Woodstock Sport Wall of Fame

Joe McGuire is a native of Woodstock. He is a high school teacher, coach, referee, and a renowned distance runner. 

Joe started his running career in 1977 completing his first marathon in 1979. Since then he has competed in over 200 races, of which approximately 40 were marathons. 

Highlights were: 

• 11 Boston; 

• 3 Halifax (one of which was Joe’s best marathon time, 2 hr. 27 min., currently a N.B. record); 

• 3 New York; 

• 2 Ottawa (one of which was Olympic Trials); 

• 1 Chicago 

Joe has won 5 National Masters race 

• Two marathons 

• One 13.1 mile 

• One 20 K 

• One 10 K 

Joe currently holds the Canadian Masters record for five miles on the road, (24 minutes 56 seconds) 

As a master, Joe has not lost a race in Canada or in the New England States. 

The highlight of Joe’s career was the Boston Marathon in 1985 when he won the masters’ category and was the first Canadian finisher overall. He has been the top Canadian masters finisher each year that he has run Boston. 

In recognition of his success in Boston, the Woodstock Old Home Week Road Race was renamed, the Joe McGuire Road Race in 1985. 

Woodstock’s Joe McGuire continues to run and compete in races. 

~ INDUCTION, NOVEMBER 4TH, 1995 ~ 

Lou, a native of Woodstock, was born in 1918. 

He attended Teacher’s College in Fredericton and received a B.A. and B. Ed. From U.N.B. and in 1978 he retired from teaching after 40 years. 

The success in golf he has achieved over the span of 60 years fills the record books as highlighted below. 

• 3 N.B/P.E.I. Willington Cup teams 

• 12 N.B Senior teams, 11 consecutives 

• 7 Maritime Senior titles, 6 consecutives 

• 7 N.B. senior titles 

• 28 Club Championships, 12 consecutives 

• 78 O.H.W Championships, renamed Lou Beatty Tournament 1995 

• Course Record of 61 at O.H.W.  in 1970 

• Inducted into N.B Sports Hall of Fame in 1984 

• Honorary member of Maritime Seniors and Woodstock Golf & Curling Club 

• President and Vice President of Woodstock Golf Club at different times 

• 10 years N.B.G.A. governor for Woodstock 

At the age of 77 he continues to shoot his age or better. 

Lou’s golfing ability, love of the game, humble manor, and encouragement to all makes him one of the greatest golfers in New Brunswick. 

~ INDUCTION NOVEMBER 4, 1995 ~ 

M. Marjorite “Puss” Lindsay was born in Tracy, New Brunswick in 1901. She was educated in Tracy and Fredericton, obtaining a B.A. degree from the University of New Brunswick. 

Puss excelled at basketball on the U.N.B team and was captain two of the four years she played. 

In 1927, she and Don, her husband, moved to Woodstock where she became a well-respected high school teacher. 

During the 1930’s she dominated the Maritime Badminton circuit with her impressive string of titles: four ladies, three mixed doubles, and one ladies’ doubles championships. 

On the golf course she held her own amongst the best in New Brunswick, capturing the Provincial Crown in 1936 and challenging, as runner up, in 1937 and 1938. Puss and Don also won a N.B. mixed golf championship, and for many years she was Club Champion at the Woodstock Golf Club. 

Her impressive achievements are a testimony to her talents and abilities in badminton and golf in N.B. 

We honour Puss Lindsay as a true sportswoman and champion. 

~ INDUCTION, MAY 13TH, 1995 ~ 

Bill Reardon was born December 12th, 1912 in Woodstock and there pursued an exemplary athletic career, excelling in Basketball, Football, Baseball and Boxing. 

Outstanding in Basketball, he was instrumental in many Championships won by Woodstock High School, Carleton County Vocational School, the 89th Captain and top scorer. As a mainstay of the Woodstock Senators, he raised standards with innovative play. 

In University, Bill was the “Three Letter Man” for two years in Basketball, Football and Boxing winning a Maritime Light Heavyweight title in 1932. 

Bill Reardon was acclaimed by Coach Bob Brown as the greatest all-round athlete to come out of Woodstock, a true sportsman, a perfect gentleman, and a benchmark for Woodstock athletic tradition. 

~ INDUCTION MAY 13TH 1995 ~ 

Murray Ralston was born and educate in Woodstock and has been a continuous resident in the area. 

He was a mainstay of the pitching staffs of the championship baseball teams of the 1950’s. 

Ralston was a standout player in interscholastic hockey at Woodstock High School and later with intermediate teams of the 1950’s and early 60’s. 

His employment as an engineer with the C.P.R. kept him absent often during the hockey season but he possessed the capability of making his presence felt with little practice. 

Ralston was one of the province’s top hurtles, in an ear dominated by important players. His fast ball has “pop”, his curve ball “sharp breaking” and his slider “devastating.” 

Among his laurels were: 

• Pitched a 13-1 no hitter in the first round of the 1952 senior play offs. Named the York Sunbury Carlton Baseball League Most Valuable Player in 1953. 

• Pitched three wins in the four games to defeat the Dalhousie Dodgers in the 1953 Provincial Finale Series. 

• Tosses a five hitter and hit a two run homer in the rubber game of the maritime Senior B finale to leader Woodstock in a 5-4 win over Sydney Mines, N.S. in 1968. 

~ INDUCTION, AUGUST 25TH, 1995 ~ 

On August 9th, 1919, Earle Avery began his racing career in Woodstock, by winning two heats with a horse named Black Peter; his first prize was a blanket. 

In the next 54 years he won 9 World Record Driving Performances and 4,000 victories for purses in excess of three and one half million dollars. He became one of the finest and most respected trainer/drivers in harness racing in North America. 

Earle Avery’s honors include: 

• Woodstock’s first Earle Avery Day, December 28th, 1963. 

• In 1963, when he retired at 78 years of age, he was given the U.S. Trotting Association’s Golden Service Award for Meritorious Service and Dedication to his sport, and the “Good Guy Award” for co-operation with the press in furthering the aims and objectives of harness racing. 

• Inducted into the N.B. Sports Hall of Fame, June 5th, 1976. 

• Inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1977. 

• Inducted into the U.S. Harness Racing Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York, July 2nd, 1978. 

Woodstock is proud to honor this great Canadian Champion. 

~ INDUCTED AUGUST 26TH, 1995 ~ 

He loved horses, basketball and building character. Robert Rankin Brown was born March 14th, 1903 and died April 12th, 1966. “Bob” was “Mr. Basketball” in Woodstock, coaching teams for 30 years, primarily Woodstock High School. 

Noteworthy were Interscholastic Championships in 1938, 1940 and 1942, Maritime Juvenile wins in 1945 and 1947 and Dominion of Canada Juvenile Crown in 1946. 

He was with the 1928 Senators for a Maritime Intermediate victory and in 1950 for an Eastern Canada Championship. In 1947 his Carleton County Vocational team won the provincial Junior Trophy. 

Paradoxically, basketball was second to the race horses that he owned and trained. 

Bob was a master phycologist who realized that every boy unlocked with a different key. HE would do anything to his boys, and educated them as gentlemen, earning their respect. He was a second father, friend and advisor to them all and is credited with the building not only basketball teams and athletes, but also character and men. 

Robert “Bob” Brown was inducted into the N.B Sports Hall of Fame, Fredericton N.B on May 30th, 1981. 

~ INDUCTED AUGUST 26th, 1995 ~ 

“The Red Raiders”, “Power Unlimited”, “The Punch Lines”, all names for the basketball team that was the Town of Woodstock’s pride and joy in 1946. 

In 1945, Coach Bob Brown’s WHS Red Raiders captured the Maritime Juvenile Championship, so in 1946, with many of the team still in High School, plus new men joining ranks, he confidently eyed the Canadian Juvenile Title. 

The NB Juvenile playoffs started with wins over Saint John Trojans. They then went on to defeat the Moncton Y Hawks in the finals to become NB Juvenile Champs. 

The Woodstock Armories was to be the scene of the two game semi-finals against the St. Kits of St. Catherines, Ontario, and the Upper Canadian Champs. St Kits won the first game, but the Red Raiders won the second game, defeating St. Kits by a total score of 66 – 56. 

In the playoff in Halifax, NS the Oxford A.C.’s were soundly defeated and WHS Red Raiders were winners of the Lord Byng Memorial Cup, Canadian Juvenile Basketball Champions for 1946. 

HAIL!! CHAMPS!! 

~ INDUCTION AUGUST 26TH, 1995 ~ 

Better known as Chuck. He was born in Charlottetown, PEI, educated in McAdam, returned from World War II to live in Woodstock and in the late 1950s assumed the administration duties at a residence for mentally disabled boys in Upper New York State until his retirement in Florida. 

With a group of neighborhood kids as the nucleus, Murphy assembles a team that would dominate baseball in the province for a decade. After leading the Woodstock Bearcats (Murphy’s Midgets) to the Maritime Juvenile title in 1950, his guidance and influence resulted in Shiretown teams winning a total of five New Brunswick Senior Championships and one Maritime title, from 1952 through 1959. 

Murphy’s instruction went far beyond the basic rudiments of the game, but to the development of sound minds, bodies, and character that went with his players for the rest of their lives. 

Among his laurels and tributes are: 

• Was youngest commissioned officer (Captain) in Canadian Army to land on D-Day June 06, 1944 – Wounded D-Day +1 

• Established Woodstock’s first “Little League” (Williamsport, Penn. Guidelines in late 1940’s). 

• As to not create a void and in the interest of continuity Murphy spearheaded the team executive in procuring a player coach from Massachusetts, a student athlete at Illinois University, to guide the baseball tradition in his absence at the Korean War 

Notable Quotes: 

• “Charlie Murphy should be heaped with credit and accolades for combining two rare principles of coaching… expert instruction in the fundamentals of the game as well as fine handling of boys on a personal plane.” – Hugh M. Tait, Former Mayor of Woodstock  

• “Chuck Murphy is a credit to this community. He did so much to excite this town at a much-needed time following the Second World War. He took a group of lads, a number of whom lacked training in the home and taught the basics of both the game of baseball and the game of life.” – Jock Fraser, Former MLA for Carleton County 

• “I believe Charles to be a rare individual chosen by God to command fighting men on foreign soil, and influence young lives on a local front in New Brunswick.” – Bun Veysey, Player and fellow Wall of Famer 

Charles Murphy was inducted into the New Brunswick Baseball Wall of Fame in 1994 for his legacy to baseball in Woodstock and New Brunswick.  

~ INDUCTED MAY 11, 1996 ~ 

Leroy “Tim” Nelson was born in 1907 in Woodstock, New Brunswick. 

 In the 1920’s and 1930’s when Tim was at the height of his athletic abilities, he played baseball, softball, hockey and bowled for the Town of Woodstock teams. In later years he golfed and curled. He was also an avid fisherman and hunter. Tim was a born athlete with skills that surpassed his physical size. 

 Much of Tim Nelson’s life was dedicated to sharing the skills and knowledge of the sports he loved with others with no monetary gain. His life, as an athlete and coach, was an example to many young athletes who were later to excel in their chosen sports. 

Tim lived by the golden rule and led by faultless example. His talents were never recorded in record books, but his greatness is recorded in the hearts of all who knew his generosity and his gentle manner. 

 Leroy “Tim” Nelson was an exceptional athlete and an exceptional man. 

~ INDUCTION MAY 11, 1996 ~ 

 The Woodstock Lions Baseball club of 1953 joined the ranks of such baseball immortals as the Marysville Royals and the perennial New Brunswick Senior Champions of the 30’s, the St. Stephen St. Croix, as they repeated as rulers of senior baseball in the province. 

No team represented the decade of Woodstock baseball better than the ’53 Lions, as the season saw the operation of four senior leaguers in the province heavy into talent recruitment, determined to capture the title. Baseball was enjoying its greatest support in the period just before television became popular in the province. 

Playing its first season in the York, Sunbury, Carleton loop, the team finished third in league play behind Fredericton Tigers and Marysville Royals, but went on to win sets of league playoffs. 

Provincial Semifinals 

• Woodstock defeated Border League Campion St. Kiwanis 3 games to 2 (2 games went to extra innings). 

• North Shore League Champion, Dalhousie Dodgers defeated Southern NB League Champion, Saint John Dodgers 3 games to 1. 

Provincial Finals 

• Woodstock swept Dalhousie 4 games straight in the best of 7 final. 

“All around baseball effectiveness” would characterize the Woodstock boys of summer 1953, with superb pitching, timely hitting, sound fielding and managerial cunning ever prevalent. 

The Lions of ’53 enjoyed a tremendous following and it was estimated that at their home games, league and provincial playoffs, fan attendance averaged between 1200 and 1500 spectators during the September/October playoff period . . . it is not known how many local fans followed the team on the road but the support often surpassed that of the home team. 

~ INDUCTION MAY 11, 1996 ~