1999
Morlin Campbell | Josephus Fillion | 1952 Lochiel Soccer Club | Rudi Payer | Russell Raymond
Following this, he enlisted in the Air Force and was called for duty in September of 1942. During this time he played hockey for an Arnprior team and also for an Uplands team. He started as a spare in the 1940s for the powerful Pine Grove Football team which was a dynasty of the 1940’s.
When the Glengarry Football League was re-organized in May, 1945 (after the war years) Campbell became the secretary-treasurer of the league and capably filled the position for 24 years. In addition, he was secretary-treasurer for the local Pine Grove team. He also played goal for Pine Grove and ensured the victory for the Glengarry Championship in that year. Continuing as goalkeeper in 1946, Campbell allowed only four goals and was runner-up for the top goalkeeper of the year award. Quoting from a 1962 Glengarry News article written by Angus H. McDonnell: “The executive of Glengarry Football is master minding the innovation of playing the coming schedule on one field and under flood lights. This has been the brainchild of Keith MacMillan, Morlin Campbell and other stalwarts for some time.” League President Gerald Simpson, MacMillan and Campbell were appointed league trustees to deal in negotiating the purchase of the football field that has been the home grounds of the Lochiel Club. They carried out a campaign for funds and got various people to donate materials and time. The selected field at Lochiel was obtained and the rest is history. When league play began in 1962, football was played on a lighted field, thanks in part to the work of Campbell. Now all games could be started at a later time and the entire game could be played without the curtain of darkness obscuring those valuable last minutes of play. At the Presentation Night in 1964, Campbell announced his retirement as GSL Secretary-Treasurer. However, when the 1965 annual meeting was held, Campbell was reelected at that position. Finally at the completion of the 1967 season, Campbell ended his tenure 24 years tenure of service as secretary-treasurer. When it came time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the GSL, a special committee was appointed and Campbell was chairperson. When the Minor Soccer League was getting started in the late 1950’s, Campbell was there to help and in the 1970’s he was coach of the minor soccer team. He was instrumental in setting up the Laggan Recreation Association and served on its executive for 20 years. This group was responsible for setting up a soccer field, outdoor rink and lighted tennis court. Campbell served on the executive of the Alexandria Minor Hockey Association for several years. He was secretary-treasurer of the S.S #3 West Lochiel School until amalgamation of the one-room schools into a central school at Laggan in 1969. He was Lochiel representative on the board of directors of the Glengarry memorial Hospital and also served on the Quigley Cheese Factory Board for a number of years. He also found time to participate in other community organizations such as the Glen-Elg 200th celebration as chairperson and the schools of the Glens book project. Now in his semi-retirement years, Campbell still lives on the Laggan farm of his youth where his son Carl now heads the business. He has two daughters, Gail Davenport of Washington D.C. and Dawn Godfrey of England, his wife Vivienne; stepdaughter Lydia and four grandchildren. When success has been achieved the leaders must be dedicated. There is no doubt that Campbell is one of those dedicated leaders. |
Filion made many contributions to his community. He was Reeve of Lancaster Township from 1953 to 1959. A member of the Richelieu Club for many years, he served as its fourth president in 1952. He served as a Commissioner on the St. Lawrence Parks Commission from 1956 to 1965. In 1967, a plaque was erected in Glengarry Park by the Commission in commemoration of his great contribution. His interest in the schools and the education of children was illustrated in many ways; as examples, his visits to the schools with his home-made reindeer as Santa Claus and his fund-raising to purchase gifts for the graduating class at Maryvale Abbey, Glen Nevis. Filion took up curling in 1942 and was a two-term President of the Alexandria Curling Club in 1947-1953 and again 1955-1964, a total of 15 years.
When he became President, the club consisted of 30 active male curlers. When he completed his final term, the curling club included a ladies section, and the curling season was extended to five months thanks to the installation of an ice plant that provided the members with artificial ice surface upon which to curl. During the years 1956-1957 and 1957-1958, there was great interest in curling locally and the club grew in size to numbers nobody had anticipated. This was largely due to the push and energy of Filion, the building contractor. He carried the mortgage for many years, saving the club from closure. By 1957, enough members had subscribed as shareholders to make possible the installation of artificial ice in the fall of 1957. The fist curling on the new ice took place in January 1958. Women curlers were encouraged to join the club and soon became a vital component of the sport in Glengarry. In the early 1960’s Filion was mainly responsible for bringing in the first curlers from north of Alexandria to play the “Roarin’ Game.” Filion and wife Alice led the way on the social side of this great sport. Numerous fund raising dinners, bonspiels and trophy nights not only financed the club, but made curlers anxious to return for the next season. Today, the Alexandria Curling Club has well over 200 members annually and provides competition for juniors, seniors, men and women from all parts of Glengarry County, every day weekly from the end of October to the middle of April. Curling is a great game in itself but to bring people, rocks, ice and building together requires someone with outstanding energy, drive and dedication. In Glengarry that person was Joe Filion. |
1952 Lochiel Soccer Club
The 1952 Lochiel Soccer Club has been nominated for inclusion into the
Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame this year. The nomination is representative of
the team’s dominance in the Glengarry Soccer League during the years 1949-1959.
One of the reasons for its success was the strong nucleus of seven players who
were with the club throughout most of the period and helped the team to
greatness.
Included in that group, for the years which statistics from the GSL are available, were three players who won several year-end award nights. One won scoring titles, one was named Most Valuable Player, one was named most Gentlemanly Player and another one was named Best Goalkeeper on four separate occasions and tied on another. The team was the best at scoring and keeping the ball out of their own net. The club was also fortunate in having strong support from other players. One year there were two Lochiel players tied for the runner up in scoring. It seemed that when an experienced player retired, he was replaced by a youngster with potential. In the 11 years covered, Lochiel ended the season in first place 10 times, won the Glengarry Cup, emblematic of the league championship, 10 times and the Greenspoon Cup, a challenge trophy, nine times. The club went undefeated for three seasons. However, all good things must come to an end. Age began to tell on the nucleus of experienced players and some of them moved away for business reasons. Also, the reserve of young replacements was no longer available. Thus time and circumstances spelled the end of Lochiel’s dominance in the Glengarry Soccer League. |
That same year, Payer co-founded the Goulbourn Inter-United Soccer Club. In 1965, the Payers welcomed their second daughter, Ingrid, into the world. Payer played for Cooma United in the Australia Capital Territory Semi-Pro League and continued to for the next two years.
The next move for the Payer family was across the Pacific Ocean and North America to Montreal. There, Payer played semi-pro soccer with the Montreal Hakoah in the Quebec Ligue Majeure. The family hit the road once again a year later. This time they would land in a small town located in South Glengarry called Williamstown. A year later his arrival, he co-founded the Char-Lan United Soccer Club with the help of Robbie MacLachlan. Payer also co-founded the Char-Lan District Minor Soccer Association with MacLachlan and Howie Lauber. Payer played forward for the Char-Lan United team in the Glengarry Soccer League Senior B Division. The Payer family had a third daughter join their family that year. Maria was born in Alexandria. Char-Lan United was promoted to the Senior Men’s Division of the GSL the next season. Payer won the best forward award. Starting in 1973 Payer and the rest of his Char-Lan United squad would play in the Ottawa District Soccer League. When the four-year term in the Ottawa league ended, the team joined the newly-formed Cornwall District Soccer League. Payer was the founding vice-president of the league. In 1979, Char-Lan United won their first of many CDSL championships. In March of 1981, Payer organized spring training and exhibition games for two Char-Lan United men’s teams in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Payer’s last year on Char-Lan United’s first division team came in 1983. Payer was 47. The next year he established Rudi Payer Sports, a soccer pro shop in Williamstown. The youngest of their four daughters, Katrina, was born that year in Cornwall. Payer founded the Char-Lan Indoor Soccer League in 1987. The league was the first of its kind in SDG. Payer now coaches the Char-Lan Magic Bantam girls of the GSL and sponsors several teams throughout Glengarry. We would like to thank The Glengarry News for their permission to reprint the following article by Margaret Caldbick which appeared in the November 9th, 2011 edition. We are grateful for their consideration. Soccer pioneer Payer passes on at age 75 BY MARGARET CALDBICK, News Staff A towering figure in the local sports community, soccer legend and Glengarry Sports Hall of Famer Rudi Payer, “the man who brought soccer to South Glengarry,” died on Oct. 30 at Ottawa General Hospital. He was 75. |
This wiry midfielder was renowned for his ability to volley high balls, often off the head of opposing forwards, control the long kicks and distribute skillfully to forward players. “We didn’t believe in that dangerous kick rule in those days,” Russell would say in later years with a hoarse chuckle, “when I went for the ball, it was mine and if the other player, or my own, got in the road they got kicked in the head.”
The long pants, although quirky in nature and in defiance of the international football rules, certainly never hindered Russell’s play. A fan of the era reports only seeing that midfielder in shorts on one occasion, an Ottawa tournament in the early 1960’s where failure to wear shorts meant not participating. Rusell wore the Greenfield red-and-white from 1959 to 1965 and won three championships, in 1961, 1963 and 1965 after which some internal team dissensions led Russell to leave Greenfield for McCrimmon, where he played on four more championship teams; 1966, 1968, 1969, and 1970. He then assumed the role of coach and directed the club to yet another championship in 1971. In 1973 the Greenfield franchise, which was abandoned in 1968, was reborn. The team consisted of a few veteran holdovers, several boys from the South that Russell recruited on one of his weekly jaunts to Dalhousie and a handful of players from a failed Alexandria entry. Players came and went as Rusty recruited on late night scouting trips to the “ocean”, but a solid nucleus prevailed and a team identity and spirit was fostered by the coach during late night meetings. The wily coach led the Greenfield Men to 10 championships in 13 years, from 1975 to 1988. In 1983, and in his final year 1990, Russell was named coach-of-the-year! In the 1970’s, the senior girls and minor teams became established in the GSL under the Greenfield banner. In 1978, the men, women and bantams won championships and Greenfield held a club awards banquet in the Greenfield Hall. It was a celebration of Russell’s work, and the supporting cast of the community’s soccer program. Russell was more than a Greenfield soccer supporter, he was also a league supporter. From 1970 to 1978, Russell proved this by accepting what many perceived to be one of the toughest league executive responsibilities, that of referee-in-chief. During the era no one wanted to officiate let alone take on of the ultimate responsibility for officials. As a result, Rusty often had to take controversial games that no one else wanted. In addition, Russell held a position as Greenfield’s representative from 1978-1980. Russell was born in Greenfield in 1929, the son of Louis and Augustine (Gordon). He was the middle child in family of five and attended the Greenfield Public School, and entered secondary school at the Alexandria High School, being transported to town via train morning and night. Beyond the soccer field and throughout his life Russell has pursued his passion for outdoors and to this day enjoys hunting and fishing with some of his buddies. The 70-year-old takes great pride in his ability to navigate the northern woods and outwalk his younger hunting friends. In addition, Russell played, coached and refereed broomball in the 1970’s in Lochiel and Greenfield. The coach, competitor and pioneer passed away in 2011. |