Sports

"The Race on Antigonish Harbour between Hugh McDougald's "General Jackson" and A.J. McDonald's "Don Carlos", was won by the latter horse." [Aurora, 11 March 1885]

"This evening (Wednesday) in the rink some of the devotees of the 'roarin game' from Stellarton will play a match with a similar number of Antigonish curlers." [Aurora, 11 February 1885]

[ View object ]

Item: PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ANTIGONISH BICYCLE CLUB
Date: c. 1890s
Dimensions: 8.75 cm square

Comments: This is a photograph of the Antigonish Bicycle Club. The reverse side lists the names of four people: Percy, Stanley, Hill and a name that is indecipherable.

During the late 19th century, cycling became a popular pastime. Dozens of towns and cities across Canada formed bicycle clubs. Technological developments contributed to this craze. Early bicycles or velocipedes were heavy, noisy and extremely difficult to steer with their flattened iron band-like tires. In the late 1880s, the safety bicycle was introduced along with such improvements as pneumatic tires, same-size wheels, and a chain-driven mechanism which made bicycling more accessible to both men and women.

Advertisements in the Casket during the 1880s and 1890s testify to the popularity of this sport. In 1897, C.B. Whidden & Son advertised a wide selection of bicycles ranging in price from $50 to $100. In the 1890s, the Antigonish Athletic Association actively promoted cycling as well as track and field sports. Audiences thrilled at the intense competition between contestants at bicycle races. Antigonishers boasted "the speediest track that can be vaunted by any club in the province" and the attendance of "a good throng, including a large sprinkling of the fair sex." One of Antigonish's leading cyclists was W.S. Archibald. In September 1894, he won first place in a one-mile race in Truro. The next day, he cycled three miles in 8 minutes and 17 seconds, lowering the Maritime Provincial record by 17 seconds. Willard Borden also secured a reputation as a cyclist, breaking the two-mile Maritime record at a local athletic meet in July 1899. In the early 1900s, Middle South River's Hugh Millan set a world record for a 20-mile bicycle race in Patterson, New Jersey. Alexander and Hugh McGillivray were also noted cyclists. In fact, Hugh was a champion in both the United States and Europe, until his premature death when he was thrown from his bicycle and fractured his skull.

Jeff Paquette

Supporting Evidence
[ View object ]

Item: SILVER-PLATED CURLING TROPHY
Date: 1910
Dimensions: 21 cm high and 14 cm in diameter

Comments: This trophy was donated for the annual curling competition in Antigonish in 1910 by E.F. MacNeill, manager of the local Bank of Nova Scotia. Curling, dubbed the "roarin game" by the Casket, was one of the more popular sports activities in Antigonish and by the 1880s, the Antigonish Curling Club was competing against the Bluenose Club of New Glasgow. Participants even travelled to Truro, Halifax and Sydney for matches. By 1883, the Club, which played on local ponds, also had a covered rink on Victoria Street, just off St. Mary's Street. By 1900, there were many devotees of the game, including James McCarrol, J.C. McDonald, Ernest Gregory, D. Chisholm, S. Copeland, W.E. Cunningham, L.C. Archibald, A.D. Wilkie, C.N. Wilkie, A.B. Copeland, L. Cunningham, and W.P. Cunningham. The Antigonish players were passionate about the game and eagerly scored a coup over the Sydney team in 1892 when the latter's stones were ill-suited to the soft ice. The MacNeill trophy was a much sought-after prize at the Antigonish Bonspiel as indicated in this photograph of the winners in 1927.

Curling was introduced to Canada during the late 18th century by Scottish immigrants. By the mid-1800s, its popularity rivalled that of cricket and by the turn of the century it was one of the most popular sports in Canada.

Jeff Paquette

Supporting Evidence
| View object |

Item: LEAGUE OF THE CROSS HOCKEY JERSEY
Date: c. 1920s
Dimensions:

Comments: Jack Chisholm, who once operated an Antigonish shoe store, was the original owner of this LOC hockey jersey. Chisholm was the captain of the Antigonish LOC hockey team in the 1920s. In 1921, the team defeated the Halifax Wanderers 2-1 in overtime and was crowned Champions of Eastern Nova Scotia. Four thousand people attended the game and Halifax reporters hailed it "the most spectacular exhibition of hockey ever seen in Halifax."

The jersey is made of wool and is maroon in colour. There are white stripes along the cuffs, collar and bottom and the letters LOC are stitched to the front of the jersey. At this time, hockey players did not wear much upper body gear so there was no need for bulky jerseys. The League of the Cross was a temperance association in Nova Scotia which fought to eliminate the consumption of alcohol in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chisholm appears to have been greatly attached to this jersey. According to his son, "He won a championship with the jersey and he saved it all those years so it must have been pretty special to him."

The first hockey team in Antigonish was formed in 1897 and played teams from New Glasgow, Pictou and Truro that year. The team also played against the first St. F.X. team; this marked the beginning of a rivalry between the town and school teams that existed into the mid-1950s. The people of Antigonish soon developed pride in their team, nicknamed the "Fighting Seven", and by 1899 the sport became popular enough that an admission price of 20 cents was charged to view the game. Games between the town and college drew the largest crowds due to the heated rivalry. One Casket journalist wrote that the game was full of "snap and vim". By 1900 the team was travelling all over Nova Scotia to compete.

Lori MacPhail and Jeff Paquette

Supporting Evidence
[ View object ]

Item: PAIR OF SPEED SKATES
Date: c. 1920
Dimensions: 3.5 cm long

Comments: This pair of machine-made skates has wooden tops, leather straps and metal steel blades. At this time, skates were strapped onto the boots (sometimes called "Sunday boots") and secured by a screw nail through the boot's heel. Later skates were clamped to the sole of a boot by a spring-lever action or by tightening a screw with a key. The top of these skates bears the scratched initials WSA, signifying the original owner, William Snow Archibald (1873-1960), a prominent local businessman, son of the first mayor of Antigonish, and one-time medal winner in figure skating. Archibald allegedly refereed the first known hockey match in Antigonish and in 1946, at the age of 71, he gave an exhibition of figure skating at the St. F.X. Memorial Rink.

The skates offer no information about the manufacturer. However, Starr Manufacturing Co. of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, was one of the leading skate makers in the world. It is estimated that the company produced almost 11 million Acme skates. The T.E. Eaton Company carried a full line of the famous Starr skates which ranged in price from 45 cents (boys' hockey) to $5.00 (the Fisher racing skate). Skating was a popular pastime in Antigonish on outdoor ponds and at the local rink. The Fancy Dress Skating Carnivals, with the musical accompaniment of the Antigonish Brass Band, were popular events for skaters. In March 1883, audiences were delighted with the Antigonish Skating Carnival and its throng of masqueraders sporting such disguises as "Keppock Fisherman", "Tracadie Dandie", "Scotch Lassie Jane" and "Gypsy Countess".

Lori MacPhail

[ View object ]

Item: ONE-PIECE HOCKEY STICK
Date: early 20th century
Dimensions: approx. 1.2 m long

Comments: This hockey stick is located in the Oland Sports Centre on the St. F.X. campus. It is constructed from hardwood and is all one piece. The stick was made by either Charlie Young or his son,Tommy, both local Mi'kmaq craftsmen. Charlie made upwards of 300 dozen per year and sold them in Antigonish, Pictou, New Glasgow, Halifax and other areas of Nova Scotia. These sticks usually bore the brand name, "Swiper". Clifford Paul describes the process that his grandfather used to make the sticks: "The finest hardwood was selected for the hockey sticks. But it was the root of the hardwood that formed the natural left- or right-hand curve of the blade. The tree had to be dug out below the main roots with a pickaxe and shovel. The wood was then taken to my grandfather's sawmill and there it was carefully handcrafted and sanded to create the finished product." This stick may have been used by Jack Chisholm, who played with the Antigonish League of the Cross team in the early 1920s.

Lori MacPhail

| BACK |

, HTML by Intern .