It was 1960 and we were drinking KIKK Cola, going to Friday night dances at the Knights of Columbus (downstairs), learning the newest dance craze called The Twist, and buying gas for nine cents a liter.
Montreal Canadiens, led by Richard, Beliveau, Harvey and Plante, swept the post-season playoffs to win a fifth straight Stanley Cup. (This was when playoffs were put to bed in mid-April). The American Football League was born and a flamboyant kid from Alabama named Joe Namath signed with New York Jets for $100,000 a season, a record for an untested rookie. Cassius Clay won gold at the Olympic Games in Rome. Bobby Orr was playing minor hockey in Parry Sound and dreaming of some day playing in the NHL.
And in Cornwall, Moe Lemieux and a couple of his pucksterpals, graduates of the Cornwall Junior Hockey League, formed a hockey team for guys who wanted to keep playing at an easier pace.
Lemieux took possession of the naming rights, and being a loyal Boston Bruins fan, christened the club The Hubs, a moniker for the sad sack Beantowners.
Sixty-four years later, The Hubs, which morphed into an old-timers outfit, still take to the ice during the cooler months, booked in at the Benson Centre on Wednesday nights.
The Hubs, one of the country’s longest-running old-timer hockey clubs, have been around longer than 26 current NHL clubs.
The missing part is Lemieux, who in 2012, after 52 years, realized he couldn’t outskate father time and called it quits. He turned the club over a fresh face, Hubs goaltender Rick Filion.
On Saturday, Aug. 24 at the Royal Canadian Air Force Wing, the old sweats, and anyone else, will pay tribute to Moe. It runs 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
THIS AND THAT One thing that can’t be denied, The Donald has made presidential campaigns ‘interesting’ and a boon for TV ratings. The September debate with rival Kamala Harris will have Super Bowl kind of TV ratings. … If Trump, who promises a mass deportation order, returns to the White House, expect a fresh flood of asylum seekers crashing the border which will exacerbate the health care and housing crisis. … Just for the record, the three-strike rule supported by President Bill Clinton increased the number of Blacks held in American prisons. … Medical research continues to show that Don Cherry, and so many others, have it all wrong when they espouse fisticuffs as a healthy part of the game.
Controversial alderman Roy Brunet in August 1969 said he needed to keep an eye on outside city workers because supervisors were not doing their jobs at policing time theft. Several members of council and union officials had a different take and called it on-the-job harassment. Ald. Ralph Cararra said Brunet was harming labour relations between the city and union and provoking a strike. Brunet did not apologize for “spying” on outside workers. He pointed out that he had uncovered extra long coffee breaks and other abuses to which supervisors turned a blind eye. “I will keep doing what I’m doing until somebody puts me in jail … or I am forced to resign,” he said.
ALSO THIS MONTH IN 1969: This ‘take-out’ wasn’t on the menu. Three masked persons armed with pistols and a knife held up the A and W on Brookdale Avenue and made off with $1,500. To ‘encourage’ the manager to hand over money stuffed away in his office, one of the thugs pointed a pistol at his head. … In a letter to federal government officials, Indian activist Kahn-Tineta Horn questioned the authority of city police on Cornwall Island. The city annexed Cornwall Island in 1957. Previously, it was part of Cornwall Township. Horn said police were “trespassing.” However, Grand Chief Angus Mitchell supported the presence of city police on the island. “It’s good protection and it doesn’t cost us any money,” he said. … St. Joseph’s Villa accepted its first residents. … Cpl. Floyd Larose of the four-man Cornwall RCMP detachment said drug offences were climbing in the city and area with marijuana and hashish the drugs of choice. He said many of the dealers were teenagers, selling to high school students. … Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announced that his government would cut 25,000 federal jobs and freeze spending in the 1970 budget. He said there would be no tax increases in the budget. … Cornwall Royals of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League signed three local players: Gary Herrington, who scored 20 goals in his rookie season, Gerry Campeau and Mike Ruest. … Cornwall Wildcats dropped a 15-14 decision to Huntsville and lost the best-of-five Ontario senior B lacrosse semi-final in three games. Keith Bowen led the Cats with four goals. Ron Robillard and Doug Carpenter had two apiece with Lionel Quenneville, Jack McLennan, Guy Hebert, Brian Hein, Ray Silmser and Rich Herrington adding one apiece. After the game,Wildcats’ coach Norm McCrimmon announced he was retiring. … The YMCA closed its doors after an unsuccessful fund-raising campaign. … Anglican priest Rev. Kent Doe urged the provincial government to close the outdated United Counties jail and transfer prisoners to a more modern facility. Of course, the union representing guards didn’t think that was a good idea.
TRIVIA ANSWER: Hockey legend Cy Denneny spent most of his early years in Cornwall but his place of birth was Farran’s Point, one of the Lost Villages. He played on five Stanley Cup champions – four with Senators and one with the Bruins – and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1959. In 1998, The Hockey News listed him as No. 62 on its list of the top 100 NHLers.
QUOTED: When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is. – Oscar Wilde
