London South Collegiate Institute - Oracle Yearbook (London, Ontario Canada)

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activity I found him a great athlete and a gentleman. What more can be said than that? Great changes followed this era of track and soccer activity. They both de- clined, and for a time we found ourselves in very poor circumstances athletically. From 1926 to 1929 our place in the win column was very small. We were only kept from complete eclipse by Don Rivers, the great school-boy sprinter who came to us from St. John, N. B., and Art. Car- ruthers of Melbourne. a star half-miler. Rivers' greatest effort was at Acton on July 1, 1929, when- he won the 100-yard dash in 945 seconds. beating two great men, Miller of Hamilton and Smallcombe of Toronto. These two were followed by Maurice Shore, who was an expert hurdler and who kept our heads above the level for two or three years with some magni- ficent performances. In 1929, rugby displaced soccer, and the four-school track meet was dropped. Our rugby teams of that year were with- out experience of any kind, but they made up for this deficiency by a determination to do their very best at all times. Success has crowned their efforts to such an ex- tent that the Seniors have won the city group in 1930 and 1932 and the Juniors in 1931, 1932, 1933. These teams have developed some great players, such as Bill Rivers, Ron. McCallum, George McVicar, Harm. Westland, Art McKenzie, and many others. The present teams, both of which are doing their part to carry on the standard of sportsmanship and gen- tlemanly conduct which was raised for them when Thames Park was little better than a pasture and the dressing-room an old shack over in the corner of the field from which the words echo even to this day, Last out, lock up. The other sports, hockey and basketball, went through the same periods of success and defeat as the ones mentioned. From 1923 to 1930 the boys did not have much success in their basketball. The coming of Mr. Freeman changed all this, with the result that during the past four years they have won the city group once and have never finished lower than second. This is a record of which to be proud, and one for future teams to keep before them. Hockey has always been at a disadvan- tage. The lack of natural ice has been a page sixty-eight great drawback, and the Arena is too ex- pensive for our financial condition. As a result, teams have had to go without much-needed practice, and players have not developed as they otherwise would. In spite of all these hindrances some excellent players have played on our teams, such as Getliffe, McCallum, Mc- Kenzie, Dobbyn, Milne, Smith, Ready, Coleman and Dawkins. All our teams have played their games with the same sportsmanlike manner and have given us the best they had. In con- clusion, I would like to mention several boys who were outstanding in our athletics and who have passed on to their last great reward. Eric Chapman and Reg. Apple- 1932, on Lake Huron, were on the first teams we had in the school. Ken Burgess was killed three years ago as a result of an airplane accident, and Oliver Miller lost his life in an automobile accident. These four boys were instrumental in our success and did their part to set the high ideals which others are carrying on. We oder our heartfelt sympathy to their families, and hope that their example of gentlemanly conduct on the playing field will be an incentive for those who are the athletes of today and tomorrow. And when the one Great Scorer comes To write against your name, He counts not that you won or lost, But how you played the game. if it .gi , F -,Qt THE ORACLE

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an . ,. rv- if -'14 A Q-.'lv 1 ye Editor-BUS WIDEMAN, V A. A RETROSPIECT By H. B. D1NsMoRE ONDON SOUTH COLLEGIATE ig v opened its doors in September, Q f t 1922, in the old Victoria School . T at Askin and Wharncliffe. Many changes have taken place since then and the ones with which I am most inti- mately acquainted are the changes in our Boys' Athletic programme. The first school team organized was the track team for the three-school track meet which later became a four-school affair when the Sir Adam Beck Collegiate, then the East Collegiate, was organized. South captured the intermediate shield with such stellar athletes as Riddell, Ellyatt, Hadfield, Chapman and Vollick. An excellent showing in the senior and junior was made, and such a wealth of excellent material was developed that the next year South swept the meet, taking all three shields. The second activity in which the boys took part was soccer. They made an auspicious start and took the city group easily. The organization and coaching of this team was undertaken by Mr. John McKellar, now of Jarvis Collegiate, To- ronto. The proof of his ability is shown in the fact that the next year this team went to the finals, losing to Windsor after two very close games. Basketball was started by Mr. Graham, the present principal, and such stalwarts as the Ferguson brothers, Dave McLean, Hadfield, Vollick, Ellyatt, Chapman and SOUTH C. I. others carried the school colours to many stirring victories. Hockey was also an interesting sport during that winter, and the chief players were Ted Johnston. Bus. lVIcLeod, Had- field, Ellyatt. Appleyard, Baker, Gordon, Riddell. This was the start, but the progress continued to such an extent that in 1924- 25 we had our great year in Athletics. Our soccer team lost to Walkerville in twenty minutes overtime by one goal. This aggregation, made up of such great players as Haysom, George, Sinclair, Mc- Eachren, Campbell, Mennill, Dale, Riddell, Norris. Screaton, put up a magnificent game and were very unfortunate to lose. Their spirits were not dampened in any way by this reverse, and they showed their ability to stage a comeback the next year when they won the senior track meet. Riddell won the senior individual, and his efforts, coupled with those of Norris, Mc- Eachren, Franks, George, Franklin, For- sythe, Haysom, Sinclair, swept the team to a magnificent victory. At this point I would like to pay indi- vidual tribute to Allan Riddell. He was, in my mind, the greatest all-round athlete we have had in our school. He was a star track athlete and soccer player. He played a good game of hockey and basket- ball. He also showed himself to advan- tage in rugby after he went to Western. To him I say, Yea! Riddell! In every page sixty-seven

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JUNIOR BOYS' BASKETBALL BOYS' SENIOR BASKETBALL Top Row-E. Grove' K- Jones, F- Haysoml CTSEIMXA-N. Finch, K. Coates, G. Holland, R. Stevenson, Bottom Row-J. Kennedy, N. Patten, Mr. A. M. Freeman. 'Bottom how-J. McHale, G. Hotham' Mr. Freeman N. Rose, K. Casselnmn. lCoachl, T. Hutchinson. O. Orchard. Senior Baslketlballil Although the senior basketball team of last year was not successful in winning the city championship, it made a very credit- able showing, due to the able coaching of Mr. Freeman. The team proved itself hard to beat and in the regular schedule lost only one game. The opening game, played with Central in our own gymnasium, resulted in a win over our old enemies. We then went to Tech, to play their highly touted team, which had been practicing since the middle of September. Here we were again suc- cessful and handed Tech the short end of a 15-19 score. Beck were our next victims and were defeated - . We then played Central on their floor and swamped them completely with a score of 28-14. Tech proved to be our Waterloo, and in the next game, played in our own gym, we went down to defeat in a close and hard-fought game by the score of 14-11. Beck almost proved to be a stumbling-block when, in the next game, they held us to a seven all tie at the end of the regular playing time. However, we were able to sink two baskets in the overtime and won 11-7 . Our regular schedule was now over and we had lost only to Tech. Unfortunately for us, Tech had lost just one game, too, and SOUTH C. I. it was necessary to play off for the group laurels. A sudden death game was arranged to be played on Tech's home floor, and here was played the hardest-fought game of the year. With only a few seconds left to play and the score tied at eleven all, Tech hooped a basket, which won the game for them, and also the right to meet Sarnia. This was the third time in three years that we were nosed out of the champion- ship, last year it was to Central in the second overtime game. After the regular season, we had two exhibition games with the South stars of several years ago. Each of these games was followed by a dance, which helped a great deal to lessen the deficit of the Boys' Athletic. These two games ended, due to the clever work of the scorekeeper and timekeeper, in ties. This year Mr. Freeman will again be faced with the task of building a whole new team, as Jim McHale will be the only member of last year's team available for this year. The line-up: Forwards, K. Coates, R. Stephenson: centre, G. Hollandg guards, J. McHale, T. Hutchinson, alternates, O. Orchard, N. Finch, G. Hotham, C. Coleman. -GEORGE HOLLAND, V B. page sixty-nine