ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Barney Hartman, Skeet
When American service personnel built a trap and skeet range in Goose Bay, Labrador, little did they know that they were building a facility that would spawn on of the all-time great guns of the sport, Barney Hartman.
Hartman, an RCAF squadron leader, wasn’t interested in spending his recreation time while stationed there in a bar so he went looking for something else. He found the trap and skeet range, guns and ammunition and he was off and running.
This second career was to take him to such places as Oslo, Norway, Sao Paulo, Brazil and Cairo, Egypt in search of competition and his reputation as a shooter grew as fast as his travel mileage.
He earned ACT nomination as athlete of the year for 1959 with a number of top-flight performances. His best was a 348-350, a world record, in a shoot near Detroit, Mich. He lost one target in both 410 and 28 gauge shooting.
He and Cup McCreery joined a long list of competitors when they registered 100 x 100 in two-man team shooting, another world’s best, he also won his fourth of eight Canadian championships and was high gun in the U.S. Nationals at Savanah, Ga.
He’s also “enjoyed every ACT dinner he attended.” (He was back in 1961 and 1962 with more world records in his baggage). “Montreal is dead. What about Toronto?” he asked.
That’s one year in the Hartman story, one started by chance.
And he’s got a book, “Hartman on Skeet”
SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR
Eddie Condon, tennis, skiing
Associated Canadian Travellers Sportsmen’s dinner officials added the missing link to their honors list with the addition of a “special award” to recognize “builders” for outstanding contribution to their sport or sports, either locally, nationally or internationally.
The first winner, the late Eddie Condon, would have qualified no matter the criteria set down to determine the winner. Fortunately those following don’t have to match.
Condon was a rare bird, spreading his talents to all three areas through skiing and tennis. He was one of very few ever to sit on the Olympic Committees of two countries —in his case the American and Canadian.
However, his major contribution to Canadian sport started locally. That was the establishment of the Canadian junior tennis championships at the Rideau Lawn Tennis Club in 1949.
Keys to the success of the venture were the long hours put in by volunteers such as Bill Cunningham and a regulation that permitted the younger age-class competitor to challenge those older in age. Americans flocked to the Rideau tournament for precisely that regulation — something they did not have.
Twenty-five years, give or take five as Canadian junior development, chairman, was not without benefit.
His international contacts also helped boost the tournament stature. For example, he was able to lure Rod Laver away from Harry Hoppman, Australia’s tennis czar, long enough for the redhead to win the Canadian title.
Laver, you remember, was the last player to capture Wimbledon as an amateur and professional.
Baseball — Tom Gorman
Basketball — Sandy Keir
Badminton — George Liddiard
Bowling — Emile Cote
Curling — Arnie Butterworth
Equestrian — Ruth Hurdman
Football — Pete Barnabe
Figure skating — Marilyn Crawford, Blair Armitage
Gymnastics — Frank Adams
Golf — Peter Zebchuk
Hockey — Frank Dunnigan
Lacrosse — Lally Lalonde
Paddling — Mike Scott
Rowing — Tony Biernacki
Skiing — Anne Heggtveit
Softball — Shirley Kehoe
Trap and skeet — Barney Hartman
Tennis — Pat Ryan
Skiers won five of the first eight athlete of the year honors at the Sportsmen’s Dinner, but you couldn’t tell by the city’s school, Fisher Park, opened a couple of years before the dinner started. The scarlet and white had five athletes top either track and field or football categories over the same span… The track and field athletes were Mark Molot, twice, Paul Kelly and Tony Blair and the footballer was the multi-talented Peter Barnabe… Barnabe also played basketball and once held all six high school track flat jump records. He was wiped out by Nepean’s Doug Vine… Barnabe will run the high school track and field championships here next June.