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.
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 twice scoring) 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.
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.
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.
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.
1899 – A’s suspend operations for one year shortly after a particularly violent game against the Orangeville Dufferins drew 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).
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.
1908 – the Athletics field another very strong team and defeat the N. L. U.’s Torontos and Tecumsehs. They challenge Vancouver A. C. for a Minto Cup showdown but 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.
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, Oshweken 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".
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.
1943 – many A’s report to military service.
1944 – depleted Athletics team win fourth Mann Cup, beating the New Westminster Salmonbellies 3 games to 2.
1945 - A’s travel west to defend Mann Cup title but lose to the Vancouver Burrards in three games. Goaltender Bill Whittaker named league MVP, but is later banned from C. L A. play after striking referee Jimmy Gunn at the Mann showdown.
1946 - Athletics win fifth Mann Cup, beating the New Westminster Salmonbellies 3 games to 0. Goaltender Doug Favell Sr. is named Mann Cup MVP.
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. Also caught playing for Rochester was Roy "Pung" Morton, who promptly decides to retire.
1950 – 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.
1953 - Athletics move to the Garden City Arena and begin to offer more monetary incentives to attract players. But attendance figures continue to decline as fans complain of the heat inside the arena and the team's finances are pushed into the red. On the bright side, A's defenseman Doug Smith is the league’s top scorer.
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 – 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. Average attendance is a disappointing 400 per game.
1961 – Gary Moore is the league’s top scorer. Old time fans are saddened in June by the sudden passing of the popular "Ali Baba", Carl Madsen, at the age of 46.
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 – hard-checking Gary Hind is named league most valuable defenseman.
1966 – the A’s fold in mid-season due to a shortage of committed players. Ironman Ted Howe is named 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).
1999 – 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.
2003 – A’s are OLA 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.
2005 – 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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