New museum exhibit celebrates town’s sports history

Brian O’Rourke discusses some of the attributes of the memorabilia in the exhibit “A Celebration of Tillsonburg Sports History” with Annandale National Historic Site curator Kate Bakos as he received a tour of the display. O’Rourke was critical in assisting with bringing the exhibit together. (Jeff Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

A new exhibit at Annandale National Historic Site is highlighting Tillsonburg athletes who have competed at the Olympic and international stage.

Called “A Celebration of Tillsonburg Sports History”, the exhibit highlights the accomplishments of the Livvies – the town’s basketball team that won the senior men’s title and went on to be the core of the Canadian team at the Olympics – as well as the accomplishments of Olympic contender Evan Van Moerkerke, NHL vice-president Colin Campbell, and others.

The exhibit opened earlier this month and will continue until Oct. 18.

The exhibit came about in a roundabout way, one that involved another local sports legend, high school basketball coach Brian O’Rourke. During an anecdotal conversation several months ago with the editor of the Post, who was an English student of his years ago, O’Rourke mentioned a tale of notoriety associated with a flag stolen during the 1952 Helsinki Olympics that is in Annandale House’s collection. The former teacher took advice from his former student about sharing this important piece of history with the museum staff, conversations took place, one thing led to another, and the exhibit.

“Tillsonburg is a sports town,” O’Rourke said. “Tillsonburg has a disproportionate number of Olympians for its size. This is a history we’ve got to celebrate, and teach Tillsonburg about.”

O’Rourke coached the Glendale High School boys’ basketball team for 21 years, being at the helm as it went to the OFSSA provincial championships three times at the AAA level and won silver medals, despite the school’s single A student population level. The team also played an exhibition game prior to a Detroit Pistons game at the Pontiac Silverdome.

During O’Rourke’s time, he coached the sons of former Livvie player Bill Coulthard, David, Chris and Bruce, all of who played university basketball and represented Canada on international university-level teams. Although he didn’t coach daughters Betty and Carol, he gave both credit for being players responsible for Glendale championships on the girls’ basketball side.

How did a town of less than 10,000 people in those days come to have a basketball team that won the Canadian men’s championship? Tillsonburg industrialist Gerry Livingston brought players to work at Livingston’s and play on the team. Ambi Gardner, Red Curran and Bill Courthard were amongst them.

O’Rourke remembers reading about the 1952 Olympics as a youth in Chatham.

“That team was the heart and soul of Tillsonburg,” he said. “That was the place to be and everyone came here and cheered for them.”

The story that was the genesis of the exhibit was some members of the Livvies team decided it would be fun to sneak into the stadium and steal the Olympic flag in Helsinki. When they succeeded, they tried again a second night, were caught and arrested. Those wanting to know their fate will need to visit the exhibit to find out.

Not only did O’Rourke spark an idea for the exhibit, he assisted with collecting items for it. He knew Van Moerkerke’s family and came to know Campbell through sporting events in town.

The display includes many pieces of memorabilia from the Livvies team, and is a prelude to a full exhibit on the team planned for next year on the 75th anniversary of the 1952 Olympics.

Campbell has an impressive history in his 50-plus years associated with professional hockey. He played for the Peterborough Petes from 1970 to 1973, was drafted by the Pittsburg Penguins in 1973, and played for the Colorado Rockets, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings. He started his coaching career with the Red Wings as assistant coach, before moving to the New York Rangers, where he was part of a Stanley Cup-winning team. In July 1998, he became Senior Vice-president of the NHL and Director of Hockey Operations. Today, he is the Executive Vice-President of Hockey Operations.

Campbell’s son Gregory, who won Stanley Cup rings as both a player with the Boston Bruins and a member of the Florida Panthers coaching staff, is also featured in the exhibit.

Van Moerkerke was part of the Canadian Olympic swimming team in 2016, and finished seventh in the 4 x 100m relay. He was a silver medalist at the Pan-Am games and carried the Pan-Am games torch as part of the relay from Mexico to Toronto in 2015. The exhibit includes some of his medals, his Olympic jacket and the torch from the Pan-Am games.

Seeing the exhibit for the first time, O’Rourke remarked, “They’re going to love this.”

Museum staff are working on including more Tillsonburg athletes of note in the exhibit, including former Olympic trap shooter Sam Vance.