Fifty years and a lot of water under the bridge.
That’s the reality, but a stroll down memory lane is still about sharing memories that frame a lifetime.
Flash back to 1967 when a group of local boys bonded over a journey with their lacrosse sticks, when the game took them across Canada on a magical trip that added a new layer to the legend of the New Westminster Salmonbellies club.
Now slower, mainly grey-haired men, the teammates will reminisce on July 6, when between the first and second periods of the New Westminster Salmonbellies’ game against Maple Ridge, the 1967 peewee ’Bellies will be celebrated as trailblazers and a heckuva good lacrosse team.
“It was historic, it really was,” recalled Evelyn Benson, who along with husband Don helped foster the team, with team manager Eric Hughes and den mother Marion Hughes, into what seemed like a foreign land of adventure.
“Everyone said it couldn’t be done but it was the first time a lacrosse team of 11 and 12 year olds went on a trip of this magnitude.”
And it was a whole different world then, too. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band ruled the airwaves, the Dirty Dozen topped the box office and Prime Minister Lester Pearson gladly proclaimed Expo ’67 a venture for the “brotherhood of all men.”
Brotherhood played a role in this journey, too. When it came to the New West boys, just playing more lacrosse was the big draw. The New West squad had dominated its B.C. competition for the previous two years without a loss. In a town as lacrosse-crazy as the Royal City, the peewee ’Bellies were fairly well known.
“I always felt really lucky to be on (the team), there were a lot of very good players,” recalled Ivan Tuura, who went on to play 10 seasons in the Western Lacrosse Association with the senior ’Bellies. “It was just like an all-star team, and at the time I don’t know if I could have made an all-star team.”
The genesis of the trip began when Don Benson, the team’s coach as well as vice-president for B.C. Lacrosse and Canadian Lacrosse associations, touched on the topic at a national meeting in Quebec.
“At a (1966) meeting some of the Quebec delegation kidded me about my undefeated team and suggested maybe we should come to Montreal, take in Expo ’67 and play some lacrosse,” recalled Don. “They essentially invited us. … Then some Ontario guys got into it and said they’d be glad to host us, too.
“It just caught on.”
Much of the planning for the trip was done by Evelyn Benson and Marion Hughes, who produced checklists and provisions for each player. They asked every question possible to find out what each boy required and what, if any, personal quirks had to be taken care of. Who walked in their sleep, who had allergies, wet the bed or needed medication.
To get some funding from B.C. Lacrosse, the team agreed to expand its roster and take four players from Burnaby and Vancouver, which meant convincing parents unfamiliar with the team to let their sons travel across the country with virtual strangers.
“We had to go meet the parents, went to their homes and convince them to sign up for this trip. And they all did,” Evelyn said.
The lacrosse was central to the whole three-week event, with a landmark match up against the Oshawa peewee Green Gaels being a game for a mini-Minto Cup, as it was labelled. New West prevailed there, but in the final stop of the trip at a Peterborough tournament, the winning streak ended when they lost the final to the host team in overtime.
“They had a rule in Ontario at the time where if any player fell down and looked injured, no matter what, the play was whistled dead,” the coach said. “I wasn’t too happy that it was used at least three times, with Dan Tichner on a breakaway each time.”
Mark Benson, then 11, said the whole trip still is vivid in his memory. Visiting all the exhibits at Expo, such as John Glenn’s space capsule and the Russian pavilion, were spectacles that drew the boys’ attention. They also where put on a lacrosse demonstration on the Montreal fairgrounds.
“It was a barnstorm trip where we really had a ton of fun,” Mark reflected. “When we beat the Green Gaels I remember we all celebrated taking turns sipping out of this tiny trophy.
“But my mom said after the (Peterborough loss) that we were outsiders, we weren’t supposed to win. But we showed them how lacrosse is played.”
Unfortunately, two players – Jerry St. Jean and Darryl Hobbs – as well as Eric and Marion Hughes have passed away. One of the Burnaby players’ whereabouts is unknown at press time. The majority of those around will take to Queen’s Park’s famous wooden floor one more time to reflect and celebrate what was an amazing trek.
Despite concerns about boys being boys, all the kids were very good during the trip.
There were minor mishaps, Evelyn recalls, like when the elastic waist bands in the players’ shorts broke due to too much washing. That required a pre-game ritual where the two den mothers approached each child and asked intently if they had to use the washroom.
“We’d sit down and look them in the eye – do you have to use the washroom? Because once they had, we used electrical tape to wrap around their shorts and those pants weren’t coming off until after the game,” she said with a laugh.
