History of the A's

A's Retrospective - Art Brown

THROUGH THE SPORTS GATE

by JACK GATECLIFF

The St. Catharines Standard

Wednesday October 5, 1955

What is the future of lacrosse? Is it only a question of time before Canada’s National Pastime (by an Act of Parliament) fades completely from this country’s sporting scene? Are the days of huge crowds in field lacrosse and packed arenas in box lacrosse gone forever? In other words, has box lacrosse “had it”?

An emphatic and unqualified “No” is the answer to these queries which were presented to Art Brown of St. Catharines, elected president of the Canadian Lacrosse Association during their annual meeting in Victoria less than one month ago.

“I fully realize that senior lacrosse in Ontario has reached a low ebb during the past few years,” he stated. “However the minor groups and intermediates (Senior “B”) are much stronger than in many seasons. The revived interest in intermediate is particularly encouraging.”

Mr. Brown, just returned from the Mann Cup playoffs on the west coast, painted a glowing picture of senior lacrosse in British Columbia. The crowds at league games were the greatest in years and the five games in Victoria for the Mann Cup attracted a gross of more than 25,000 fans. Lacrosse, it would seem, still has a few kicks left.

Closely associated with lacrosse for just over half a century, Art Brown is the logical person to analyze the situation which at times has appeared critical. No other person in the C.L.A. has had as much experience in the sport and his composite record as a player; coach and later executive cannot be matched in the history of field or box lacrosse.

Art played with six consecutive Globe Shield winners (Ontario senior champions) before retiring in 1910 and was a teammate of stars like Billy Fitzgerald senior, Geordie Kalls, Bill Hope, Joe Immell and many others. For three years his club played without a defeat.

“If you count $5 a game, then we were out and out pros,” stated the present C.L.A. president, “although our goalie that was brought in (Corey Hesse) was paid the fabulous amount of $40 a game.”

The famed Newsy Lalonde, who later went on to hockey immortality, was a Hamilton “import” for one season but “after we beat the Tigers they soon sent him back home.” In those days big league hockey and top-flight lacrosse were on a par and many outstanding hockey players turned to lacrosse in the summer months. (The same is true today although to a much smaller extent. Bucko McDonald was the last N.H.L. “star” to play senior lacrosse.)

After 10 years of “helping the kids”, Art coached the Ontario junior field lacrosse champions of St. Catharines in 1920 and many of those players such as Harry Bennett, John Phipps and Dusty Rhodes then moved up to senior in 1921 for the revival of big time lacrosse in this city.

Box lacrosse gradually replaced the field type in the early thirties and in 1938 Art Brown took over as coach of what he, and most other observers claim to be the greatest box lacrosse team in history. That was the incomparable double blue team of 1938 – 39 – 40 – 41. In that span the Athletics won four Ontario and three Canadian titles and it was at a time when the competition was much more exacting than in the past few seasons.

The argument could rage far into the night as to which player, if any, was the top star with that magnificent St. Catharines team. As coach, Art naturally declines to shed any light on this perennial discussion among Athletic fans of 15 years ago.

“Every player on the team was a specialist at something,” stated Art, “and yet together they formed a team which could go out there and win a game for you . . . as a group . . . whenever they set their minds to it.”

“Where could you find two better players at centre than Joe (Cheevers) and Urq (George Urquhart) or a ball ragger like Wandy (McMahon) or scorers like Billy Wilson and Pung Morton and of course Bill Whittaker in goal was a team in himself. You could go right on down the list without finding a player who wasn’t a star in his own right. And don’t forget the greatest two-way player of them all, Gus Madsen.”

Art has always claimed that it wasn’t necessary to coach that Athletic team. “All I had to do was just open the gate and turn ‘em loose,” he said. “They were so keen to play that they’d be down at Haig Bowl before 7 o’clock getting dressed for an 8:30 starting time.” It might be added that many fans got there well ahead of the early players, just to get a seat. Could be that there was a connection between the enthusiasm of the players and fans.

Although he has nothing but fond memories of the past, Art Brown is not one of those persons who places past performances on a pedestal and thinks that improvements can’t be made in long-standing institutions.

For instance, he is firmly convinced that the modern box lacrosse is a faster and perhaps more interesting game than field, he thinks that six-man lacrosse is an improvement over the seven-man game, and that the smaller goals haven’t presented too great an obstacle for the really good players.

“Many folks who were associated with field lacrosse just pass off box lacrosse as a modern fad which won’t last. Almost invariably those same people have never seen a box lacrosse game,” says Art.

PART TWO (Oct 12, 1955)

Since the white man “discovered” the Indian game of lacrosse and converted it to his own enjoyment and recreation 85 years ago, the game has known many outstanding players, astute coaches and wise executives. Few have combined these positions as well or successfully as Art Brown, President of the Canadian Lacrosse Association and a lifetime resident of the “home” of lacrosse . . . St. Catharines.

Art played with St. Catharines teams early in the century when the name “Athletics” was synonymous with the best in sport. The A’s of that era won 12 Ontario championships and Mr. Brown was a member of six of those clubs.

After a distinct sag in the fortunes of the double blue teams, Art Brown came back to lead them to four straight Ontario and Canadian championships in the late thirties and early forties after the imported version of box lacrosse had replaced the failing field game.

Although he retired from the coaching bench at the close of the 1941 season . . . when the fabulous Athletics swept through everything east and west . . . Art continued as a member of the St. Catharines lacrosse board of directors and in 1950 and 1951 was president of the local association.

From that position he stepped into the presidency of the Ontario Lacrosse Association in 1952 and 1953 and this year starts the first of what promises to be a two-year term as the president of the governing Canadian Lacrosse Association.

With 50 years of lacrosse experience behind him (“and I would not give up one minute of it,” he says) Art enjoys talking of the “old days” but is even more anxious to discuss the future. He is one person who doesn’t cling to the theory that athletes of years ago could do things better than their modern counterpart.

While many former lacrosse fans are all too eager to write off the sport as reeling and ready for the KO punch, Art is convinced that a few breaks and the right attitude by those operating teams and leagues can bring it back to its former prominence.

Three weeks ago he returned from his fifth trip to British Columbia as a lacrosse envoy and was tremendously enthusiastic over the state of the game on the west coast. “When we can draw 25,000 for five games, lacrosse must be a pretty lively corpse,” says Art.

While admitting that perhaps the caliber of lacrosse is not as high now as it was a few years ago he believes that the one-sided league in Ontario since Peterborough started knocking off championships in 1951 has been the principal reason for the decline in interest in other centres.

“The Peterborough coach Pup Curtin said out on the coast that his team might fold up after this season,” stated the C.L.A. president. “Naturally the O.L.A. and C.L.A. would hate to see the Petes quit after so many good years but in some ways it might breathe some life back into our senior series here.”

“If the other centres who used to support teams knew that Peterborough wasn’t going to enter, I’m sure they’d come back and we might have as many as eight clubs next year. The juniors and minors had good seasons in 1955 in Ontario and the intermediates have never been stronger.

“If Brampton, Mimico and Owen Sound came back to senior and perhaps even Orillia, we’d be heading in the right direction again.”

The absence of “name players” recently has also hurt lacrosse from a promotion standpoint. “Give us a couple of Bucko McDonalds, Jerry Connells, or some of those specialists we had with the Athletics 15 years ago and the fans would start talking up the game again,” he said. “Sure we have a few now but there just doesn’t seem to be enough to go around.”

Harry Wipper is one player he believes would have been “a star in any era.” Mr. Brown stated that on the coast Wipper and Moon Wootton (Peterborough goalie) were easily the pick of the eastern team. More than anything else he feels that shortage of manpower cost the Petes a fifth straight Mann Cup. They played many games in Ontario with 9 or 10 players and only took 13 active players to the coast.

Year after year at Mann Cup time the arguments between teams start cropping up and almost without exception they stem from two sources . . . referees and money . . . and not necessarily in the order of importance.

This year the refereeing situation was revised to everyone’s satisfaction. Joe Murphy, rated the outstanding boxla official in Canada, was taken west for the finals and caused one of the real phenomena of modern sport. He was actually cheered! The crowd took to his flashy, demonstrative type of officiating and greeted him like one of their own heroes on every appearance.

Both teams agreed that the refereeing had never been better, which for any sport, and particularly lacrosse, is certainly worthy of a place in the Ripley strip, “Believe It Or Not.”

The money question however was something different again. From one game to the next the C.L.A. executive couldn’t guarantee that the Petes would make a showing on the floor and in the last game they were still holding out until 15 minutes before the first whistle. Although many of their requests . . . or demands . . . were undoubtedly perfectly legitimate, it didn’t help establish good public relations.

“Both teams got more money this year than at any time in the past,” said the C.L.A. president. While not at liberty to divulge figures, he felt that the Petes should, if they lived on a fairly strict budget, at least break even on the series. (Note: The Peterborough executive, we are sure, will disagree with that statement.)

To cut down on expenses, the C.L.A. had decided tentatively that they would not hold an annual meeting next year. “If it can be done, we’ll probably vote by mail. That should put an end to the silly criticism that the C.L.A. spends money indiscriminately although in actual savings it wouldn’t come too much more than $1,000.

Remembering Arthur Ernest Brown

THROUGH THE SPORTS GATE

by JACK GATECLIFF

The St. Catharines Standard

Tuesday August 12, 1958

It was with genuine regret that we learned last weekend of the passing of Art Brown, one of the most sincere and capable officials in the history of Canadian lacrosse.

Three years ago we interviewed Art Brown when he was the president of the Canadian Lacrosse Association. We asked for a half hour of his time. The talk (all on lacrosse) lasted for four hours and after leaving him we were of the strong opinion that not even the surface of his lacrosse knowledge had been scratched. The usual one column had to be stretched to two and still much of the information we had obtained had to be deleted.

For all but the older sports fans, Art Brown’s greatest fame came in the years 1938 – 41 when he led the St. Catharines Athletics to four Ontario senior lacrosse championships and three Mann Cups. That team, with Hope, Whittaker, Fitzgerald, Morton, McMahon, Cheevers, the Madsens, etc., was, and is still rated, the greatest team ever to play box lacrosse. Even Peterboro in its prime would have had to hustle to stay within 10 goals of that team during those four seasons.

As coach, the late Mr. Brown always shrugged off any personal responsibility for the club’s record. “I just had to open the door and let them go,” was the way he told us on several occasions. However according to those who know (his players) this was just typical of his modest approach to the game, and absolutely unfounded in fact.

Says Bill Fitzgerald: “It could be that we had already learned plenty about lacrosse when Art got us in 1938 but don’t forget that he coached many of the players when they were in juvenile and junior. It was from him that many of us got our basic training.”

We asked Fitz how Art, certainly the quietest-spoken coach we have ever met, managed to control a group of super-stars such as the A’s in the late thirties and early forties. “He may have been quiet,” says Fitz, “but we sure knew when he wasn’t happy with the way we were playing. He’d just sit there and glower, say a few words before the next period and if we didn’t shake it up, we just wouldn’t be playing the next game. Many’s the time I’ve known him to sit out some of our best players.”

The late Art Brown played on Globe Shield winners (Ontario senior champions) with stars such as Billy Fitzgerald senior, Geordie Kalls, Bill Hope and Joe Immell. He coached minor for 10 years and as box lacrosse gradually replaced field lacrosse, Art also made the shift and coached several Tecumseh teams until stepping in as senior coach in 1938. While Art coached, the Athletics never lost an Ontario senior championship. He retired, undefeated, in 1941.

Moving from player to coach to executive, Art was on the Athletic Board of Directors for more than 20 years, was president of the Ontario Lacrosse Association for two years and held the same position with the Canadian Lacrosse Association for another two years.

In more than 50 years of lacrosse, Art Brown was never subjected to personal criticism and he was held in the same high regard during his better than two decades as president and executive in St. Catharines five-pin bowling.

Saturday night, Oct. 18, the “old” St. Catharines Athletics will hold their second reunion. Without “the pilot," it just can’t be the same. A gentleman in the finest sense, Art Brown will be missed.

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