Memories at the Lethbridge Sportsplex

The Canada Games Sportsplex in Lethbridge holds many memories for me.

Source: Facebook/Lethbridge Historical Society

(May be subject to copyright)

A couple days ago I saw a notice that the Lethbridge Sportsplex is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The name was changed long ago to the Enmax Centre, but the building still holds a lot of memories.

Those range from watching sports and special events to even getting down on the floor and playing myself – for a moment in time.

Build it and they will come
My Mom told me the Sportsplex was built for the Canada Winter Games, which Lethbridge hosted in 1975. It had this weird orange mascot, that was on key chains, posters, and so much more, and I even recall seeing it in the Whoop-Up Days Parade.

She also told me that a speed skating track, or oval, was built for the games. That would end up being dismantled and replaced by a field that hosted a lot of high school football games.

Officially, the Sportsplex opened in September of 1974, well ahead of the start of the Canada Winter Games, and was a state of the art venue to host all sorts of events.

It’s hockey night
The first time I was ever in the Sportsplex that I recall was to see the Lethbridge Broncos play the Victoria Cougars. I was quite excited because the Cougars had this goaltending phenom named Grant Fuhr, who would go on to become one of the best in history. Much to my chagrine, he did not play that night, replaced by his back-up Kevin Eastman.

We went to a game or two a year for awhile there. I do remember the Broncos playing the Regina Pats and the fans behind us heckling Jock Callander, mocking his first name. They played the Medicine Hat Tigers and we saw them more than once. One time I saw the speedy Steve Tsujiura, who I later discovered is from my hometown of Coaldale. Another time fans had hung posters mocking two of the Tigers. For goalie Kelly Hrudey the sign said, “Having Kelly Hrudey is like playing with the net empty”. For scorer Ken Solheim, the sign said, “Having Ken Solheim is like playing a man short.”

We also saw them play the Calgary Wranglers and I think the Seattle Breakers, and some others.

I recall seeing a lot of players on the Broncos too, such as Duane, Brent, Rich and Ron Sutter; Marty Ruff; Mike and Randy Moller; Gord Williams; Doug Morrison; Cleo Rowein; Greg Dumba; Ken Wregget; Mark Tinordi; Ivan Krook; Ralph Andressen; Jay Solway; Warren Babe; Troy Loney; Rich Wiest; Gerald Diduck; Terry Houlder; and many, many more.

NHL debut
I also saw the first game in the history of the Calgary Flames. The first time they took to the ice against another opponent after they moved from Atlanta, was an exhibition game at the Sportsplex in 1980 against the Colorado Rockies.

Hoop dreams
In Grade 5 and 6, I played on a co-ed mini basketball team at St. Joseph’s School in Coaldale. At that time, Lethbridge had managed to attract a semi-professional basketball team called the “Alberta Dusters”, who played in the Continental Basketball Association.

Somehow, our coaches were able to get us coupons for a Duster game that, although not quite free, took a lot off the price of tickets.

So, my sister ended up taking me to that Dusters game, and it was a pretty cool experience. I had never seen the Sportsplex with the ice taken out, or covered. It was wild to see a basketball court set up on what had always been an ice surface to me.

The Dusters were not a good team, only winning I think maybe three or four games. The game we saw certainly wasn’t one of them, as they lost to the Anchorage Northern Knights by a pretty wide margin. I do recall their best scorer was Raymond Townsend. I also recall reading in the program the league gave an extra foul before they fouled out, increasing the limit from five to six, which was unique for the time.

I think the Dusters lasted two years in Lethbridge before moving on.

As seen on TV
There was another novelty I saw on the hard court at the Sportsplex. I was in junior high when my sister took me to see the Harlem Globe Trotters play the Washington Generals. It was called “Clownball”, and was about joking around and having fun on the court. I had seen the Globe Trotters on TV, and read a book on how they were created, so I knew what to expect. It was a great show, although the Globe Trotters had different travelling teams. None of the players I saw on TV came to Lethbridge. It was a bit disappointing, but still a good show.

My outstanding memory was seeing my classmate Roger Keeling there, and walking from one end of the Sportsplex to the other with him. He moved away the next year, and I have never seen him again.

The impossiblist
For years, I would see TV commercials advertising Reveen, this illusionist and hypnotist who periodically came to Lethbridge. I never thought I would go, and was not sure what it was about, beyond what I saw on the commercial.

Then one day in Grade 8 or Grade 9, I got a call from my friend Mike Hartman. He was going to Reveen and invited me to come along. I will never forget that kindness.

Reveen put on a great show. He didn’t call what he did hypnosis, but a state of “super consciousness”. Whatever you call it, the people who volunteered from the audience ended up doing some pretty wild things. One guy in particular was chasing after his girlfriend Chloe, but could never find her.

It was pretty funny. However, I have to say hypnosis and falling under someone else’s spell, kind of scares me a little.

Hot shots
In Grade 9, that would be the Spring of 1984, I won a basketball shooting contest in practice, and earned the right to represent St. Joseph’s School at the Southern Alberta contest.

Called Hot shots, it was held at the Sportsplex, and my coach, Mr. Ron Chmielewski took me. We got there early and the 4A basketball zone playdowns were going on. The Kate Andrews High School Gaels of Coaldale, where I was set to go the next year, was playing Medicine Hat High School. It was cool because two guys from St. Joe’s, Garry Spiess and Bernie Lastuka, were playing for the Gaels. In fact, we sat with Garry’s mom and brother Glen until it was time for me to go change.

That was the last time I ever wore my junior high basketball jersey. I dressed in the dressing room, which was an interesting experience. Sitting there already was Bill Elliott. He represented R.I. Baker, the other junior high in Coaldale. I had played against him not only for three years when he was at Baker, but the two years before that in mini basketball when he went to McNally, a small country school outside Lethbridge. I said hi to him and asked who he was shooting against. He pointed to the other side of the room. There, already dressed in his Gilbert Patterson jersey, and looking eight feet tall, was Benjy Bullock. That was the first time I met him, but he would go on to be one of the best players in Southern Alberta, playing for the LCI Rams.

Also there was Gerald Veldeman, who was representing Immanuel Christian, a fairly new private school in Lethbridge. The previous season we played Immanuel Christian in a home-and-home exhibition series. We lost both those games, but played them at the 1983 Taber tournament and finally beat them. So I kind of got to know him a little, and he was a really nice, friendly guy. I asked him who was he playing.

“You,” he said to me. We both laughed.

When it came time to shoot, I was useless. I think I made three baskets. I recall hearing Glen yelling “Use the backboard.” I did, but nothing dropped.

After the buzzer went, I went to shake Gerald’s hand and he said he didn’t shoot well, and asked how I did. Then he looked up at the scoreboard. He had won by a fair bit.

We shook hands, I wished him luck, he thanked me, and it was just a really great experience.

Friday night lights
By the start of Grade 12, so the Fall of 1986, I had started to hang out with my friends more. One of the first things we started to do regularly was go to Lethbridge every Friday night the first few weeks of school, and watch the Kate Andrews Spartans football team.

Back then, all the Southern Alberta high school football games were played at the field at the Sportsplex, which was kind of cool. The first game was against Cardston. The Cougars had this Grade 11 quarterback named Andy Molcak. Word had got around he had been to some evaluation camp and was described as “a man among boys”. I thought it would be funny to bring out some duck calls and blow them every time he put up a pass. I couldn’t find any, but Brad Mattson found one and brought it to the game. It didn’t help, because Cardston pounded the Spartans. In fact everyone did that year.

The other two games I remember clearly were shut-out losses to Catholic Central, and LCI, two Lethbridge teams.

For one of the games, I went with my newfound friend Mike Williamson, who painted his face in the blue and white colours of Kate Andrews, and picked me up on the farm in his convertible. It was a cool night. At the end of the LCI game, I found myself with Glen Spiess and Mike Williamson, who were great friends, among the Catholic Central fans. The LCI fans were chanting “Farmers, farmers” about Kate Andrews, so we were responding with our own insults. Glen knew a bunch of the Catholic Central fans through church youth activities, while I just found common cause with them through our mutual dislike of LCI. At one point, I thought things might boil over but the LCI fans left when the Rams game was over.

The Catholic Central fans stayed because their team was playing next. If memory serves Catholic Central played Cardston in a battle of the Cougars. Interestingly, in one end zone the Catholic priest was saying a pre-game prayer with their players. In the other end zone, the Mormon bishop was saying a pre-game prayer with the Cardston players.

The football games were the rare events in Grade 11 and 12 where I did not go with my best friend Chris Vining – because he was playing football.

Zone playdowns
In March of 1986, I went back to the Sportsplex to watch the high school basketball zones, and cheer on Kate Andrews, who ended up beating Raymond 98-94, which may have been the last time they ever beat the Comets.

I also sat afterwards with the W.R. Myers of Taber fans to cheer on their phenom Scott Gallup as he led the Rebels against LCI. I only stayed until the half, but it was obvious LCI was going to win that game. After I got home, I was listening to the radio and they were announcing the scores from that tournament. After they read LCI beat W.R. Myers, the announcer said there was a big fight at halftime between the fans. I laughed, because I saw the troops begin to mass as I was leaving.

That year, Catholic Central upset Cardston and St. Mary’s, two of the top seeds, and made it all the way to the final as the sixth-seeded team. They were led by the twin towers of Mike Lynagh and Jim Kaminski, whose Uncle Bruno had been our neighbour on the farm. They were playing LCI in the final, but both teams were already guaranteed spots in the provincials. I ended up going to that game with Mr. Ed Ryan, my high school guidance counselor.

He knew the ref, and fed me lines to heckle him. His name was Mckay. The best one Mr. Ryan gave me was, “Hey Mckay, go back to selling real estate.” Someone lower down barked back the correct pronunciation of Mckay. I remember how hard that made Mr. Ryan giggle.

LCI again took control and beat Catholic Central. Interestingly, a couple weeks later, my Mom and sister took me to Edmonton to check out the University of Alberta campus. We stopped in Red Deer for something to eat and the whole Catholic Central team was there, wearing their Cougar gear. My Mom said afterwards that all those boys could not stop looking at me. Maybe they recognized my high school jacket.

A few years ago, I actually met Jim Kaminski through a mutual friend, and we reminisced about that tournament, although I never thought to ask him about that stop in Red Deer.

Parting thoughts
When I left Southern Alberta in the Fall of 1987, I thought I would never return. Yet, not only did I come back for visits when I was in Edmonton, I kept on making memories at the Sportsplex.

The Broncos moved to Swift Current, but the Calgary Wranglers moved to Lethbridge and became the Hurricanes,. So I have seen them play many times. I saw Blue Rodeo there twice, Burton Cummings, John Mellencamp, a military tattoo of marching bands, and more.

The Sportsplex will always hold a special place in my heart because I saw so many different things there.