Timeline

History of the A's

Historical Timeline

1877 – the birth of the St. Catharines Athletics Lacrosse Club (one year after the formation of the St. Catharines Lacrosse Club). The team is brought into existence through the efforts of the Citizens Hose Co. (a volunteer fire dept.), and would play their first game on Wednesday November 7th, a 2 - 0 loss to the St. Catharines Club. A year later, the A's and the St. Catharines Club would merge under the Athletics banner. For the first six years the A's would play their games at the old fairgrounds that were once located at the southwest corner of Russell Avenue and Catherine Street.
1879 – the center section of the grandstand at the fairgrounds collapses at a game versus the Beaver Indians and causes injuries to a number of spectators, the most serious being a broken leg to a Mrs. Cruikshank.
1880 – a Civic Holiday double-header hosted at the fairgrounds between Athletics I vs. Clifton and Athletics II vs. Thorold is refereed by world champion oarsman and Canadian sporting legend Ned Hanlon. The St. Patrick's Brass Band and Hanlon's boat and championship trophies were at the grounds to add to the draw.
1881 – as part of U.S. Fourth of July celebrations, the Hydrant Hose Company #1 of Lockport, New York offer a silver-plated teapot to the victors of a lacrosse exhibition between the Athletics and the Echoes of Hamilton, Ontario. The A's return home with the spoils of the day and the prize is then passed down through the family of player James Adie to the present day.

1883 – the opening of the Athletics Lacrosse Grounds (1^st game June 8th). This facility (affectionately nicknamed "the old corner lot") featured a covered grandstand on one side of the field and bleachers at both ends. The Athletics defeated the Mechanics 3 to 1 (with "Zip" Carlisle scoring two) to claim the city championship and a silver cup in that first game at the new lacrosse grounds. The double-blue Athletics would often play to capacity crowds over the next 25 years and were the source of great pride for the citizens of St. Catharines.
1885 – the game undergoes a popular boom in St. Catharines when the Athletics win the Southern District championship from the Brants of Paris. The A's are reported in the Montreal Gazette to have organized and instituted "ice lacrosse" in the winter of 1885 with "six-man teams of reds and blues, played games which were won by the latter club 2 - 1 and thus were Canada's first known organization to play lacrosse on skates as well as on the natural field of emerald turf."
1887 – the Toronto Lacrosse Club's breakaway from the National Amateur Lacrosse Union leads to the formation of the Canadian Lacrosse Association. The Athletics become charter members of the new league. Later in the season, the Ontarios protest a loss to the Athletics over the use of an alleged professional player named C. Lynden. Lynden files a sworn affidavit of his amateur status to a C. L. A. judiciary committee meeting at the Rossin House (Toronto), but to further questions as to what he was paid for expenses to go to St. Catharines, Lynden states that he could not remember.
1889 – the A's are Canadian Lacrosse Association champions. The team posts an undefeated record in their own league and a 2 win, 1 loss record in exhibition games against N. A. L. U. competition.
1890 – repeat as Canadian Lacrosse Association champions, beating out the Toronto Capitals on August 18 to clinch the title. St. Catharines mayor McIntyre is president of the Athletics lacrosse club.
1891 – the new C. L. A. champions from Niagara Falls refuse to grant the Athletics a title match after the A's default a game in the "Cataract City" in mid-season. The A's continue to practice for four weeks after their last match and send repeated appeals to the C. L. A. to force the game, but the league upholds the "Niagaras" position.
1892 – Athletics are "blacklisted" for the year by the C. L. A. for their refusal to reimburse "expenses" of $30 to the Niagara Falls Lacrosse Club after a no-show in a 1891 game at the "Niagaras" home grounds. Team members then show up in the lineup of other clubs; brothers George and John Downey plus Alec Chaplin in Orillia, John Notman and Bill Yielding in Stratford, and "Ruby" Williams along with Harry Morton in Niagara Falls.
1898 – goal nets replace poles in the Canadian Lacrosse Association.
1899 – A’s suspend operations for one year shortly after a particularly violent game against the Orangeville Dufferins draws the ire of fans, press and the local judiciary. John "Shooty" Richardson is given a lifetime suspension by the Canadian Lacrosse Association (rescinded in 1902) and in a St. Catharines courtroom, a $25 fine for common assault.
1901 – the A’s return and deliver once-again, “fast, clean lacrosse”. They make it to the Globe Shield finals before losing to the Orangeville Dufferins in a match played before a capacity crowd at the Toronto Island grounds.
1902 to 1904 – a period of growing lacrosse enthusiasm in St. Catharines, fueled in part by a hotly contested rivalry with perennial C. L. A. champion Brantford. The games against Brantford would long be remembered as the most passionate contests for players and fans alike.
1905 – A’s win their first of eight consecutive Globe Shield championships. The team imports Hall-of-Fame goaltender Cory Hesse, defensive specialist Don Cameron (both of Cornwall) and the former Tecumseh's star, centre James "Grassy" Forrester (Fergus).
1905 – A’s travel to Montreal to play the N. A. L. U. champion Shamrocks for the Minto Cup (lose in two).
1906 – the Athletics press member teams of the C. L. A. to adopt a 60 - 40, home - visitor split of gate receipts. This compels the two Toronto franchises, the Torontos and the Tecumsehs, to jump to the National Lacrosse Union (who have now formally dropped the word "Amateur" from their title). After the Brantford Seniors fold, the C. L. A. suspend Senior operations for the year and the Athletics are left without opponents to play.
1907 – goaltender Cory Hesse returns for one more season in St. Catharines and nineteen-year-old Billy Fitzgerald electrifies the crowds at the "old corner lot" as the Athletics go 12 - 0 in Canadian Lacrosse Association action.
1908 – the Athletics field another very strong team and defeat the N. L. U.’s Torontos and Tecumsehs. The Montreal Shamrocks informally agree to play the Athletics for the Minto Cup once they have completed their games with Vancouver. But Vancouver wins the two games in Montreal and takes the coveted silverware to the coast where it would reside until it became a trophy for the Canadian junior lacrosse champions in 1937. The A's late 1908 challenge to Vancouver to contest for the Minto Cup are denied.
1910 – after claiming their sixth Globe Shield by winning both ends of a home and home playoff against the Young Torontos, they are given a late night welcome home with a wild celebration and parade through the city’s downtown streets.
1910 – the A’s are denied an opportunity to host the first Mann Cup championship over allegations of professionalism. The C. L. A. runners-up Young Torontos, despite the protests of their own league, host the contest and become the first holders of the golden trophy.
1911 – plans underway to send the A’s to Stockholm to represent Canada at the 1912 Olympics. This is dashed when lacrosse is dropped from Olympic competition.
1912 – the A’s are in decline with the loss in recent years to the N. L. U. of players of the stature of George Kalls, Billy Fitzgerald, Freddie Stagg, Pete Barnett and Willie Hope, but succeed in winning their eighth Globe Shield. They travel to Vancouver in October to challenge for the Mann Cup but are resoundingly defeated. The Mann challenge, hoped to resurrect flagging fan support, may have contributed to just the opposite.
1913 – A’s fail to defend their championship and the Globe Shield goes to the Brampton Excelsiors. The A's travel to Chicago in September to play a post-season exhibition game against the Calumets at Comiskey Park.
1914 – the A’s drop to Intermediate (Senior "B") for one season.
1915 – the Senior "A" league is reduced to just two teams (Torontos and A’s). The Athletics register a 0 – 2 record
1917 – the A’s travel to Chicago to play a benefit game against the Calumets at Weegman’s Park (to be renamed Wrigley Field in 1926). The game raises thousands of dollars to supply cigarettes to the American soldiers fighting in Europe. The team returned home to a storm of controversy after the Calumets use two professional players (ex-A's Kalls and Fitzgerald) to fill out their roster, tainting the A’s now amateur status.
1918 – pro stars Billy Fitzgerald and George Kalls return home and put together a classy Athletics team in the dream of reviving interest in the sport (suffering not only in St. Catharines but in most of the former lacrosse hotbeds since the start of the First World War). All hopes of a championship (even a challenge for the Minto Cup) end with a late season injury to Fitzgerald.
1919 – many of the Athletics are suspended by the Ontario Amateur Lacrosse Association for playing with and against professional players in 1918.
1920 – the main grandstand at the lacrosse grounds is destroyed by fire.
1921 – Athletics return to Ontario Senior competition.
1922 – the fabled Athletic Lacrosse Grounds, affectionately known as the “old corner lot,” are torn down to make way for the construction of a high school. The city promises to build a new stadium as the A’s move into their “temporary” home at the unfenced Thomas Street sports field.
1924 – the A’s field the strongest team in years but are fined and have a win overturned by the O. A. L. A. for the playing of Percy Oille. Oille, who played junior and senior for years in St. Catharines, is claimed to be ineligible under the “non-residence” ruling. The management of the Athletics suspect back-room politicking and fold the team in disgust.
1926 – the great Billy Fitzgerald dies at the age of 38 and a benefit game for his family featuring the stars of yesteryear is played before a large crowd in St. Catharines. Fond memories are rekindled and many begin to clamour for the return of the “famous Athletics.”
1928 – the St. Catharines Athletics return under the sponsorship of the local Taylor & Bate brewery and post a 10 win - 9 loss record in the five team senior O. A. L. A.
1929 – the winless T&B Athletics fold in mid-season after management decides that they can't "maintain the prestige of St. Catharines from a strictly amateur standpoint." The last senior field lacrosse team is fielded by the St. Catharines Athletics L. C.
1932 – a lacrosse “cushion” is built at the Thomas Street sports field to support the new game of box lacrosse. In subsequent years it would be expanded, play host to pro wrestling, concerts, roller-skating (when paved) and above all, countless minor, junior and senior lacrosse games. It would eventually take the name of Haig Bowl (after a street bordering it) and would exist in various rebuilt forms until 1973.
1933 – the St. Catharines Sr. Athletics return, but now to the new game of box lacrosse. They play in a newly formed O. A. L. A. "International district" with Port Dalhousie, Brantford, Ohsweken and Rochester.
1934 – the Athletics secure a spot in Group 2 of the O. A. L. A senior "A" circuit and the lacrosse box is enlarged to a seating capacity of 1,000 with the addition of two new bleacher sections on the south side of the "cushion".
1935 – Irv Lounsbury returns to the Athletics after his indefinite suspension for professionalism was lifted by the O. A. L. A. Lounsbury had played for the Montreal Maroons of the International Pro Lacrosse League in 1932 and was rumoured to have taken part in a professional game in Pittsburgh in 1933.
1936 – growing popularity of box lacrosse prompts the Parks Board to entirely rebuild the “cushion”, increasing the seating capacity to 2,200 and adding lighting ("36,000 candle power") and new double ticket windows.
1938 – The Parks Board spends $1,492.98 to increase the seating capacity of the Haig Bowl to 3,825 and install a comfort station.
1938 – the Athletics win their first Mann Cup by defeating the New Westminster Adanacs 3 games to 0 in matches played at Maple Leaf Gardens. 12,000 fans greet the Mann Cup champion A's upon their 1 am return from Toronto on a cool, damp October weeknight. A's radio announcer Rex Stimers becomes an impromptu M. C. at a gathering in front of radio station CKTB after a parade through downtown St. Catharines. Population of St. Catharines in 1938: 25,000.
1939 – the Haig Bowl is expanded to 4,200 seats making it the largest outdoor lacrosse stadium in the world. Fans still line up three hours before game time to get a seat.
1939 – Carl Holger Madsen is named league MVP.
1939 – A’s travel west to defend Mann Cup title but lose to the Adanacs in three games. A reported 8,000 well-wishers greet the team on their arrival back home and the erupted festivities rival that of the victory celebration of a year earlier.
1940 – Athletics win second Mann Cup, beating the Vancouver Burrards in four games.
1941 – Athletics win third Mann Cup, beating the Richmond Farmers 3 games to 2 in B.C. In the deciding game, centre Joe Cheevers fills in for injured goaltender Bill Whittaker in the Athletics net. Art Brown retires as coach of the A's, later to become president of the O. L. A. and eventually the C. L. A. president as well.
1942 – Bill Wilson semi-retires and becomes coach of the Athletics. George Urquhart (Navy) and rugged Roy "Bun" Barnard (Army) become the first to leave the Athletics for the military. A united Mimico and Brampton team form the hybrid "Mimico-Brampton Combines" and dethrone the Athletics as Mann Cup champions. An Athletics-Combines game in the Ontario finals drew 3,080 fans to the Haig Bowl in September. Carl Madsen is added to the Combines' line-up for the Mann Cup finals to give "Gus" three Canadian titles in a row.
1943 – Bill Wilson stays on as the team's player-coach while nearly half of the double-blue roster joins E. H. Lancaster's 10th Battery reserve unit. Jack "Wandy" McMahon and a young Bobby Thorpe leave St. Catharines for the Number 24 Basic Training Centre in Brampton and spend the summer playing for the army-based Brampton Bullets in the senior O. L. A. Roy Barnard and Bobby Melville are both wounded while serving with the Canadian Army fighting in Italy.
1944 – George Cleverly becomes coach and a depleted and injury-prone Athletics team win their fourth Mann Cup, beating the New Westminster Salmonbellies 3 games to 2 in games played in Toronto and Hamilton. The A's executive battle unsuccessfully with the C. L. A. to allow a Mann Cup game to be played at the Haig Bowl. The wild celebrations of earlier Mann Cup wins is notably absent as the team returns home from Hamilton to a quiet and sleeping St. Catharines.
1945 - A’s travel west to defend Mann Cup title but lose to the Vancouver Burrards in three games. Goaltender Bill Whittaker is named league MVP, but later is banned from C. L. A. play after striking referee Jimmy Gunn at the Mann showdown. Joe Cheevers suffers a broken leg in a motorcycle accident while serving with the Canadian Army in Germany.
1946 - Athletics win fifth Mann Cup (the second for Cleverly as coach), beating the New Westminster Salmonbellies 3 games to 0. Goaltender Doug Favell Sr. is named Mann Cup MVP.
1948 - Jack "Wandy" McMahon coaches a strong Athletics team but are upset in the Ontario semi-finals by an underdog Hamilton Tigers squad that features St. Kitts' expatriots Joe Cheevers, Doug Favell, Tom Teather, Tony Capula and Barney Welch. The Tigers go on to win the Mann Cup in 1948 and 24-year-old Favell wins his second Mann Cup series MVP award.
1949 - the team's top three scorers from 1948 (Jim McMahon, Stu Scott, and Bill Nelson) are each suspended by the O. L. A. for the entire 1949 season for playing winter lacrosse in Rochester, New York. New rule changes move the nets out to 12 feet from the back boards and this permits players to run behind them. 20-year-old Gerry Fitzgerald completes his fifth and final season with the senior Athletics as he joins the growing exodus of St. Catharines' players transferring to Peterborough.
1950 – Joe Cheevers becomes the coach while WWII "Devil's Brigade" veteran Pat Smith is voted captain. Average regular season attendance drops below 1,000 but the team manages to draw capacity crowds at the Haig Bowl for playoff dates against Hamilton and Owen Sound. The A's go to the seventh game of the Ontario finals before bowing to the eventual Mann Cup champions, the slow-moving, ball-control oriented Owen Sound Crescents.
1951 – Joe Cheevers returns as coach but is hard-pressed to replace youthful 1950 standouts Harry Wipper, Donald "Nip" O'Hearn, Jim McNulty and Leo Teatro, who have all signed with other teams, as well as retiring veteran stalwarts Pat Smith, Carson Myers, Frank Madsen and goaltending legend Bill Whittaker. Whittaker returns just before the playoffs, but the fourth-place Athletics make a quick post-season exit.
1952 – Season highlight was a late July exhibition game of the current A's versus the 1938 - 41 era champions. The 1952 team put together a 19 - 17 win on a night dripping with nostalgia, but the Joe Cheevers' squad of '52 would be the first A's team to record a losing record since 1934.
1953 - The Doug Cove coached Athletics move indoors to the Garden City Arena and begin to offer more monetary incentives to attract players. But attendance figures continue to decline as fans complained of the heat inside the arena and the team's finances were pushed into the red. On the bright side, A's defenseman Doug Smith is the league’s top scorer and the team rebounds to a 24 - 6 regular season record, good for second place behind Peterborough. In mid-season, the rover position is eliminated from senior lacrosse and the six-man box lacrosse game is born. Also, the size of the nets are reduced from 4' 6" square to 4' square with the reduction of the number of players on the floor.
1954 – after playing indoors for better than a year, the team moves back to the venerable Haig Bowl in mid-season. The seating capacity of the outdoor facility has been reduced to 2,800.
1955 – the A's return to the Garden City Arena.
1956 – in an effort to regain a contending team and stop the ongoing exodus of many star players, the Athletics executive decide they will not release any player from St. Catharines to other teams. Tony D'Amico opts to sit out the entire season when he isn't given his release to play for Hamilton. The "Tank" Teather coached team are bolstered in the playoffs by a number of talented local juniors and provide a serious but unsuccessful challenge to the perennial champions from Peterborough in a roughly-played Ontario final.
1957 – Player-Coach Joe McNulty has a hard time recruiting enough bodies to fill uniforms on some nights while attendance figures have dropped to just a few hundred per game (in the early1940's the team would get double that number in the stands to watch many practices.)
1958-59 – the A's move to nearby Welland and are renamed the Switsons. The team is coached by Carl Madsen and capture the Ontario crown in its first year in the Rose City, but fail to win over many fans in its new digs.
1960 – the A’s return to a rebuilt Haig Bowl in St. Catharines and Ron Roy is the league’s top scorer. Veteran star Jim McNulty returns home from B.C. to play for the Athletics and Port Dalhousie native son Bobby Thorpe takes over as coach. Average attendance is a disappointing 400 per game.
1961 – Gary Moore is the league’s top scorer. Player-Coach Norm Corcoran and Manager Fred Conradi persuade Jimmy McMahon to come out of retirement, but after one game and one goal scored, the veteran star hangs them up for good. Billy Fitzgerald (Sr) is inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. Old time fans are saddened in June by the sudden passing of the popular "Ali Baba", Carl Madsen, at the age of 46.
1962 – Owner-Manager Fred Conradi installs Joe McNulty as coach of the Senior Athletics. Largest crowd of the season comes in the playoffs with just under 600 paid at the venerable Haig Bowl.
1963 – Athletics win the Ontario title and play for the Mann Cup but lose to the Vancouver Carlings in six games. The series is played in Cornwall Ontario.
1964 – local Avondale Dairy become the sponsor of the Sr. Athletics and Derry Davies takes over as coach. Hard-checking Gary Hind is named league most valuable defenseman.
1965 – Joe Cheevers returns as coach of the Avondale Dairy Athletics. Son Gerry signs a hockey contract with the Boston Bruins in June and plays his last lacrosse. But also in late-June, the A's brain-trust of Jim Lomore/Joe Cheevers/Joe McNulty succeed in persuading long-bomb artist Gary Moore to come out of retirement and the dangerous two-man scoring punch of bomber Moore and the smooth-operating Ronnie Roy are reunited. Helmets become mandatory in the O. L. A. senior series.
1966 – veteran Doug Smith takes over as Player-Coach of the A's after the team very nearly folds before the season even starts. The A’s eventually do fold in mid-season due to a shortage of committed players. Iron-man Ted Howe is named the league MVP. A long and distinguished era of St. Catharines Athletics lacrosse comes to an inauspicious end.
1984-85 – John Mouradian puts a team together, the Merchant Athletics, to play in the Ontario Senior "A" loop. The inexperienced squad have some individual standouts such as Jayde Gibbs, Ron Harinch, and Kevin McNulty, but struggle on the floor and at the box office.
1999 – Bill Lefeuvre brings Major level lacrosse back to St. Catharines. The famous Athletics are reborn and play out of the Jack Gatecliff Arena (formerly known as the Garden City Arena). Grant Johnston is named league MVP.
2001 – Goaltender Anthony Cosmo is named league MVP.
2002 – The A's move to the smaller Bill Burgoyne Arena. "Home brew" Mark Steenhuis is named league Rookie of the Year (shared with Peterborough Lakers Mike Miron).
2003 – Mark Steenhuis is named league MVP and the A’s are O. L. A. regular season champions (Lionel Conacher Award). The Athletics and the Peterborough Lakers engage in an exciting seven-game, semi-final series that instills a buzz in the city not heard in many decades for senior lacrosse.
2005 – Matt Holman is named league Rookie of the Year. The 1938 St. Catharines Athletics are inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in the team category.
2006 – before the season start, the team and franchise rights are sold to Al Orth of the KW Kodiaks and moved to the Kitchener/Waterloo area. Another chapter closes on the history of the St. Catharines Athletics.

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