Book chronicles Manitoba’s illustrious sports history

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This article was published 18/08/2020 (2107 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It isn’t a secret that 2020 hasn’t exactly been a banner year for Manitoba sports.

In fact, sporting events worldwide have taken a massive hit.

But, looking back at Manitoba’s past 149 years, there’s no shortfall of talented athletes, exciting games or thrilling events that have left a permanent mark on the province.

With Manitoba turning 150 this year, author Sean Grassie thought there was no better time to pen a book detailing 150 sports stories from Manitoban history.

“I was looking to do another project … This one gave me the chance to learn lots about different sports, apart from curling,” said Grassie.

His book, Iconic Stories from 150 Years of Sport in Manitoba, is the product of more than 100 interviews and hours upon hours of deep dives into local newspaper archives.

Grassie is also a competitive curler, who authored Manitoba curling history book Kings of the Rings: 125 Years of the World’s Biggest Bonspiel in 2012.

He approached Sport Manitoba with the idea for his 150-story project in January 2019, pitching a read that would cover tales from amateur to professional sports, across all eras.

After the project’s approval, Grassie joined a panel that included Sport Manitoba’s sport heritage manager Rick Brownlee, and the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association’s Jim Bender, Judy Owen and Terry Frey, to pick out which 150 stories would make the cut.

After meeting a few times, the final list was established last fall.

“Lots of tough choices,” Grassie said. “There’s so many good stories out there, but we tried to have a diverse range of male and female athletes, athletes from different parts of the province, Indigenous athletes and Paralympic athletes highlighted too.”

The book sells for $20.20, to signify the year 2020, with all proceeds going to KidSport Manitoba. It took Grassie about a year to write, while dedicating nearly all of his spare time to the project.

“I could be interviewing someone for one story, writing another story and looking for photos for a different story all on the same day,” he said.

Of course, there’s stories of Winnipeg’s championed and beloved teams, like the Blue Bombers, Jets and Goldeyes, but Grassie said there’s also stories people probably haven’t heard before — a fair number of them coming from Westman.

One of them is of a runner, Tommy Town, who competed in the 1920 Olympics.

“He didn’t have a trainer or anything, he couldn’t afford it. He just trained on his own, running around on the tracks or roads in Brandon,” Grassie said.

“… He was training on the boat ride to the Olympics and got injured, sprained his ankle on the boat ride there, so he maybe didn’t perform as well as he could’ve, but he was a top Canadian runner.”

Another one is Brandon-born baseball player, Russ Ford.

“He was the first Canadian to win 20 games in the Majors and still holds the American League record for most wins as a rookie pitcher with the New York Highlanders, who became the New York Yankees,” Grassie said.

Born in 1883, Ford made his MLB debut in 1909. The right-hander won 26 games in his rookie season, becoming only the third player in major league history to win 20 games and strike out at least 200 batters in his first season — Christy Mathewson and Grover Cleveland were the others.

Grassie also tells the story of more recent Brandon legends, like five-time Stanley Cup champion Turk Broda, golfer Dan Halldorson, who captured a PGA Tour event in 1980 and Israel Idonije competing in the 2007 Super Bowl — among other Westman-based tales.

Interviews go as far back as athletes who played in the 1950s. Grassie’s favourite story came as a result of two of those interviews.

The former basketball players were part of the Winnipeg Stellars, who won back-to-back national titles in 1950 and ‘51.

In 1951, they were playing in front of a packed house in Saint John, N.B.

“Saint John went down to four players on the floor due to fouls and injuries late in the game. So, the Winnipeg coach pulled one of their players to make it even,” Grassie said.

“Saint John lost another player and then another, so it actually ended up being two-on-two … to even the playing field, even though the Winnipeg coach could’ve kept five on.

“He just showed sportsmanship even though it was a national championship and they won the game. They got a standing ovation in Saint John.”

Grassie’s project was funded by a grant from the 2017 Canada Summer Games Legacy Fund. Iconic Stories can be purchased as an eBook, online at www.KidSport.ca/Manitoba/News or at the Sport for Life Centre in Winnipeg.

 

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