AN ATHLETE OF EARLY DAYS
Sports in our school were not as well organized in early days but we still produced some outstanding athletes. Here is a picture of "Butch" Lawrence McLeod taken when he was a member of University of Maniboba Track Team in 1922. "Butch" was the younger son of John McLeod one of Estevan's first settlers. Butch became a doctor and lived in the United States, till his death a few years ago. Norman McLeod, who was his older brother, donated the shield or trophy for the "McLeod" basketball competition held annually between Weyburn and Estevan Collegiate. To distinguish between the many McLeods in school Lawrence's cousin, Norman McLeod, was called "Hick". Hick was noted as a ball player rather than a track man.
1921 - 1922
In 1921 - 1922 Don Dunbar as editor of the Echoes, under heading of Alumni News, mentioned five "old boys" attending University of Maniboba in College of Medicine, they were - Heber Henry, Eugene Douglas, Butch McLeod, Ted McGouvran and Jim Halliday. Don stated three of these five were winners of Patterson Cup, he drew the conclusion that good athletes could be good students. (We haven't been able to find the Patterson Cup).
Some other interesting items of school news we never hear to-day:
"George Dow was ill with Scarlet Fever. Elden and Velma Hitsman were quarantined for Small Pox. Mr. Moir, the principal, cancelled the Christmas examinations."
Don Dunbar as editor told some silly jokes about "Inez-Big Bill-Saul", but we didn't reproduce them here, we thought they didn't do justice to Don.
| Estevan | ||
| Collegiate | ||
| Institute |
Friday, March2,
1923
| 1 -- | |
| Selection -- College | |
| Symphony Orchestra | |
| 2 -- | |
| Piano Solo -- | |
| Ruth Dean. | |
| 3 -- | |
| Chorus -- | |
| Basketball Boys. | |
| 4 -- | |
| Piano Solo -- | |
| Lyal Patterson | |
| 5 -- | |
| Vocal Solo -- | |
| James Young. |
| 6 -- | |
| Piano Solo -- | |
| Nefia Westover. | |
| 7 -- | |
| Chorus -- Third Class | |
| Part Two. | |
| 8 -- | |
| Piano Solo -- | |
| Marjorie Stuart. | |
| 9 -- | |
| Vocal Solo -- | |
| Donald Dunbar | |
| 10 -- | |
| Piano Solo -- | |
| Della Turner. |
Jimmy Young was the caretaker in the Estevan Collegiate Institute for thirty-six years. We use the word "caretaker" because it was a name which suited him, none of these new-fangled terms like "custodian" would fit. Jim came to our school as a young man in 1922, and he gave us many years of faithful service. In 1958 he retired because of ill-health; he passed away in the summer of 1963.
His home was just across the road from the school grounds, but his family were often of the opinion that it was really in the school. In those early years, with the long cold winters and coal-fired furnaces, his job was a very demanding one.
He was a friend to all the students and teachers. In many student social activities he contributed his bit by singing solos which were usually Scottish songs. A former principal, Mr. George Newfeld, recalled how Jim enjoyed the practices of the quartet made up of three teachers and the caretaker.
In 1956 the City of Estevan honored Mr. Young by naming a street near his residence "Young Street". At the 45th Annual Commencement Exercises, Oct. 21, 1958, he was further honored by a presentation in recognition of his 35 years of service to E.C.I. THe Ladies' Auxiliary of the Canadian Legion also have honored gim by establishing a "Jim Young Memorial Scholarship". He will be remembered.
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES today play a much greater part in the school year than formerly. To-day there are five school dances - the Initiation, Hallowe'en, Christmas, Valentine and Graduation dances. In the early years there was only one dance - at the "At Home", the orchestra then was a school orchestra which depended on volunteers, the hall was the old auditorium on the third floor or the Room 300 used for Guidance classes. Commencement in early years was a day off classes to decorate teh rooms. Some of these efforts were memorable. The Grade of 1925 took as a theme for their room decoration "The Shiek of Araby", the Shiek was Leopold Krueger, his tent was well constructed from Indian blankets and well supplied with cushions. Florence Harrington was chosen as the Shiek's wife because she was the prettiest little girl with long fair curls. The class artists drew camels on the boards - they were undecided whether Arabs had one or two humped camels and Jerry O'Connor got around this by covering the camels with colored draperies.
A grade ten effort was the Harvest Moon in a suitable setting of sheaves, stooks and piles of vegetables. One of the last rooms decorated was quite an authentic reproduction of a coal mine, deep seam type with miners, lumps of coal and miners' lamps. The Janitor had quite a job cleaning up after the Commencement - a good enough reason for dropping this project from years' activities.
Here is a copy of an "At Home" programme - March 2, 1923.
(this was a dance programme, between dances were the items of entertainment).
| 1924 - Bert Ingram | 1944 - Bill Hogman |
| 1925 - Ross Campbell | 1945 - Bert Hogman |
| 1926 - Irving Hansen | 1946 - Joan Torgeson |
| 1927 - Joe Tucker | 1947 - Noreen Balfour |
| 1928 - Joe Tucker | 1948 - Sam Clasky |
| 1929 - James Dyer | 1949 - Beverly Oster |
| 1930 - Jake Mandel | 1950 - Alberta McColl |
| 1931 - Jake Mandel | 1951 - Shirley Anderson |
| 1932 - Jake Mandel | 1952 - Margaret Miller |
| 1933 - Philip Goldstein | 1953 - Helen Harris |
| 1934 - Philip Goldstein | 1954 - Marilyn Young |
| 1935 - Saul Berger | 1955 - Marlene Peter |
| 1936 - Saul Berger | 1956 - Donald LeBlanc |
| 1937 - Richard Bergstrom | 1957 - DeLong Anderson |
| 1938 - Jo Bannatyne | 1958 - Donald LeBlanc |
| 1939 - Jean Moore | 1959 - Marlene Miller |
| 1940 - Marjorie Galloway | 1960 - Jack Harris |
| 1941 - Molly Berger | 1962 - Brian J. Hansen |
| 1942 - Bill Hogman | 1963 - Brian J. Hansen |
| 1943 - Bill Hogman |
The water works were extended to the Collegiate in the spring of 1925 and this changed the appearance of the backyard by removing some of the small buildings from it. These buildings, we assume, were just used as smoking rooms.
| 1925 - Violet Murray | 1938 - Myrl Walker |
| 1926 - Barbara Rutherford | 1939 - Mabel Sava |
| 1927 - Ross Campbell | 1940 - Donald Moore |
| 1928 - Agnes Meier | 1941 - Heinz Pfisterer |
| 1929 - Alice Mather | 1942 - Edwin Moore |
| 1930 - Richard Perry | 1943 - Ronald Ellis |
| 1931 - Viola Grundeen | 1944 - Kathleen Torgeson |
| 1932 - Helen Brooks | 1945 - Lois Joice |
| 1933 - Phillip Goldstein | 1946 - Joan Torgeson |
| 1934 - Gene Brooks | 1947 - Nancy Philp |
| 1934 - Lois McLeod | 1948 - Beverly Oster |
| 1935 - Claude Ellis | 1949 - Eugene Petterson |
| 1936 - Saul Berger | 1950 - Sam Clasky |
| 1937 - Ben Berger | 1951 - Beverly Dale |
This web version was digitized by Angela Mennie on 10February2006 from the original source which can be found at the Estevan Public Library.
Additional content about Estevan is welcome. If you have photos, stories, or other content which we may consider for inclusion with the History of Estevan, please contact us at the Library 306-636-1620.