pair of boots. They were the only pair of regular football boots among the players. The others wore either old running shoes or hockey boots Cwith the skates removedl with homemade cleats nailed on. From these humble beginnings B.H.S. won the Intermediate League Championship in 1929, playing against much larger schools such as Peterborough and Oshawa. The writer feels events leading up to the ac- tual playing of the game are of greater interest than games played, the scores and per- formances of individual players which are all lost in the mists of time. The golden age of foot- ball at B.H.S. was to come in the 30's when the backfield was also the track team. The girls were not quite so competitive in sports as the boys, but some very capable teams in basketball, hockey, baseball and ten- nis were produced. The basketball team played inter-school games, but they worked under quite a handicap, as there was only an outdoor basketball court on the lower campus. One year, the last game of the season was played in November.

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Form V June 11 1925 BACK ROW: Clarence Ferguson, Albert Allin, Will Pointen, Stuart James, Reid Pearn, Stanford Symons, Maitland Gould, Stanley Osborne. CENTRE ROW: Bernita Wallace, Marion Dickson, Dorothy Kirkton, Leone Davey, Marion Warder, Marie Rundle, Grace Bragg. FRONT ROW: Marion Pickard, Constance Seward, Beatrice Bedell, Marjorie Robins, Blanche Cryderman. Then BACK ROW: Novelda Berry, Greta Symons, Evelyn Bickle, . Miss Sissons, Teacher, Fgrm IA Glfls Florence Oliver, Vera Trimble, Phyllis Clemence, Marie ' Valleau, Marion Hamilton. ClaSS RU1111011 FRONT ROW: Greta Munday, Winnifred Rickard, N llie Kirkton, Beatrice Cryderman. ABSENT: Garland Kilpatrick, Wilhelmine Rember, Leone Sutton. Now 1965 - BACK ROW: Mrs. R. Wallace CM. Valleaub, Mrs. R. Dilling CN. Kirktonl, Mrs. L. Staples CV. Trimblel, Mrs. H. Terry CW. Remberl, Mrs. G. MacMillan CF. Oliverl, Mrs. G. Brown CG. Mundayl, Mrs. J. Boddy CB. Crydermanl, Mrs. B. Ross CP. Clemenceb, Mrs. F. Crowe CM. Hamiltonb. FRONO ROW: Mrs. H. Allin CN. Berryh, Mrs. F. Wood CL. Suttonb, Miss M. Sissons, Mrs. L.T. McLaughlin CMiss I.K. Smithb, Mrs. B.C. Diltz CMiss A. Brownl, Mrs. F. Jamieson CE. Bicklel, Mrs. K. Werry CW. Rickardl. ABSENT: Mrs. G. Corby CG. Kilpatrickl, Greta Symons.