The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
A provincial basketball championship in Flin Flon In January, the Manitoba High School Athletic Association announced that Flin Flon's Hapnot Collegiate had been chosen to host the 'AAA' Provincial Basketball Championships in mid March. Hapnot has hosted other championships but this is only the second time for basketball, a sport excelled by Flin Flon teams in the past. The M.H.S.A.A. is a great organization, one of the most successful and best run in the country. Phys-ed types and school principals make up the executive but the real credit belongs to Morris Glimcher, executive director since 1975, and the only Canadian to receive a prestigious award from the organization that governs U.S. school sports. Mo is a great promoter of high school sports and provincial championships, is involved in many other organizations, and is president of Bandy Canada. I got to know Morris well, after he called and asked me to run for the M.H.S.A.A. board, representing large high schools. It was an enjoyable four year term which involved representing the board at basketball and fastball provincial championships including ones held in Flin Flon (Hapnot won), Swan River and Teulon. At that time the basketball championships were held at either the University of Manitoba fieldhouse or the University of Winnipeg. Mo and I even traveled to Ottawa in the Mulroney years and met with the Manitoba MPs to try to get financial support for rural athletic facilities in Manitoba. The Manitoba PC caucus included political heavyweights Jake Epp, Jack Murta and George Minaker. Epp, a former teacher and prominent in high school basketball, was very sympathetic and provided the M.H.S.A.A. with several grants for the promotion of sports. Earlier, Morris had sweet-talked Mr. Liberal, Lloyd Axworthy, out of a half million dollars to build track and field tracks in such places as Brandon, Carman, and Beausejour. When the Filmon government took over in Manitoba, many of us tried to get Morris to go for the job as Deputy Minister of Sport. Who better? However, Morris declined and continues to do yeoman service for high school athletics, which of course now includes hockey. Getting back to bandy, Morris reminded me that a Flin Flon bandy team visited Russia a few years ago. The star of the team was Tracy Salamandra who Morris insists was the best female bandy player in Manitoba. For the uninitiated, bandy is a game like hockey, played on a rink the size of a football field, using a ball and a hockey-like stick. It is popular in Russia, Scandinavia, and there is a possibility of it being added as a demonstration sport in the 2014 Olympics. Morris Glimcher is still the president of Bandy Canada. The M.H.S.A.A. was formed in 1962 after a government study on physical education and recreation, headed by Dr. Kennedy, then head of phys-ed At the U of M. One recommendation was the need for a secondary school athletic association. Today it is nationally recognized as a positive influence on the lives of students as it organizes "the other half of education". There are 37,000 athletes in 192 high schools with 50 championships operated. In 1991, schools were classified 'AAAA' through to 'A', depending on enrolment, with provincial school championships organized equally in each category. Schools may choose to compete any year in a higher classification, but only a few do. Awards, trophies, etc. are the same in each category. Hapnot is in 'AAA' (300-400) rural students plus Winnipeg schools of 100-400 such as Elmwood, Churchill, St. James and a host of private schools. Rural schools include Portage, Neepawa, R.D. Parker, Margaret Barbour, Swan River and Dauphin. Schools from 1968-91 had been placed in one of three categories Ð 'AAA' to 'A', but it was in the pre-classification era that Hapnot's basketball Kopper Kings and Queens shone, especially the Kopper Queens. In Morris Glimcher's words they were simply "awesome". Superbly coached and trained, the Queens dominated girls' basketball in Manitoba winning five in a row from 1950-55, then again in '58 and '60 Ð seven times in ten years! The teams had many fine athletes such as Nancy Sjoberg and Yvonne Horkoff on the early teams, then Monica Vickery, Jackie Masson, Lila Larson and later Lenore Larson. The Kopper Kings were always a high level competitor and won the provincial title in 1956. They had star players such as Mel Huzsti (later captain of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies) Andy Sczocs, Hank Marcuk, Jim Wilson and Robert Sorenson to mention only a few. Flin Flon hasn't won a basketball title since the new classification began. Maybe this year! Of the many things Flin Flon does well, hosting a championship is one of the best. I had a first hand experience in the late 1980s, joining my St. James Collegiate team for the provincial fastball championships. Many of the boys had never been out of Winnipeg and had a superb time. They attended a fish fry and dance, fished at Denare Beach, and generally enjoyed the host school's great hospitality. They had the misfortune of meeting Hapnot in the first game and were saved by the "mercy rule". That year, Hapnot won their third provincial title, with the team including a number of players from Creighton. Plan to attend the basketball games scheduled for March 18th-20th. The play should be as excellent as the organization.
