Major Award Winners
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Tommy Gorman, Basketball
“A game we lost is first to come to mind,” said Tom Gorman recalling his three years of university basketball with Carleton Ravens in the now-defunct Ottawa-St. Lawrence Conference.
“That was against Sir George William, (now Concordia). The winner went to Windsor and the loser went home,” continued Ottawa’s athlete of the year for 1966 and the first from a team sport to make the list.
Windsor was the site for the second national championship university tournament and hence one of the reasons why the game topped the list of memorable games for Gorman, a freshman.
Another reason the game was memorable was a basketball specimen in Sir George colours by the name of Warren Sutton. When Sutton is on, he’s a one-man wrecking crew. And he was on that Saturday afternoon in March destroying the Ravens 79-68 in the Ravens’ Nest. Always one step ahead of his opposition on the court, Sutton will use any weapon at his disposal — even skullduggery. And he makes it work, too.
He used a “golden oldie,” one where someboy on the floor walks toward a team-mate behind the baseline in possession of the ball and says loud enough for everyone in the immediate area to hear: “I’ll take it,” and the team-mate complies. Sutton, however, didn’t change places with his team-mate. He scored a free field goal.
Gorman became the first Raven to break 1,000 points during his university career. A final season production of 540 points gave him 1,020 for scheduled competition and 1,698 overall in 77 games, an average of slightly better than 22 per game (he got 36 in that Sir George contest in which Ravens were without another valuable freshman, Cliff Lebrun, who jammed his shoulder the previous night).
Gorman did have a “winner” — the game against the University of Alberta in the consolation final of the nationals in Halifax in 1965 after a tough opening loss to Acadia and the redhot Steve Konchalski.
And Ravens can be permitted to wonder what might have been the outcome had Lebrun been able to have gone into the tournament on two solid legs. He missed the better part of the second half of the season recovering from surgery to repair a damaged hurt in a Christmas practice.
Gorman was the standout candidate in the field of 10, the elite of 1966 in recognition of Centennial Year. Whether the selectors actually got a consensus is probably up for grabs.
The screening committee started the day examining 39 sports. When they took a final preferential ballot, 24 sports received at least one vote. Baseballer Rod Scharf (Gorman represented the sport in 1959) curler Eldon Coombe, his Brier rink still coming, and quick football halfback Claude Landriault were among the rivals.
Tommy and older brother Dave are both in the administrative end of harness racing, both of them third generation horsemen. Grandfather T.P. set the stage when he introduced the trotters and pacers to Connaught Park in the early 1950’s.
They were never basketball team-mates with the Ravens, but did manage a season with Norm Fenn’s Ottawa Braves.
SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR (BOB MAKI TROPHY)
W. G. ‘Bud’ Clark, skiing, paddling
The Associated Canadian Travellers got a name for their special award, The Bob Maki Trophy, in time for the 1966 awards night, and their first selection was the late W. G. “Bud” Clark, a standout choice.
“Thank you very much”, said the thunderstruck Clark at the presentation. “I had no inkling until skiing was mentioned”, said the pleased veteran sportsman afterwards.
The Maki Trophy was presented to the ACT Dinner in memory of Maki, a Provincial Police constable killed in the line of duty. Maki was deeply involved in his community and a number of his friends including veteran National Hockey League goalie Roger Crozier asked permission to present the trophy.
That skiing tipped off the winner should come as no surprise to anyone with the slightest knowledge of sports. The trophy winner has the Bud Clark Run, one of Camp Fortune’s most difficult runs, named after him.
Former Journal sports editor Bill Westwick said, “many termed him a man ahead of his time and I guess he was.” A ski school at Camp Fortune in the early 1930s was something out of the ordinary.
Clark, an uncle of Anne Heggtveit, competed in both the 1932 Olympics at Lake Placid and the 1936 Olympics at Garmish-Partenkirchen. He also put in many years at the executive level of the sport.
He was keenly interested in paddling and competed with the old Ottawa-New Edinburgh Canoe Club. He was also involved with Mel Rogers, of figure skating fame, in preserving the Canadian Advisory Sports Council which had some input into the formation of the Canadian Summer and Winter Games program.
Top Amateurs
Basketball — Tom Gorman
Baseball — Rod Scharf
Curling — Eldon Coombe
Equestrian — John Atack
Figure Skating — Mary Lynn Petrie
Football — Claude Landriault
Golf— Hugh Patterson
Hockey — Mike Corrigan
Speed Skating — Gerry Cassan
Tennis — Terry Leach
Notes on a Cuff
Ottawa Curling Club member Eldon Coombe was still looking for his first Brier trip but had consolation in Branch curling… He won the Jubilee, Colts and Governor Generals… Baseball pitcher Rod Scharf got his second of three baseball, a banquet high nominations over a 15-year stretch… The 1966 field was limited to ten to have the elite on hand to celebrate Centennial Year… The balloting was preferential and 24 sports received at least one vote… There were 39 sports when the day began.