TRIDENT ARCHIVES
RCN sports history: HMCS Margaree takes Fleet softball title
By Ryan Melanson,
Trident Staff
TRIDENT ARCHIVES
Ten East Coast ships competed from August 12-16, 1982, for ownership of the Fleet softball title and for the right to represent the Fleet in the fall at the base quadrant playoffs. HMCS Margaree emerged from the round-robin portion of the tournament without a loss, and defeated HMCS Iroquois in a semi-final, moving on to the final game against HMCS Skeena, where they clinched the title with a 7-1 blowout.
This month in RCN sports history
1945 – The Halifax Navy Ball team was the talk of the military sports community across the country, with many regarding them as the best amateur ball club in Canada through the 1945 season. The team started the year with a 6-0 record in exhibition play, and went 15-2 through the season proper, with a 13-game winning streak along the way, ending up 6 ½ games above their closest competition when things wrapped up in August. All stars from the team included coach Bud Morrison, top percentage hitter Irv “Peaches” Ruvin, and centre-fielder Bud Heximer, who was a standout defensively and led the league in runs, hits and home runs.
1960 – Early August saw the wind-up of the ladies’ naval softball league at HMCS Cornwallis, when the Wrens outscored the Chief and Petty Officers’ wives in a sudden death tilt 18-17. Previously, in the semi-finals, the Wrens downed the Officers’ Wives 21-2, and the Chief and Petty Officers’ Wives held the bye. At the end of the month, a representative team drawn from the best of the Wrens, Officers’ Wives and Chief PO’s Wives teams participated in a ladies’ softball tournament at RCAF Station Greenwood. In their first game they lost out to RCAF Beaverbank 18-7, and their second game, also a loss, came from a closely-played game against Greenwood that ended 12-11.
1993 – It was announced that Navy boxer CPO2(Ret’d) Jack Carter would be inducted into the Canadian Armed Forces Hall of Fame during the 1993 ceremony. Originally from London, Ontario, Carter got his start watching the boxing team in Shearwater in 1959, and after being invited in as a sparring partner, found he had a knack for the sport. He fought 44 times during his short professional career, with 39 wins, two draws and three losses. He quit boxing in 1965 to focus on the steady income and career progression promised by the Navy, and retired in 1990 after a 32-year career. Carter said he enjoyed his time boxing, but was more grateful for the Navy career that changed his life. “I want it known that even though I’m from London, I’m a Nova Scotian at heart,” he said.
