When sports were played right down Mill St
With the summer sports season opening up it seems to be a good time to look back at Creemore’s sport scene in days of yore.
This account was written by Joe Leonard, son of Elias Leonard, owner of the Leonard House, now the Sovereign, for over 30 years. The time period we are talking about is the 1890s:
“The Creemore Greys Baseball team came to the front after a few years of football, and they beat everything that came to the village of Creemore, including about five teams from Toronto. Pat O’Hare and T.A. Watson were pitchers, Sam Hisey catcher, Rev. Mr. Vickery first base, Joe Manning, Jack Patterson, Isaac Woods, Jack O’Hare, Billy Woodburn, and then some of those boys gave up the game, and the McKewon brothers and the noted Daddy Downs were imported from Toronto. And did they have a team! If ever there was a man fitted for professional baseball it was this man, Sam Hisey. I was there the day he won the long throw on Mill Street when they held all sports right down Mill Street.
“Brunk Madill and Jack Rooney used to have a real battle in putting the sixteen pound shot and throwing the heavy weight.
“Creemore had some good running horses then. Robert Steele, the blacksmith at the lower end of town, had old Sir Archie, a real horse, big dark bay. And my father had Creemore Maid, and Black Diamond was owned over in Stayner. Sir Archie was found to have the most speed, a very powerful horse.
“Also we must not forget the day in later years that Creemore played football against Everett in Alliston. Creemore was a man short for a third of the time and Os Jardine went in and scored two goals. Creemore lifted the money and Dave McCutcheon carried Os Jardine on his shoulders.”
When they held the big athletic day Archie Boyd was the 100 yard speed artist along with the Buggy boys and Tom Coates off the Fourth Line near Bayview.
There was a family of Cooper boys who were good but Brunk Madill brought Johnson up from Toronto who won a lot of first. But don’t forget there was a lot of home talent that made good in these events. I haven’t mentioned them as I can’t remember them all.
In later years, I must mention Billy and Os Jardine who were fast runners in the 100 yard distance.
Helen Blackburn is a retired teacher, avid gardener and a long-time contributor to The Creemore Echo. She writes about local history.
