Westville Sports /
The "Alpha" Baseball Club,
1876 / Burns Dunbar: A Great Left Fielder
/ The
Sporting Career of George Dawson /
Jimmy
Hawboldt - The Westville Runner /
Sports /
The Westville
Windmill: Bobby Allen /
Babe Ruth at Westville
General Sports
Sports in the town date back to the late 1800’s, but it was from the decades following the turn of the century that organized baseball, cricket, hockey and quoits dominated athletic events. However it wasn’t until the 1920’s that baseball took the center stage of all sporting activities in the town.
In 1924, James Saunders arrived here to coach the baseball team which went on to capture its first Nova Scotia championship. The roster included Andy and Billy Richardson, Burns and Johnny Dunbar, Cubby Oliver, Jack Darroch, Clary MacDonald, Bill MacIsaac, John Hale, Jim Dalling, Dave Thompson and Doc Carrigan. This team gave the town a championship atmosphere, including a Maritime Championship in 1927.
The Westville ball team of 1931 won another provincial title but lost in the bid for the Maritime crown to a heavily American-imported St. Stephen’s N.B. team. Roddy MacDonald, catcher for the team in 1931, was Westville-born. A slick-fielding catcher, he was considered one of the top all-around catchers in the province during his day. He backstopped the Westville team for over a decade and won the provincial batting crown with a .483 average. Roddy MacDonald caught some great Westville pitchers, including Billy Richardson, Johnny Dunbar and Alex Marshall, all considered top pitchers in the province. Burns Dunbar was considered one of the top baseball players in the Maritimes from 1922 to 1934. He was an all-around player, excelling at the plate and in his usual left-field post.
Hockey was played at a rink where the Catholic Church parking lot now stands. It was a huge structure with speed-skating lanes and leisure skating on the outside, and a hockey section in the centre.
Leonard Leadbeater won many races and was well-known for his speed-skating ability. The rink was also well-known as one of the best speed skating rinks in the province and one of the largest skating rinks east of Montreal.
Leonard Leadbeater
The Westville Curling Club
The Westville Curling Club was instituted in 1901, but no minutes were available until December 12. 1906. The above information was in the minutes of December 25, 1914, which had a reference of the passing of a former president, Thomas Blackwood, a charter member.
Curling was first held in the skating rink owned by Simon Murray. Rental fees were $60 per season, with games held on two evenings and three afternoons per week. Records for the 1906-07 season show total receipts of $85, representing a membership fee of $5 and expenditure $74.28. George E. Munro was the first president and Rev. W.W. MacNairn, secretary.
In 1909 the club was incorporated. Discussions were held with regards to building a rink. On June 28, 1909, it was decided to purchase a lot from Mr. Hugh Muir on Diamond Street, size 60X170 feet, for $100. Tenders were called for building the rink and the tender of John MacQuarrie of Stellarton was submitted for $1,100. It is not certain whether Mr. MacQuarrie built the rink but there was no other names mentioned for the construction of the rink. It is believed the rink was built in 1909 and 1910 as the minutes of May 1910; state that the present water connection with the town was unsatisfactory. Also, a committee had been appointed to superintend the grading of the rink and a thin coat of sawdust spread over the entire surface.
It was mentioned in a January 1916 meeting that the Mayflower Curling Club of Halifax had extended the privileges to active overseas members of the various units now in Halifax.
In 1924 there was a bill for $994.82 for repairs to the rink, a sizable amount for that period.
In 1925 a team made up of H.A. McQuarrie, Ira S. Goode, R.H. Pethick, and Neil MacKenzie curled in the Halifax Curling Club Centennial Bonspiel and won the cup. Their cup is sill in the Westville C.C. and could be played for again in the year 2025.
In the 1937-38 season, the Westville junior curlers journeyed to Yarmouth to curl in the Junior Provincial Championships. They won all their games in an outstanding showing. The team included Dave MacLeod, skip; Milton Oliver, mate; Harry Hilton, Jr.; 2nd; and Jerry Daley, 1st.
The ladies formed a club in 1937 and started curling in the season of 1937-38.
The Curling Club was always short of money. Fund-raising was a big part of the activities, including card parties, dances, concerts and, in fact, one year, they held 32 dances. For all these early years curling was on natural ice and during several of those years there wasn’t much curling. However after much discussion, club members decided to install an artificial plant in 1949. The cost was $14,400 for the plant, with the members assisting with most of the installation and fund raising events.
This monument was erected in
memory of the late H.A. McQuarrie, a former Mayor and ardent
supporter of the town's Athletic Association. The stone
cairn is gone, but the plaque is today prominently displayed
in front of the new Town Hall. (The correct spelling of his
name is McQuarrie)
In November 1951 the members decided to construct an addition to the ice shed. This was for a ladies’ clubhouse and the cost was approximately $1,300. The original south clubhouse and building required a great deal of repairs but it stood up to the weather until it torn down in 1983. However it didn’t come down as easily as everyone expected.
A new ice shed with four sheets of ice was erected in 1983. It considered the finest in the country. The cost was approximately $200,000.
Quoits – Once a Popular Game in Westville
The game of quoits was once a popular game in the county of Pictou and the Town of Westville.
The main areas of quoits playing in the county were Westville, Stellarton and Trenton. In 1896, the Pictou County Quoits Association was organized.
Among the prominent Westville players during the years the sport was popular were O.H. Malcolm, T. Leadbeater, J.R. Roy, Wellington MacLeod, Arthur Clark, Tom Ross, and Victor and Alex Sutherland.
Trophies emerged in 1900 and with a re-organization in 1920; the Association was presented with cups by Dr. A. Love and R.H. Graham.
To compete, a player had to throw a ring-shaped object around a wooden post called a hub. The quoits weighed 2 ½ pounds each, made of gun metal and were uniform in pattern. The playing areas or rinks were level from one end to the other and filled with loam. The hub projected about four inches above ground.
The quoits were thrown from a pitching cease and points were scored in a variety of ways, according to how they landed.
The playing beds in Westville were located on South Main Street on the Acadia Coal Company property.
A single at Victoria Park