Robert "Bob" Leroux
Robert Leroux, “Man of the Year” in 1976, had a key role in the building of the Glengarry Sports Palace. This hockey arena was not the beginning of hockey for Bob though. Hockey for Bob started with a pair of goalie pads and a net with the Green Valley Pee Wee hockey league. In 1959 he played as a goalie in the Border League of Glen Robertson and Lancaster, the team winning the local championship.
From 1960 to 1964 Bob was the top scorer in the Border League Broomball in Green Valley, Dalhousie, St-Telesphore and St-Polycarpe. He also played forward on the senior lacrosse team in 1961 with Maxville and in 1962 with St-Andrews.
Bob organized a hockey match between the Glengarry Transport Ltd. Old Timers and the Montreal Canadians Old Timers. The G.T.L. team was created for this event and lasted over 20 years. Bob also organized a match between G.T.L. Old Timers and the Ottawa Old Timers. In 1977 G.T.L won the Old Timers tournament featuring teams from Gatineau, Cornwall and Montreal. Bob was named goaltender of the tournament.
Bob again organized a match for the G.T.L. team, but this time it was across the pond. He arranged for the G.T.L. team to go to Scotland and England. The team came back with no losses. The second time the team went to Europe, they went to Holland and Belgium. With the G.T.L. team coming out of Europe with no losses last time they wanted to do the same, so they did. Bob also won top goaltender in the A division at the Cornwall Civics Third Annual Old Timers Hockey Tournament.
Bob was the chairman of the Fund Raising Committee for the Glengarry Sports Palace. With help from various sources he raised over $220,000 for the construction. Wintario offered $2 for every id=”mce_marker” collected throughout the campaign. In 1976 he organized an official opening supper for the Sports Palace. He had NHL referee Red Storey come to the dinner as guest speaker and also had World Amateur Figure Skating Champion Kim Alletson of the Minto Skating Club, Ottawa Rough Rider defenseman line and kicker Moe Racine, and Expo Baseball player Mike Jorgensen. This amongst other things is the reason why Bob was unanimously voted “Man of the Year” for 1976.
To top it all off, from 1990-1993 Bob cycled the 70 km tour de L’ile in Montreal.
