Gordon Bell’s football legacy to be celebrated

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This article was published 05/09/2023 (272 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

High school football in Winnipeg — or rugby, as it was known in those days — can be traced back to the early 1930s. Gordon Bell High School, which was then located on Wolseley Avenue, near Maryland Street, was one of the original teams. In 1936 and 1937, Gordon Bell beat Kelvin for the city title.

The next championship for the Gordon Bell Panthers came in 1959 when they beat Daniel Mac 15-13. Panther fullback Neil McLean ran for 169 yards in the final. This was the last season the team played out of Wolseley Avenue, when Gordon Bell traded locations with Mulvey School a few blocks north. The school also won championships in 1973, 1974 and 1977. However, it has not had a football program since the early 1980s.

For Gordon Bell, the 1973 season is being celebrated as a season to remember. The Panthers, under head coach Bob Lawler, opened the season with a 39-6 victory over the Grant Park Pirates. The team then went on a run of five straight wins with the victims Tec Voc, Daniel Mac, Kelvin, Churchill and Elmwood. The offence, led by quarterback Kurt Munt, scored 191 points in the five games and the defense gave up only 27.

Gordon Bell then suffered its only loss 12-6 to St. Paul’s. In the semi-final, the Panthers beat Daniel 21-6 to set up a championship game against Grant Park, which had upset the undefeated North Division champion St. John’s Tigers 14-13. The headline in the Winnipeg Free Press on Nov. 2 over the championship story read “A Night To Remember For Kris Munt.” The all-star quarterback scored three touchdowns on the ground and completed six of 10 passes for 86 yards, including one for a touchdown by Allan Walkey. Bruce Shelest kicked three converts in the 27-21 victory.

With a touchdown and three converts, Rick Martin led the Grant Park attack. Perry Ferguson on a 30-yard run, and Dave Ormiston on a pass from Dave Mears, also scored Pirate TDs.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1973 championship, the Panthers have a reunion planned for Sept. 21 to 23. Defensive tackle Paul Moist, of the organizing committee, said about 25 team members plan to attend. Al Balasko, Wayne Hawrysh, Gary MacMillan and Lance Nose are expected from B.C., and Bob Pincura from Edmonton.

On day one, a championship team photo will be unveiled in the hallway near the school gym and team members will watch a film of the championship game. On Sept. 22, a dinner will be held at Villa Cabrini. The evening will include tributes to deceased team members Munt, Shelest, Doug Gillis, Don Kisil, Ray Mahrel, Pat Ryan and Grant Webb. The third day has a gathering at the school for all Gordon Bell Panthers alumni and a video tribute to coaches Lawler and Bob Wilkes, who were members of the 2020 Football Manitoba Hall of Fame induction class. This event is open to all school alumni.

The Winnipeg High School Football League lists eight Gordon Bell alumni has having played in the CFL. Jeff Nicklin, Jim Foubister, Marvin Bergson, Ron Vaacher, Ray Ash, and Stan Mikawos, who was a member of the 1977 Gordon Bell champions, all played for the Blue Bombers. Gordon Sturtridge played for the Bombers and the Saskatchewan Roughriders while Frank Mathers played for Winnipeg and Ottawa.

Mathers is better known for his hockey career that included time in the NHL and as a player and executive with the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League. In the spring of 1943, he and 17-year-old Gordon Bell student Bill Tindall played for the Canadian junior hockey champion Winnipeg Rangers. That fall, Tindall was named captain and all-star running guard on the Winnipeg Tribune high school football all-star team. He also was an all-star the previous season. In 1946, when the defenceman helped the Winnipeg Monarchs win the Canadian title, the Gordon Bell graduate became the last Manitoban to play for two Memorial Cup champions.

Like Mathers and Tindall, Bruce Hudson was another multi-sport athlete from the Wolseley area. He was a city football all-star center with Gordon Bell, who told this columnist that he learned to snap the ball when the older Mathers and Tindall let him play touch football with them. His baseball catching career with Rosedales and St. Boniface Native Sons and two Manitoba men’s curling titles earned him induction into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, where Mathers and Nicklin already were members.