Norfolk County Sports Hall of Recognition Press Release
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contact: George Pond

After 60 years hockey trophy returns

SIMCOE, Ontario – September 28, 2002 – A cousin of two of this county's biggest hockey stars presented the Norfolk County Sports Hall of Recognition with an interesting piece of local sports history here today.

Dan Brock of London, Ontario shares ancestors with both Red Kelly and Rob Blake, which is just one of the reasons he donated the old hockey trophy in his possession to the Norfolk Sports Hall.

Just before World War II, teams from Cherry Valley, Dundurn, Scotland, Mt. Pleasant, Bealton, Oakland, Teeterville and Renton, played in the Brant-Norfolk Rural Hockey League, vying for the Honorable H. Nixon Trophy.

The Teeterville club won the trophy in 1936-37 and again the following season. The Renton club won the trophy in each of the three following seasons.

Red Kelly’s father, Lawrence "Pete" Kelly, played on the Renton team. So did Dan Brock’s father, Daniel Brock, and a couple of their O'Mahony cousins. As club manager, Daniel Brock took the trophy home at the end of the 1940-41 season.

The league disbanded during the war and wasn’t revived after the war. Renton manager-player Daniel Brock faithfully stored the trophy until his death, when his widow turned it over to their son, Dan.

Since most of the teams in that league came from Norfolk, and since Brant County teams lost every chance at the trophy during each of the five years it was up for grabs, Dan chose to donate it to the Norfolk County Sports Hall of Recognition, which has a growing collection of such historic trophies permanently displayed in the Sports Hall at Lynnwood Arts Centre in Simcoe.

Sports Hall historian George Pond was aware of this league and its trophy, but did not know what became of either. He gratefully accepted the trophy and Dan’s history of the league on behalf of the Sports Hall. "This will be a great addition to our collection," George said. "It fills in another blank in Norfolk’s sport history."

The Sports Hall and its web site – www.norfolksports.ca – feature a photo of the 1937-38 Teeterville Hockey Club, the first team to win this trophy, but is still on the lookout for photos of the Renton club which came to dominate this league.

The Sports Hall hasn’t compiled a complete list of Brant-Norfolk Rural Hockey League players. But with Dan Brock’s assistance, it has identified players in photos of two championship teams: 1937-38 Teeterville club and the 1938-39 Renton club.

The 1937-38 Teeterville club included: P. Grant, G. Hagerman, R. Harwood, George McCurdy, William McPherson, J. Messerole, J. Munro, T. Sensabaugh, A. Smallman, R. D. Smallman, R. Wescott, coach Charles Chapman, trainer E. McCann, secretary-treasurer Charles Trowhill, manager S. Seaton, and mascot M. Wescott.

The 1938-39 Renton club included: Howard Bollert, Dan Brock, Robert Brock, Morley Cross, W. Dixon, Frank O’Donnell, Clark Kellar, Charles Kelly, Lawrence "Pete" Kelly, A. Misener, John O’Mahoney, Wilfred O’Mahoney, Tom Ryerse, manager Herbert O’Mahoney, president Lloyd Smith, and secretary-treasurer George Duncan.

Others with Norfolk Sports history to share are invited to contact Norfolk County Sports Hall of Recognition historian George Pond.
 

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