1985
Pete Bonneville | William Hay | John Jamieson | Ian MacLeod | James McCaffrey | John Raymond
Antoine "Pete" Bonneville
Christened Antoine Alphonse Ligouri Bonneville, Pete was born March 10,
1913. His father was Alfred Bonneville and his mother, the former Angela Richer
of Summerstown. The Bonneville family later moved to Lancaster and Pete, as a school boy, helped
in the store and did delivery work.
The Depression of the 1930s caused the Bonnevilles to close their Lancaster store and move to Cornwall. Mr. Bonneville was among the fortunate to be employed. This also marked the beginning of a national lacrosse and hockey career for teenager Pete Bonneville. |
Pete Bonneville was the most promising young lacrosse player in Cornwall; he was cut from the senior camp. Alex Stewart welcomed Pete and he was signed, along with other such players as Windy Deebank and the Whitfords. In the role of centre forward, Pete Bonneville was not only the scoring ace of the Celtics but also the league. As we have said so often of other great athletes, from this point on, Pete Bonneville never looked back.
That winter St. Columban’s organized an all-star Cornwall junior hockey team. John Denneny was coach and Father R. J. MacDonald a director. Familiar player names were the Donihees, Tilden, Joe and Garth, Lloyd MacDonald and Charlie MacPhee. Summerstown’s native son Pete Bonneville played outstanding hockey as a forward. He made a creditable showing against super star Bill Cowley, as the team lost to the Ottawa Shamrocks in the first round of Memorial Cup play. Another successful season in lacrosse was followed by the Cornwall Canadiens hockey team signing Pete Bonneville, now emerging from the junior ranks. Pete led the Central Ottawa Valley League in scoring points. He crowned this achievement in the championship final, scoring all five goals against Chesterville’s star goalie Fyke. By this time Pete Bonneville was out of school and out of work. The executive of Cornwall Canadiens had promised Pete a service station job as a reward for his stellar hockey during the past winter. They neither lived up to their word nor realized the ambitious character of Pete Bonneville. Pete Bonneville was hit by the ancient cliche, “Go West young man, go West.” Obviously the Canadiens wouldn’t give him any money and his family took a dim view of his intentions to hitchhike by both rail and highway. They gathered the sum of $37 for transportation and food. Pete was on his way to Calgary. He arrived in Calgary in time to play out the lacrosse schedule with senior team Calgary Models. That fall set the stage for Pete’s chance to make the grade to one stop below the NHL. He was invited to the Calgary Ranger camp, a farm team of the New York Rangers. Although not overpowering in size, his skating ability and stick handling skill impressed the Rangers and Pete was signed. He’ll tell you that he will always cherish the memory of playing in Canada’s Allan Cup class hockey. His first game was at centre against Drumheller. There were the famed Bentley brothers, five of them, in the lineup. Pete Bonneville’s reputation for lacrosse skills as a junior with Cornwall Celtics in our senior league had trickled west and proven to be true by his play with Calgary Models. For this reason Pete was lured to Nelson, BC, to play lacrosse, following his impressive hockey season with Calgary Rangers. But money was the deciding factor in the Depression years. Pete moved on to Nelson Maple Leafs. Trail and Rossland were the other teams in this West Kootenay league. This was 1936. Pete was a mature young man and rated among Canada’s best lacrosse and hockey pro prospects. He justified the confidence Nelson officials had placed in him. In the final championship game against Trail, Pete scored 14 goals and 3 assists. He won the league scoring title with a record 101 points, 67 goals and 34 assists. This was a season that Pete Bonneville cherishes and for that reason artist Doug Fales has sketched Pete in the uniform of Nelson Maple Leafs. Pete married the former Ruth Olive Fisher. They had one son Richard and a daughter Debbie. With the induction of Pete Bonneville on Wednesday, July 10 in Williamstown, still another of our great athletes will be awarded a deserving niche in the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame. |
William Hay
William Gilbert James Hay was born March 7, 1885 in Lochiel, Glengarry. His
parents were Mr. and Mrs. John Hay.
William G. Hay, following his elementary public school education, left his Glen Sandfield farm home to establish his life work in Montreal. The hard farm work developed a muscular physical stature that influenced young Hay to join the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. The club’s objective was to assist the development of young athletes in the sport in which they were most adaptable. Young Hay played soccer at home, but in the early 1900s lacrosse was the leading summer team sport. So he turned his interest to running, which was also a top priority in athletic competitions. |
From the archives of the Montreal Gazette sport files Leigh (Hay) LeBlanc and her father, William Cameron Hay, obtained several columns recording the athletic feats of her grandfather. We reprint a few of the excerpts that confirm the running prowess of this Glen Sandfield native.
Following gradual maturity and knowledge gained by professional training and coaching, William G. Hay was now ready to represent M.A.A.A. in top level track and field competitions. By 1904, Hay was only 19 and won his first track races, the Summer Handicaps 880 and mile in the Montreal program. Hay continued this pace until 1907. That summer he entered the Amateur Athletic Federation of Canada mile in distance running. Hay was a bronze medal winner. Hay maintained physical condition in the winter off season by continuing to run, but not on the M.A.A.A. indoor track. He trained on Mount Royal, wearing snowshoes. There were several snowshoe clubs in Montreal and Quebec City. This sport dated back to the founding of both centres. Among the popular events were snowshoe races, sprints, steeplechase and distance. William G. Hay, in 1907, entered for the first time the world championship events. He was only 22. He finished in third place. The following winter, after gaining much experience, Hay was the 1908 world champion. He also won the Latin and French medals. Hay repeated this record in 1911. In the intervening summers, Hay continued his winning ways. The Gazette stated that on August 14, 1908, Hay established a record, 4:31, in the mile M.A.A.A. race. In succeeding reports of track meets, including the major Labor Day annual program at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa, it is noted that the name of W.G. Hay is either first of second, rarely third. At the last M.A.A.A. meet, September 11, 1912, W.G. Hay was the winner of the greatest point aggregate and the gold medal for the best season work. In the April 16, 1946 edition of the Toronto Daily Star sports page, a final brief chapter closed the book of one of Glengarry’s illustrious native sons. “W. G. Hay is dead at age 61. He was the former secretary-treasurer of the Toronto Art Gallery after a successful business career in Montreal. At that time he was a world’s champion snowshoe runner and also noted as a mile runner with M.A.A.A. He was a member of the Handicraft Guild, Royal Arcanum and Trinity United Church.” |
John Jamieson
John Jamieson’s parents were Mr. and Mrs. Wm. (Billy) Jamieson. Their farm
home was on the fringe of Sorn, Ayreshire, south of Glasgow. John was born there, October 10,
1903.
At age 22, in 1925, John Jamieson bade a tearful farewell to his parents and family. He was on his way to Canada. What a contrast it was for John to find his bearings in Montreal. Filled with courage and ambition, he was determined to hurdle all obstacles and be successful in his own humble way. John Jamieson worked at several menial jobs for a while. He player some soccer. The Blue Bonnets Soccer Club was impressed with his goal keeping prowess. This led not only to his signing with the club, but also a lucrative position with Consumer Glass. |
At the time, in the late ‘20s, soccer in Montreal was at the top level, on a par with
international play. Those were the glory days of Canada Car “Carsteel,” C.N.R.
(Point St. Charles), Canadian Vickers and Blue Bonnets, to mention a few.
In 1930 Blue Bonnets defeated Carsteel for the Quebec Cup. John Jamieson was rated the top goalie. He was chosen the goal keeper for the Monteal All Stars team to play against the visiting Welsh International team. He was also chosen goalie for the Montreal-Toronto inter-city championship series. He was rewarded with several medals and silver trophies. John Jamieson’s skill as a goal keeper drew the attention of the New York Giants soccer club playing at Shea Stadium. He reported to their training camp. However, the salary offered wasn’t attractive enough for him to move to New York. In 1984 the Jamiesons took over the mercantile business of Mrs. Jamieson’s father, H.A. Christie. By a pleasant coincidence, John Jamieson’s arrival in Maxville was at a time that reminded him of the cultural traditions and heritage of his beloved Scotland, the launching of the Glengarry Highland Games. As one would expect of a popular, energetic citizen, John Jamieson in a short while became involved in community work, especially the executive promotion of the Highland Games. In the 1954 John Jamieson was elected president of the Games. He was re-elected in 1955 and 1956, the first president to serve three consecutive terms. His dedication and sound leadership prompted the executive to appoint John Jamieson to the post of secretary. He filled this important role for the next 25 years. He was ably assisted by Mrs. Jamieson. During all those years John Jamieson found time to apply his organizing skills to other matters in the interest of the Games. In the opening years the executive had to arrange with a visiting pipe-major to have his band play as the duty band. This arrangement was not always satisfactory. Noting this, John Jamieson led in re-organizing the Glengarry Pipe Band. With no Highland Games, we might not have our present band. John Jamieson was the innovator of the attractive opening number, the dance of the Highland Fling by scores of Rae MacCulloch’s lassies. And there was for years the taxing responsibility of handling the reserved grandstand seats. Mrs. Jamieson excelled in efficiency by mail, phone and the office. When John Jamieson retired in 1980 after serving as secretary for 25 years, plus three terms as president and a multitude of varied tasks, the executive wished the show its appreciation in an historic way. John Jamieson was invited to officially open the 1981 Games. The niche of John Jamieson to be unveiled in the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame, Wednesday, July 10, 1985, will be one more worthy and deserving memorial of the builders of the Glengarry Highland Games. |
Ian MacLeod
Ian MacLeod was a son of Duncan J. MacLeod and his wife, the former Bella J.
MacRae. He was born May 23, 1902. Their farm home was Lot 13, Concession 9, Caledonia Township,
thus Ian MacLeod’s birthplace was on the fringe of Kenyon Township.
Due to the fact that his youth athletic activities were in Glengarry, he
qualifies for induction. The same bylaw applied to “Little Willie” McLeod, Steve
and Dan (Sam the widow) MacDonell.
It was only natural that Ian MacLeod began his soccer career while attending Skye Public School. Continuing his studies at Vankleek Hill Collegiate, he further developed his athletic skills by playing basketball, football and target shooting with the school team. |
Glengarry soccer was officially organized on a league basis in 1924. Ian MacLeod was a valuable member of the Dunvegan team that was a charter club. He spearheaded the offence of that great team at centre forward. Among his stalwart team mates were more MacLeods, “Little Willie”, Cameron, Chisholm, and John D. MacLeod, Alex and Stewart Grant, Alex J. and Donald Rory Campbell, Alex Gray, and Johnny Carpenter.
Graduating from Kemptville, he was a class leader, winning the Ottawa Farm Journal prize for general proficiency and the Royal Bank trophy for field husbandry and soil management. Ian pursued a higher education at Guelph Agriculture College. During the next three years, starting in 1927, he was again among the leading students in class and athletics. He continued his soccer playing at centre forward in the intercollegiate schedule and the experience gained from his youth in Skye and Dunvegan made him an outstanding scorer and play maker. He was also a star member of the OAC rifle team. After graduating to the post of Ag. Rep. of Huron County, the keen desire of sportsmanship led Ian MacLeod to play golf. His agriculture knowledge gained from a farm boy to university and county representative, plus an affable disposition, made Ian MacLeod a community leader and a popular guest speaker at a sportsman’s of social function. After serving as agriculture representative in Huron, Northumberland and Brant counties, Ian MacLeod retired in 1945. He then returned to his birth place farm home with his wife, the former Grace Evans, son Donald Ian and daughter Catherine. Ian MacLeod died October 20, 1982. His contributions to Glengarry sport will be perpetuated for all time by his induction into the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame, July 10, in Williamstown. |
James McCaffrey
With this week’s brief biography of one of Alexandria’s
great lacrosse players and a successful builder-manager of championship hockey
and football teams in Canada,
we add the name of James Patrick McCaffrey, popularly known throughout his life
by his legions of friends, amateur and professional sport colleagues as “Jim McCaffrey.”
The Ottawa Citizen records that Jim McCaffrey was born in Alexandria in 1895. By the time Jim was 18 he was mature enough in age and skill to play senior lacrosse. That was 1913. Alexandria was organizing what developed to be one of Glengarry’s all-time great lacrosse teams. Jim McCaffrey, by virtue of his former newsie connections, was able to commute to Alexandria gratis and play goal. |
During the summer, Alexandria had defeated Valleyfield, Cornwall and Williamstown. They then challenged the Ottawa Shamrocks to play a home and home total goal series, the winner to enter the Ontario finals. (The brand of lacrosse was a notch below professional level.) Alexandria was defeated in Ottawa 3-2. The following Saturday, September 12, 1913, in Alexandria the largest crowd of the season was on hand. Jim McCaffrey didn’t allow an Ottawa goal. Alexandria scored two and won the series 4-3. (Lack of funds prevented an Ontario final with Brampton.)
Following the First World War, Jim McCaffrey retired as a player in lacrosse, hockey and football. He was well established with the civil service and had plenty of time to be active in a managerial role. Sport was his first love. In the early 1920s, the Ottawa Rough Riders were in dire straits, financially and in players. The historic Riders were about to fold in 1923. Jim McCaffrey’s Glengarry roots naturally made him interested in Ottawa’s survival. There was, before Jim, the Rider glory days bolstered by the play of “Big Dunc” MacDonald, Joe Corbett and Stuart Rayside. This Glengarry heritage motivated Jim to accept the challenge to save the Riders. We quote the writing of Bob Hanley in the history of the CFL Hall of Fame. “When Jim McCaffrey of the Ottawa Rough Riders took over the club as manager in 1923, he did three things: he effected an amalgamation with the old St. Brigid’s Club of the City League, of which he had been manager; he took a host of outstanding players to the Riders who were facing disbandment and he started the Ottawa club on the road to success.” And what a road of success! A road that crested with Grey Cup glory years and through the valleys of rebuilding programs. What other manager in Canada can claim that honored record in 43 years? Jim McCaffrey’s Rough Riders wasted no time in becoming a respected football club. The Riders won the Grey Cup two years later in 1925. They won again in 1926. They were winners in 1940, and ‘60. They lost the finals in 1936, ‘39, ‘41, ‘48 and ‘66. During the years Jim McCaffrey found time to be president of the Big Four in 1940 and 1956. He was president of the Canadian Rugby Union in 1955, and a member of the now CFL in various executive capacities for 12 years. After the sale of Ottawa’s NHL franchise, Jim McCaffrey managed the hockey fare in the old auditorium for a number of years with his Shamrock Juniors and Senators of the Quebec Senior Hockey League. Jim McCaffrey was married to Ella Krock. They had one daughter, Patricia. On October 29, 1966, Jim McCaffrey was accompanying the Rough Riders by train to Montreal. In the vicinity of Maxville he was stricken with a fatal heart attack. His body was removed from the train in Alexandria. Thus his life ended where it began, in Glengarry. |
John Raymond
John Alexander Raymond was born on August 1, 1887. His parents were John
Raymond and the former Catherine McNaughton. The Raymond family lived in Newington at the time.
They took up residence in Williamstown in 1895. Johnson Raymond was educated at
Williamstown public and high schools. In addition to earning reasonably high
marks in studies the other lofty priority was to excel in sports; hockey and
lacrosse in particular.
Even at a youthful age it was expected of a budding Williamstown athlete that in life it was a must to show dedication in carrying the legacy left by Big Rory MacLennan, the world hammer throw champion from nearby Glen Donald, Johnson Raymond was among the leaders bearing that distinction in hockey, lacrosse and track and field in Williamstown’s historic sport era preceding World War One. |
When Johnson Raymond was in his early 20’s he had developed in hockey as a robust winger, flanking young “Paddy” Sullivan at centre and his brother Ellis, who formed Williamstown’s goal scoring forward line to lead the team in the Cornwall and District Hockey League.
After retiring from athletics, Johnson Raymond was always a great sportsman. Among my pleasant memories are a few occasions recounting the glory eras of Williamstown in every phase of athletics. In family life Johnson Raymond married Bessie McDonald. They were blessed with three daughters and two sons, Mrs. Barbara Grant, Williamstown; Gwelda, Mrs. Dr. A.J. MacLean, Cornwall; Kay, deceased; Allan A. Raymond, Williamstown, and John K. Raymond, Summerstown. Johnson Raymond died in his 90th year in 1977. He was interred in St. Andrew’s Church cemetery, Williamstown. His memory will be retained for posterity by his entry in the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame induction ritual, Williamstown, July 10. |