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Tapping into these sporting gold mines while we still can
2024-07-27
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Sadly, the wellspring of content for Nickel City Nostalgia can hardly be considered a renewable resource.

Yes, it is true that a large swath of the information that I garner about the local sports happenings of yesteryear are thanks to the archived microfilms of Sudbury Star editions from days gone by, my treks to the main hub of the Sudbury Public Library now a monthly norm.

But the second largest source of the nuggets I uncover comes courtesy of those who were very much part of the action in that era that would represent the captivating world of Sudbury Sports through the fifties, sixties and seventies.

Unfortunately, tapping into these gold mines of nostalgic treasures is an undertaking that, by its very nature, becomes more challenging with every passing day.

Just recently, we would witness the passing of both John McKibbon (July 10th – 84 years of age) and Rolly Giacomin (June 26th – 91 years of age).

For as much as I had the pleasure of sharing coffee with the Olympian that is John McKibbon at the time of his induction into the Sudbury Sports Hall of Fame in 2016, I was completely oblivious to the fact that Rolly Giacomin was both alive and living in these parts in 2024 (more on my lament of this oversight a little later on in this column).

There’s are stories to be shared, stories that are integral to the very fabric of athletic pursuits in the nickel city. It is easy to forget that while those of Generation X-Y-Z (etc…) may never have even heard the name “Giacomin” uttered in their lifetime, there are thousands of those from a different time who were aware of nearly every sporting movement of the three boys of “Big” Tony Giacomin and their Gatchell-based family.

The youngest brother (Eddie) would rise to hockey stardom, an NHL Hall of Fame goaltender (1965-1978), his #1 retired in 1989 by the New York Rangers. Yet I, like so many others in Sudbury, was keenly aware of just how close this story came to never being written at all.

“Uncle Rolly told me that somebody needed a goalie and his name was given,” recalled Valerie Zuliani, one of five children of Giglio “Giggs” Giacomin, the eldest of the three boys. “He (Rolly) couldn’t leave because he had a job at Inco – so he sent his brother (Eddie) in his place.”

That is a pretty accurate account.

In the book “Eddie: A Goalie’s Story” written by Hugh Delano in 1976, extensive interviews with the subject matter revealed that the “somebody” who requested a goalie was none other than well-known Sudbury hockey fixture Leo Gasparini, contacted by Washington Presidents’ (Eastern Hockey League) coach Andy Branigan, his team desperate for a netminder to help finish the 1958-1959 season.

Inserted essentially under the “what have we got to lose” premise, the then 19 year-old 140 pound puckstopper from northern Ontario would battle his way through seven years in the minors, earning a well-deserved reputation as one of the hardest working athletes in the sport, before breaking through with the Rangers in 1965 and going on to register 290 NHL victories between the pipes.

For as much as one could understand Rolly languishing over what might have been, all accounts suggest the exact opposite, the elder sibling one of the biggest supporters of little Eddie. Back in these parts, however, Rolly would leave an indelible mark on the Sudbury sports community in a few different fashions.

As a youth, both he and Eddie were members of the Sudbury Hardrocks (now the Sudbury Spartans), pictures in the Inco Triangle showing Rolly in gear and assembled with the likes of Sid Forster and Norm Lekun, Lorne Jaworski and Doug Ogsten.

Giacomin was also bitten by the coaching bug, returning home with national championship ringette medals while helping to guide his nieces - primarily Christine (Joyal), Janis (Foligno) and Paula (Theriault) - in action.

His love of being behind the bench apparently started with Eddie still under his watch, the pair part of the Gatchell Taus Motors Midgets (1954-1955) squad that also included Sudbury mainstays George Usitalo and Bernie Fransen, Merv McNamara and Roy Furlani.

By contrast, the rise of John McKibbon to basketball prominence – as much as one can “rise” to prominence while standing 6’7” tall – occurred in that unlikeliest of settings that is Tillsonburg (Ontario).

In the 1950s, however, it wasn’t an unlikely destination at all.

It was “the” place where many a Canadian hardcourt great would assemble, part of the Tillsonburg Livvies dynasty created by company owner and Canadian Basketball Hall of Famer Gerry Livington.

Even within this impressive collection of talent, that young man who toiled for hours at both King George Public School as well as Sudbury Mining & Technical School stood tall – pardon the pun.

Attending a pre-Olympic tournament in Italy in August of 1960, a competition which would send the top five teams to round out the field at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, McKibbon (then all of 19 years of age) would lead his team to a 61-60 opening game win over Germany (12 points) and also top the Canadian scoring parade in a 76-60 loss to Belgium (19 pts), as Canada failed to qualify.

Four years later, in Tokyo, the maple leaf crew were part of the 16-team men’s bracket – and for as much as collectively they did not enjoy a great deal of success, posting a record of 1-8, McKibbon was clearly the top offensive contributor, his 16.9 PPG topping a double digit trio that also featured Warren Reynolds (11.4) and Barry Howson (10.0).

“Any time your picture is on the official basketball rule book, you know you’re pretty good,” noted Jeff McKibbon last week with a laugh, a copy of the Ontario Association of Basketball Officials literature from the sixties sitting on our table as we enjoyed coffee at Eddie’s Restaurant.

“In 1972, he was off the radar but Jack Donahue (Team Canada – head coach) invited him to try out,” recalled Jeff. “If not for an ankle injury, he may have gone to Munich (at 33 years of age).”

“He was obviously a gifted athlete – but in addition to those gifts, he had a will,” young McKibbon continued. “I have never met anybody more determined that when he put his mind to something, it was going to happen.”

In 2001, John McKibbon was inducted into the Canada Basketball Hall of Fame – one of the many highlights noted above that can be found, albeit with some effort (in some cases), in the dark recesses of the internet.

But first hand accounts cannot – so best to make the most of those, while they still exist.

(With all of this said, Sudbury sports fans who are familiar with folks, in town or otherwise, who may have been prominent athletes, coaches, officials and such throughout the fifties or sixties are welcome to shoot off a quick email to info@sudburysports.com – and help keep Nickel City Nostalgia alive and well)

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