Sports

Reunion of Maple Leaf greats as Armstrong named to Leaside hall

THE ENTERTAINER AND SHAKEY: Maple Leafs alum, Eddie Shack, left, and Mike Walton, came out to support their 1967 Stanley Cup winning teammate, George Armstrong, at the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Nov. 20.
THE ENTERTAINER AND SHAKEY: Maple Leafs alum, Eddie Shack, left, and Mike Walton, came out to support their 1967 Stanley Cup-winning teammate, George Armstrong.

Leaside Memorial Gardens was flying the Blue and White colours, Nov. 20 during the third annual Leaside Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The sports community inducted five benchmarks of Leaside, and named their 2015 athlete of the year award in front of a packed house — which included members from the 1967 Stanley Cup-winning Toronto Maple Leafs.

The reason for the small reunion featuring Bobby Baun, Eddie Shack and Mike Walton was the guest of honour, George Armstrong, who after living 55 years in the community, and his kids having grown up there, was being inducted into the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame.

Leaside Sports Hall of Fame: 2015 inductees

Untitled-2Pat (Watt) Friesen
Multiple Sports
Friesen was an accomplished junior athlete in both tennis and basketball, then continued as an adult in baseball and basketball. Along with her mother, she was a founding member of the Leaside Curling Club. Friesen has competed locally, nationally, and internationally throughout her sporting career.

Untitled-3Norm (Charlie) Ahier
Baseball
Ahier moved to Leaside as a boy in 1959 where he quickly picked up baseball and hockey. As an adult, he’s been involved with Leaside Atom Baseball Association, a league for whom he was a coach for several years before taking over and serving as president since 1988.

LSHFIArthur (Laurie) Irwin
Basketball
Irwin was a significant contributor to basketball for over four decades. In the 1920s, he coached both men’s and women’s teams. Irwin was manager for the 1948 Olympic basketball team, and later was part of a group that set out an internationally accepted set of rules for basketball. Irwin died in 1991.

Untitled-4Annie Fahlenbock
Hockey
Fahlenbock began her hockey career in Leaside in 1988. She was named to Team Ontario in ’97, was rookie of the year in the National Women’s Hockey League in ’00, and captained her NCAA Div I team in ’03. Since 2005, she’s been head instructor of the Leaside Wildcats’ Learn to Play program.

It was almost two weeks after his most recent accolade, a bronze statue outside the Air Canada Centre was unveiled on the Maple Leafs’ Legends Row, but somehow, this honour hit closer to home for him.

Even Leafs president Brendan Shanahan sent a letter to the Hall of Fame, noting “tonight’s induction preserves and recognizes your legacy in the Leaside community.”

Armstrong joked about the letter.

“He knows what to say,” Armstrong told the Town Crier, of the Legends Row nod and Shanahan’s remarks. “That’s why he has the job.”

His family, seated at the table, laughed.

“They have to be dragging the bottom of the barrel to pick me,” Armstrong added, his eyebrows raised.

Still, it was a proud moment for him and his family, and he was sure to point out the First Nation’s neck attire that he wore for his mom.

In his speech, he shared how he settled his young family in Leaside after travelling from Stouffville, Agincourt, Danforth Village and Davisville and, of course, going back home to Sudbury during the off-season.

“I lived all over the city, and I looked for a place that was close to work — Maple Leafs Gardens — good schools, good recreation and I chose Leaside to live in and I must say, I’ve never been disappointed,” he told the applauding crowd of more than 100. “Now the cream coming to the top of the milk is me being inducted to the Leaside Hall of Fame.”

Leaside’s 2015 Athlete of the Year, Reid Humphrey said he was happy about the event, and was admittedly caught off guard when he was notified of his own award.

“They just said I was such a good hockey player for the team, and I had been playing in Leaside since I was four years old,” he said. “I was always a part of the Leaside organization.”

Though he has a long way to go to be inducted, he said he admired those getting the nod: former president of the Canadian Amateur Basketball Association, Arthur (Laurie) Irwin; tennis stalwart Pat Friesen; hockey player and coach, Annie Fahlenbock and Leaside Atom Baseball Association president Norm (Charlie) Ahier.

Also in attendance, were councillors Mary Fragedakis, Jon Burnside, keynote speaker and hockey historian, Bryan McFarlane as well as former Toronto Maple Leafs’ president and general manager, Cliff Fletcher.