May 14, 2023 • 35 mins
After leading the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League in scoring in 1954, Bob Parry went on to an
outstanding Senior A career with the Vancouver Burrards, winning the Inter-City Lacrosse
League outstanding Rookie award in 1955 and becoming an integral part of three Vancouver
Mann Cup winners.
It was after his playing days when he really excelled. As Burrard General Manager for 1970 - O76
he was largely responsible for moulding the team that was a success both on the floor, going to
Mann Cup in 1971, 1975 and 1977, and at the gate.
In the late 1980's Bob was again there to
help resurrect them. He brought the team back to the top with a Mann Cup appearance in 1990.
He has been a tireless behind-the-scenes worker with the Burrards.
outstanding Senior A career with the Vancouver Burrards, winning the Inter-City Lacrosse
League outstanding Rookie award in 1955 and becoming an integral part of three Vancouver
Mann Cup winners.
It was after his playing days when he really excelled. As Burrard General Manager for 1970 - O76
he was largely responsible for moulding the team that was a success both on the floor, going to
Mann Cup in 1971, 1975 and 1977, and at the gate.
In the late 1980's Bob was again there to
help resurrect them. He brought the team back to the top with a Mann Cup appearance in 1990.
He has been a tireless behind-the-scenes worker with the Burrards.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
My name is Bob Parry or BobbyParry either or I'm eighty eight, but
I feel like I'm sixty. Itake twenty years off. I was born
in Saint Paul's Hospital in Vancouver,VC. Do you remember who introduced you
(00:27):
to the game of lacrosse and youknow kind of how old you were in
that sort of Yes, I do. Uh my brother was my older brother
was playing lacrosse at the time,and and he was he introduced me to
(00:49):
it, and I was I usedto break sticks in for some of the
senior A players that were that didn'thave time to break in their stick,
and I'd go down to the crossbox and I shoot that thing both ways
against the wall for hours on end, and uh break in their sticks for
them, and then then then theywere ready to use. So that's how
(01:11):
I started. And uh that wasa way back. I was probably about
seven or eight years old at thetime. And for a box lacrosse player
to work on both hands left andright, that that's out of the ordinary.
How or why did you you dothat? You know? Um,
well, I was always told that, uh that if you can shoot both
(01:33):
ways, you have a better chanceof picking up the angles on the goalie
and things of that nature. Sothat's what I did. I used to
work both hands. The wall isyour friend back then. You know,
the boards are your friend and thewall, the wall is your friend.
Yet the lacrosse box that was atLa Carnal Box in West Point Gray in
(01:57):
Vancouver, and that's where you andyou'd break can uh senior players sticks for
them. That's what I That wasgreat for you to work, perfect for
me. Yeah, just to dothat. Yeah, and when did you
play on your first team? Um? I was probably about maybe about eight
(02:17):
years old and I uh uh,I played all my minor lacrosse and uh
in that in that West Point Graybox and uh we had a coach.
His name was Jake McGregor, andhe was instrumental in my upbringing lacrosse.
(02:37):
I also played probably uh oh,she's at least ten or fifteen other sports
before I decided on box lacrosse andrugby. I played at high levels in
rugby. Also, you knew youwanted to play lacrosse from fairly early and
had you watched your brother play thesenior games and that kind of always get
(03:00):
you going. Yeah, he wasplaying senior b at the time. But
I used to go to his games, and uh, I was. I
was a lacrosse and rugby addict.I mean, I just didn't know anything
else. But and that's kind ofthe environment that I grew up in,
and I was. I was veryhappy, and I finally decided that those
(03:23):
are the two games that I wantedto play. Uh and uh I,
you know, I tried hockey,had football, everything, you know,
every sport there was, I triedthem all. And UH, my mother
she used to say, why doyou pick the roughest sports? Because I
(03:46):
was only small at the time.I was just usually the smallest player on
my team. You know, Iwas about one hundred and fifty pounds,
I guess, you know, whenI was playing, and then even up
into junior and that, and uh, I'd come home with cuts, broken
nose and she's, so, whydo you keep playing these sports? Can't
(04:12):
playing golf or something? I said, No, I like the contact that
I did. I love the contact. I used to go in the corners
and sometimes get the cross check frombehind. And I remember when I first
started playing for the Barrard's UM.I went to one of their practices.
(04:35):
They asked me to come out becauseI was going. They wanted me to
play in a couple of games whenI was very young, around I was
around sixteen seventeen then. And thisguy, he's a was a big tough
cookie. His name was Denny Huddleston, and he cross checked me across the
(04:55):
back of the neck end of theboards out of practice. Uh. He's
said, I'll teach this kid howit's played. Welcome to the big leagues.
Yeah, welcome to the big leagues. Yeah. Oh yeah. But
but I was basically, um reallyattached to lacrosse and and and and uh
(05:23):
I would I would. I wasplaying on championship teams, you know,
which which the lacrosse season would runinto the rugby season, and we'd always
be at top levels and and uhin the finals right up to the end.
Uh and so and and they ranin that one season ran into the
(05:44):
other, and the lacrosse coach wouldsay, uh, uh, come on,
it's time to come on. Itsaid, give me a chance to
do heal so much because I'm gonnahave two replaced tips and a replaced knee,
and this one's begging to be done. But I'm not going to do
it because I don't want to takea chance of getting an infection at my
age. So I've been doing otherremedies for it. And all my friends
(06:15):
are from sports, from either lacrosseor rugby. And then after that,
I, after I finished those competitivecareers, I got into distance running.
I ran h seven I ran ahundred distance races, but seven marathons,
(06:36):
including um in nineteen eighty eight,I ran the Boston Marathon. Yeah,
and I'll tell you a story aboutthat. And it's true. I practiced
spacing out from Paine when I wasin my long runs, like we'd coming
up to the Boston Marathon, we'drun twenty miles on Saturday, like like
(07:00):
they were walking across the street,and uh and I uh I I for
two years in a row, Igot up to where I was ready to
run that marathon, and uh soI came down with injuries that I you
know that like because I was puttingin a lot of miles. I was
(07:21):
running one hundred miles a week anduh so, then on this last when
I finally ran the Boston Marathon innineteen eighty it was when they changed from
from uh you had to qualify underthree hours in a marathon and uh which
(07:44):
I did in a marathon leading upto it, But I ran that race.
It was in Trails End or TrailsEnd, Oregon, and I was
only going to use it for apric just run, you know, because
I had already made the decision torun the race, the Boston Marathon.
(08:07):
And but I, uh, Iended up running that race too fast,
for a lot faster than I wasbad planned on running in And so when
I finally ran the Boston Marathon,the doctor told me, he says,
you shouldn't run it. You know, you're you're gonna have a problem.
And because my muscles weren't healed properly, so I said, no, I'm
(08:33):
going to run that race. Idon't care what. And I've practiced,
uh, spacing out, blocking outpain, it's called and uh so I
uh sure enough, after mile eightI pulled a hamstring muscle and yeah,
(08:54):
early on I ran the last eighteenmiles of that race with a torn hamstring.
Oh boy, and uh it waskilling me, but I was I'd
say to myself in a positive way, there's no pain, there's nothing.
I'm fine, you know. Anduh, because that's the way I lived
(09:15):
my life. Yeah, well,playing as you say, one hundred and
fifty pounds and playing rugby and boxlacrosse. Yeah, well I gained a
little weight afterwards. I used torun. I used to play lacrosse at
about one hundred and sixty pounds.Yeah. But uh but rugby I could,
(09:39):
I could, I could uh bea little bit heavier, Yeah,
because it was it was played inthe in the winter, that rugby,
right, and so that's what Igot to kind of how I did it,
you know. So, so whatwas the first organization played junior with.
I played junior with a team calledRenfrew. They were from Renfrew Street
(10:07):
area in the East end of Vancouver, and they they they called me up,
uh uh as a backup, anduh I sat beside the coach the
well, I thought, that's giveme a shot, you know, like
early on, you know, inthe game. And uh so I ended
(10:33):
up um I I in the secondhalf. I never played at all.
They would put me in because hewanted to use his regular players, you
know, without add ons like myself. And so I went and sat beside
him in the second half, rightright beside the coach. I mean,
(10:56):
this year, let me play,let me get out there. So finally
about halfway through the second second half, he said, okay, go out,
go ahead, out and play onthe power play. So I was
very good at the power play,and I was good at picking corners and
(11:18):
uh he uh they I ended upI scored on on six shots. I
got six goals. Wow and uhwow. And after that, uh he
uh. He was so impressed.The following year he wanted me me captain
(11:39):
with the team. Yea. Andso was Renford Junior A. That was
junior A. Yeah yeah, ohyeah, oh that was junior akay.
And the teams were very competitive atthat time too. Who would you play
against? Like, what were theother organizations play against in junior A.
(12:00):
Let's see who did we play against? Um? Well, our team was
the Vancouver Rockies. Um we playedagainst that Renfrew team. Um we played
against Salmon Bellies. And that's whereI first played against u uh, Paul
(12:20):
Parnell and and beyond and guys likethat and uh so uh uh and and
I think Coquitlam had a team thenor maybe later on they Coquitlam joined the
league, and uh, I forgetwho who else we played, but but
(12:41):
it was it was it was verycompetitive, you know, and the games
between Salmon Bellies and and our team. Uh they were, boy, the
checking was tough and uh, youhad to be able to endure tough environment,
(13:05):
you know. In those days.We drew pretty well out in Queen
Spark Arena and Karsdale Arena where weplayed, or the Forum, and but
it was competitive, very competitive.And and then I got to know everybody
and and let's see what else happened. Uh oh yeah. Then our Vancouver
(13:30):
Rockies team, we were in theMental Cup in that would have been I
think nineteen fifty three or four,and that's when we were playing gets beyond
the first game, he scored sevengoals and four assists and they beat us
(13:54):
twenty seven to nine. It wasthe best three out of five. And
who was he playing for then atthat time? I think he was playing
for Salmon Bellies then, although hedid play for Nanaimo for a while too
and also for uh Salmon Bellies,and I think he played um for a
(14:18):
time being for for Coquitlam. Mightthink it was, but he was around
the league. He moved around wherethe money was, you know at that
time. And for the junior eightalways senior A. Oh, you're talking
with senior yeah, yeah, alwayssenior A yeah and uh and then uh
(14:41):
um. I was on the ManCup teams in uh sixty as a player
in sixty and a winning Man Cupsixty one, sixty three, sixty four,
both of those two years as we'reback east and sixty seven in sixty
(15:03):
one. Uh. Bobby Marsh whowas a player that I played with,
um he uh he said he alwayssaid that that sixty one team was the
strongest team, even stronger than thesixty four team which is in the BC
(15:28):
Sports Hall of Fame. Also becausewe had six guys that were that are
now in the Hall of Fame thatwere sitting out. They couldn't make the
team, you know, and backin those days it was tough. It
was tough even for one guy.I remember remember when I moved up that
(15:50):
it was tough even for the ifif you could. The team was so
strong that we had maybe one guywould make it every year. And I
happened to be able to make itthe year that I moved up. And
remember very clearly that I had achoice to make you here or you were
(16:11):
allowed to play I think it wasseven or eight or nine games, and
then you had to make a choiceif you were going to stay up and
senior A or go back to yourjunior team. And Jake McGregor didn't talk
to me for a long time becauseI elected to go up to the senior
(16:32):
I really wanted. I knew Icould make it and play regularly, and
so that's what I did. Anduh, it was, it was.
It was in those days. Wewore We wore no masks, um no
helmets. We used wooden sticks andyou could really hurt a guy with a
(16:56):
wooden stick as opposed to the classsticks that they use nowadays. It was
just a different ballgame and nothing aroundyour face. I remember getting hit.
You know, this nose has beenbroken about four or five times. And
Billy choose him one of my teammateswho I always respected. He was a
(17:18):
very good friend of mine. Camefrom the East End of Vancouver. He
was originally born in Saskatchewan in arough neighborhood there, and then moved out
to Vancouver when he was about Ithink Billy was about seven or eight when
he moved out here and we endedup. Jake McGregor told me, he
(17:41):
said, I've got a new guycoming out. You'll be surprised who it
is when we were playing junior andand I remember it like it was yesterday,
and he and Jake wouldn't tell mewho it was. And I was
the captain of the team him thenand I said, come on, Jake,
(18:02):
tell me with his He says,don't, you'll be surprised. So
it was it was Billy Chisholm.And uh, I don't know whether you
know him or not, but uhuh he was a good friend of mine
from that day on. He waslike me. Um. I was working
in a factory at the time,and the the form in his name was
(18:29):
Charlie Frederickson. He wanted to uhteach me a lesson because I was like
having Keith fit classes and sometimes letthe line back up him. He didn't
like me and uh so, soyeah, trouble paint attention and uh so
he he used to um put mein the ball we used to play on
(18:56):
Tuesday night was our home night.And then and and uh we're we're working
guys, like all day on ourfeet. I used to work in a
box car doing bulk piling. Itwas the hardest job there was in the
whole factory. And he this kindof this foreman used to put me in
the box car and I couldn't figureout what what was going on? How
(19:18):
tuesdays and and then and then onTuesday night we play at home and then
uh then we'd traveled to Victoria soas a back to back game. And
Victoria was a uh tarazzio four,very hard and big, big long surface
and uh and then uh so andwe'd you know, have we used to
(19:45):
drink beer like it was going ona style much anymore, very little and
uh uh and then I'd come towork on on Thursday morning and back down
in that box car again and uhso, uh it was, it was.
It was tough, but but wedid everything together and we partied.
(20:07):
We used to go to a placecalled Henry's Golden Horseshoe. It was a
Chinese restaurant in the East end ofVancouver, near near Renfrew, and we'd
we'd close the place up. Andone of our players, Terry mckibbn was
(20:29):
his name. He was a goodfriend of Billy Chisholms and myself. He'd
he'd uh talked to Henry and say, you know, let us stay.
We want to drink for a while, you know, So you'd get the
keys and really believe us there andhe'd come back in the morning. We're
(20:51):
still there. Uh, he's hada lot of energy us. We were
close, we were so close.Was he was he an out player?
He was. He was one ofour star players. Yeah, yeah,
very well, respect yourself. Hewas a kind of a guy. When
we played Salmon Bellies, Um,we needed a lift, we were down,
(21:15):
maybe down a few goals or something. And he wouldn't just try and
run around a guy. He'd startup at the end of the floor and
he'd run right through him, youknow, right over top of him.
That was his way of doing things. He could have picked the whole town,
No, picked the whole team up. No, he wasn't that big,
you know, he was about hewas a little heavier than me.
(21:37):
He's probably about one hundred and eightypounds. And he spent he spent twenty
full games in the penalty box,which was out out of his time that
he was playing. And uh,nobody's ever caught that. Many found the
(22:00):
referees hated him, you know.Yeah, they just just stick it to
him, you know. Sounded likehe should put that in his rec room,
like a penalty box. Yeah.I was interested because you could play
left and right, which not everybodycould do that. What was the percentage
of goals you'd score kind of bothways? You go eighty percent one way
(22:23):
and then twenty percent when you neededit or I would say that would be
close to that. Uh you know, I wasn't. Now, I was
a little weak on my on myon my one side. Um, well,
you're righty mainly or lefty mainly.I was. I was regularly usually
a lefty little usually left a lefty. Yeah, this was harder for me
and um but the best guy ofall for Switching Hounds, East West you
(22:55):
name it, professional was Gordy Gimpelokay played. Yeah, we've interviewed Gordy
before, so yeah, well that'sGordy was on that team. He was
I think he was the captain atthe time too, when they picked me
up for that Mental Cup, youknow, okay, and he remembered very
(23:17):
clearly those six goals as you wereon six shots. That's amazing xel Cross.
At that time, it wasn't youweren't. It's not like it is
now where you've got an offense anda defense right and it's and the offense
is on there all the time.You know that was that was tough to
score that many goals in the olddays. And what do you think of
(23:40):
the way it's played now? Doyou have any room for that or you
wish it was all different? Um? I still have maintained my interest and
go to the games all the time. And I used to take Billy Chisholm
out when he was crippled because henever would get his knees done or is
or is uh and uh I rememberin uh about it was about three years
(24:07):
before he retired. We used toUh. I used to tape and Billy
Chisholm would tape every game, youknow, because I had a problem with
my ankles and knees and stuff.And Louie Morrow, who was our our
trainer and very well respected and he'sdone about four or five Hall of Fames.
(24:29):
He was one of the original trainerswho took up and became a professional
trainer. And he told me becausehe knew I was very close to Billy
Chishom's. He says, Jesus,can't you get Billy to quit? He
says, his knees are so bad, you know, And he used to
play through pain, and I thoughthe was unreal threshold for pain. Did
(24:53):
you ever get hurt badly myself?Yea? When I played rugby, which
was for the Cats rugby club.Um, I had a fractured jaw.
And in those days, they usedto go in through the top of your
head and they'd pull that out likethat, that jaw really yeah really and
(25:15):
uh? And I had to wearan antenna and I played. I played
in the final game rugby or inrugby. Uh, without antenna? Can
they the referee had to have ahuddle with the linesman to see if it'll
(25:37):
allow me. They didn't know whatto do. It was scary, believe
me. Well, that's amazing.I never knew they used to do.
They do and they pulled the jawbone out like that. About lacrosse,
did you get anything like that lacrosseat all? Or just who knows?
(26:00):
I had? I had problems withthe bottom of my feet. Uh.
It's called the metatarsal bone because thefirst Yeah, I used to get so
excited when when I when they wantedme to go out for a special time,
(26:22):
maybe man short or something. AndI used to jump off the boards
onto the tarrazzio floor. I landon my heels one time somebody grabbed my
arm or something, I land onmy heels. So ever since then,
I had trouble with that with theheels of my feet. And that was
uh time when I was hurting inlacrosse. But but uh, you know,
(26:48):
my back started giving me trouble andum, and then that's when I
started having my hips done and uh, I found that it wasn't my back,
it was it was the hips forcausing the problem. So I end
up I had I've had both thehips done and on my right knee.
Is that after you're playing card afteryour playing career? No, this was
(27:15):
but but but I uh but Ididn't play long after. Um it was.
Yeah. I would say it wasmainly after my career because those are
tough like I. You know,I see other athletes maybe pro football players
and that, and they have ahip done and it's it's it's traumatic,
it really is. Yeah. Anduh yeah, now when did you kind
(27:40):
of get he went he went intocoaching and management and when did that all?
Well? I I only coached fora short time. I was mainly
general manager, but I was runningthe whole team, the Bards, Yeah,
the Berards. I was always runningthe whole team. I was uh
(28:00):
myself and and uh one of mycoal players, John Survey, and uh
and we pretty well run the roundthe whole team, you know. Yeah,
you're yeah, very very good.And uh so I was general manager
for quite quite a long time.Um and and I learned I learned the
(28:22):
business aspects from a uh. Wehad an owner of the team. His
name was Bill Ellison way back when, and uh and I learned business things
from him. And then I justwas very came very natural for me to
be a general manager. And Iwas I would like John Tavaris um that
(28:48):
I started scouting when he was aboutfifteen years old. And uh uh when
I when I uh, I phonedhim and phoned him and phoned him and
phoned them. And the only theonly reason I got him to come was
he had a girlfriend at the timeand he wanted to bring her out here
(29:11):
too, So so I said,a good job for your girlfriend. But
you annoyed some of my regular guys, you know, because they weren't the
figure. They were getting extra treatment. But he was so good a player,
I mean, did you find himat age fifteen? Well, I
had uh, Like I said,I had a large scouting staff. You
(29:34):
know, I had a financial committeeand uh, you know organized, yeah,
very well, very well, andUH and I built that up over
a period of time and uh andthen UH and then I UH and I
had I had a couple of guys, UH that were junior A coaches back
(29:55):
there East that were working for me, or they were they were assisting me,
and his name kept coming up,coming, up, coming up.
He's now owns records in UH,in the Pro League, the NL,
which he'll never be broken. I'mtelling you, because I just know that
(30:15):
even some of the top players,they're going to be close, but they'll
never break them up. And heused to and he always got an equal
number of goals and an equal numberof assists because they used to double team
him. And then he'd flipped theball off, you know. And UH,
Paul Day, I don't know whetheryou know him or not. I
(30:36):
brought him out at the same time. And and the Salmon Belly UH coach
has said said, how do youget those guys? We were trying to
get them all that time. Theythey said, you got the right the
right two guys, And sure enoughthey're they're well, John's in a couple
(31:00):
of Hall of Fames. But he'swhen you were a player, who are
the top three players that you rememberplaying against, whether with you or against
that stick out your mind. Let'ssay three. Um. Gordy Gimple would
be one, ye Um Uh,Peter Black, yes, he'd be another.
(31:27):
Um, Billy Chisholm would be another. I forgot to mention one thing.
Like, we were so strong inlacrosse during those years. The league
decided that they wanted to to takesome of our strength away. And Gordy
(31:48):
Gimple and Uh and Uh Gordy Gimpleand and Alec Carry that played on the
same line. They took them andput them with Uh with another team.
I forget who it was. No, I think it was Coquitlam and Uh
(32:12):
yeah and Uh and then and thenthe following year they took the other guy
off that line was it was fredUsselman and Uh and Billy chose him.
He was so mad that those guysleft our team and and he got in
(32:35):
a stick fight with Freddy Husselman.It's probably the only fight he ever lost,
because fred Usselman had such a longreach, you know, and he
was whacking them on it. Theywere going at it. That was when
they took Usselman and Usselman left,so we we ended up still being a
very strong team, but without thattop line of ours. There's a lot
(32:59):
of goals that heard us that hurtus. It really hurt us. So
as a manager, who were thetop three players that you saw, you
know, from your management for frommanagement point of view, Yeah, yeah,
well old John Tavaris, sure,yeah, yeah, he would be
the top guy, John Tavarus.The other guy was trying to think of
(33:23):
his name was Johnny Rosa. Okay, yeah, he was. He was
single at the time, and uh, he was a woman's man. He
was a nice looking guy, Italian. And uh I let him stay at
my house one day when or oneweekend when I was away my wife at
(33:45):
the time, and uh and uh, these girls, these girls I got
back therefore words Johnny, because hehad them over different times, you know,
these girls. And uh he saidhe came to me one time after
a game and he said to me, coat or general manager, Bobby,
(34:10):
you got to help me out here. I got three girls out in the
stands that all think I'm going tobe taking them all they're waiting for him
to find what were your words ofwisdom, my words of wisdom. I
helped him. You know, yeah, you ran interview. He never forgot
(34:30):
that you ran interference for him.He was another guy that said I was
instrumental in his life. Well,Bob, we've come to the end of
our time that we've got allotted foryour interview. But thank you so much
for coming today and sharing some greatstories about the Berards and you know,
as a player and a manager.You know, yeah, thanks, Well,
(34:52):
I appreciate your including me in yourlist of people you interview. Remember Thember backing
My name is Bob Parry or BobbyParry either or I'm eighty eight, but
I feel like I'm sixty. Itake twenty years off. I was born
in Saint Paul's Hospital in Vancouver,VC. Do you remember who introduced you
(00:27):
to the game of lacrosse and youknow kind of how old you were in
that sort of Yes, I do. Uh my brother was my older brother
was playing lacrosse at the time,and and he was he introduced me to
(00:49):
it, and I was I usedto break sticks in for some of the
senior A players that were that didn'thave time to break in their stick,
and I'd go down to the crossbox and I shoot that thing both ways
against the wall for hours on end, and uh break in their sticks for
them, and then then then theywere ready to use. So that's how
(01:11):
I started. And uh that wasa way back. I was probably about
seven or eight years old at thetime. And for a box lacrosse player
to work on both hands left andright, that that's out of the ordinary.
How or why did you you dothat? You know? Um,
well, I was always told that, uh that if you can shoot both
(01:33):
ways, you have a better chanceof picking up the angles on the goalie
and things of that nature. Sothat's what I did. I used to
work both hands. The wall isyour friend back then. You know,
the boards are your friend and thewall, the wall is your friend.
Yet the lacrosse box that was atLa Carnal Box in West Point Gray in
(01:57):
Vancouver, and that's where you andyou'd break can uh senior players sticks for
them. That's what I That wasgreat for you to work, perfect for
me. Yeah, just to dothat. Yeah, and when did you
play on your first team? Um? I was probably about maybe about eight
(02:17):
years old and I uh uh,I played all my minor lacrosse and uh
in that in that West Point Graybox and uh we had a coach.
His name was Jake McGregor, andhe was instrumental in my upbringing lacrosse.
(02:37):
I also played probably uh oh,she's at least ten or fifteen other sports
before I decided on box lacrosse andrugby. I played at high levels in
rugby. Also, you knew youwanted to play lacrosse from fairly early and
had you watched your brother play thesenior games and that kind of always get
(03:00):
you going. Yeah, he wasplaying senior b at the time. But
I used to go to his games, and uh, I was. I
was a lacrosse and rugby addict.I mean, I just didn't know anything
else. But and that's kind ofthe environment that I grew up in,
and I was. I was veryhappy, and I finally decided that those
(03:23):
are the two games that I wantedto play. Uh and uh I,
you know, I tried hockey,had football, everything, you know,
every sport there was, I triedthem all. And UH, my mother
she used to say, why doyou pick the roughest sports? Because I
(03:46):
was only small at the time.I was just usually the smallest player on
my team. You know, Iwas about one hundred and fifty pounds,
I guess, you know, whenI was playing, and then even up
into junior and that, and uh, I'd come home with cuts, broken
nose and she's, so, whydo you keep playing these sports? Can't
(04:12):
playing golf or something? I said, No, I like the contact that
I did. I love the contact. I used to go in the corners
and sometimes get the cross check frombehind. And I remember when I first
started playing for the Barrard's UM.I went to one of their practices.
(04:35):
They asked me to come out becauseI was going. They wanted me to
play in a couple of games whenI was very young, around I was
around sixteen seventeen then. And thisguy, he's a was a big tough
cookie. His name was Denny Huddleston, and he cross checked me across the
(04:55):
back of the neck end of theboards out of practice. Uh. He's
said, I'll teach this kid howit's played. Welcome to the big leagues.
Yeah, welcome to the big leagues. Yeah. Oh yeah. But
but I was basically, um reallyattached to lacrosse and and and and uh
(05:23):
I would I would. I wasplaying on championship teams, you know,
which which the lacrosse season would runinto the rugby season, and we'd always
be at top levels and and uhin the finals right up to the end.
Uh and so and and they ranin that one season ran into the
(05:44):
other, and the lacrosse coach wouldsay, uh, uh, come on,
it's time to come on. Itsaid, give me a chance to
do heal so much because I'm gonnahave two replaced tips and a replaced knee,
and this one's begging to be done. But I'm not going to do
it because I don't want to takea chance of getting an infection at my
age. So I've been doing otherremedies for it. And all my friends
(06:15):
are from sports, from either lacrosseor rugby. And then after that,
I, after I finished those competitivecareers, I got into distance running.
I ran h seven I ran ahundred distance races, but seven marathons,
(06:36):
including um in nineteen eighty eight,I ran the Boston Marathon. Yeah,
and I'll tell you a story aboutthat. And it's true. I practiced
spacing out from Paine when I wasin my long runs, like we'd coming
up to the Boston Marathon, we'drun twenty miles on Saturday, like like
(07:00):
they were walking across the street,and uh and I uh I I for
two years in a row, Igot up to where I was ready to
run that marathon, and uh soI came down with injuries that I you
know that like because I was puttingin a lot of miles. I was
(07:21):
running one hundred miles a week anduh so, then on this last when
I finally ran the Boston Marathon innineteen eighty it was when they changed from
from uh you had to qualify underthree hours in a marathon and uh which
(07:44):
I did in a marathon leading upto it, But I ran that race.
It was in Trails End or TrailsEnd, Oregon, and I was
only going to use it for apric just run, you know, because
I had already made the decision torun the race, the Boston Marathon.
(08:07):
And but I, uh, Iended up running that race too fast,
for a lot faster than I wasbad planned on running in And so when
I finally ran the Boston Marathon,the doctor told me, he says,
you shouldn't run it. You know, you're you're gonna have a problem.
And because my muscles weren't healed properly, so I said, no, I'm
(08:33):
going to run that race. Idon't care what. And I've practiced,
uh, spacing out, blocking outpain, it's called and uh so I
uh sure enough, after mile eightI pulled a hamstring muscle and yeah,
(08:54):
early on I ran the last eighteenmiles of that race with a torn hamstring.
Oh boy, and uh it waskilling me, but I was I'd
say to myself in a positive way, there's no pain, there's nothing.
I'm fine, you know. Anduh, because that's the way I lived
(09:15):
my life. Yeah, well,playing as you say, one hundred and
fifty pounds and playing rugby and boxlacrosse. Yeah, well I gained a
little weight afterwards. I used torun. I used to play lacrosse at
about one hundred and sixty pounds.Yeah. But uh but rugby I could,
(09:39):
I could, I could uh bea little bit heavier, Yeah,
because it was it was played inthe in the winter, that rugby,
right, and so that's what Igot to kind of how I did it,
you know. So, so whatwas the first organization played junior with.
I played junior with a team calledRenfrew. They were from Renfrew Street
(10:07):
area in the East end of Vancouver, and they they they called me up,
uh uh as a backup, anduh I sat beside the coach the
well, I thought, that's giveme a shot, you know, like
early on, you know, inthe game. And uh so I ended
(10:33):
up um I I in the secondhalf. I never played at all.
They would put me in because hewanted to use his regular players, you
know, without add ons like myself. And so I went and sat beside
him in the second half, rightright beside the coach. I mean,
(10:56):
this year, let me play,let me get out there. So finally
about halfway through the second second half, he said, okay, go out,
go ahead, out and play onthe power play. So I was
very good at the power play,and I was good at picking corners and
(11:18):
uh he uh they I ended upI scored on on six shots. I
got six goals. Wow and uhwow. And after that, uh he
uh. He was so impressed.The following year he wanted me me captain
(11:39):
with the team. Yea. Andso was Renford Junior A. That was
junior A. Yeah yeah, ohyeah, oh that was junior akay.
And the teams were very competitive atthat time too. Who would you play
against? Like, what were theother organizations play against in junior A.
(12:00):
Let's see who did we play against? Um? Well, our team was
the Vancouver Rockies. Um we playedagainst that Renfrew team. Um we played
against Salmon Bellies. And that's whereI first played against u uh, Paul
(12:20):
Parnell and and beyond and guys likethat and uh so uh uh and and
I think Coquitlam had a team thenor maybe later on they Coquitlam joined the
league, and uh, I forgetwho who else we played, but but
(12:41):
it was it was it was verycompetitive, you know, and the games
between Salmon Bellies and and our team. Uh they were, boy, the
checking was tough and uh, youhad to be able to endure tough environment,
(13:05):
you know. In those days.We drew pretty well out in Queen
Spark Arena and Karsdale Arena where weplayed, or the Forum, and but
it was competitive, very competitive.And and then I got to know everybody
and and let's see what else happened. Uh oh yeah. Then our Vancouver
(13:30):
Rockies team, we were in theMental Cup in that would have been I
think nineteen fifty three or four,and that's when we were playing gets beyond
the first game, he scored sevengoals and four assists and they beat us
(13:54):
twenty seven to nine. It wasthe best three out of five. And
who was he playing for then atthat time? I think he was playing
for Salmon Bellies then, although hedid play for Nanaimo for a while too
and also for uh Salmon Bellies,and I think he played um for a
(14:18):
time being for for Coquitlam. Mightthink it was, but he was around
the league. He moved around wherethe money was, you know at that
time. And for the junior eightalways senior A. Oh, you're talking
with senior yeah, yeah, alwayssenior A yeah and uh and then uh
(14:41):
um. I was on the ManCup teams in uh sixty as a player
in sixty and a winning Man Cupsixty one, sixty three, sixty four,
both of those two years as we'reback east and sixty seven in sixty
(15:03):
one. Uh. Bobby Marsh whowas a player that I played with,
um he uh he said he alwayssaid that that sixty one team was the
strongest team, even stronger than thesixty four team which is in the BC
(15:28):
Sports Hall of Fame. Also becausewe had six guys that were that are
now in the Hall of Fame thatwere sitting out. They couldn't make the
team, you know, and backin those days it was tough. It
was tough even for one guy.I remember remember when I moved up that
(15:50):
it was tough even for the ifif you could. The team was so
strong that we had maybe one guywould make it every year. And I
happened to be able to make itthe year that I moved up. And
remember very clearly that I had achoice to make you here or you were
(16:11):
allowed to play I think it wasseven or eight or nine games, and
then you had to make a choiceif you were going to stay up and
senior A or go back to yourjunior team. And Jake McGregor didn't talk
to me for a long time becauseI elected to go up to the senior
(16:32):
I really wanted. I knew Icould make it and play regularly, and
so that's what I did. Anduh, it was, it was.
It was in those days. Wewore We wore no masks, um no
helmets. We used wooden sticks andyou could really hurt a guy with a
(16:56):
wooden stick as opposed to the classsticks that they use nowadays. It was
just a different ballgame and nothing aroundyour face. I remember getting hit.
You know, this nose has beenbroken about four or five times. And
Billy choose him one of my teammateswho I always respected. He was a
(17:18):
very good friend of mine. Camefrom the East End of Vancouver. He
was originally born in Saskatchewan in arough neighborhood there, and then moved out
to Vancouver when he was about Ithink Billy was about seven or eight when
he moved out here and we endedup. Jake McGregor told me, he
(17:41):
said, I've got a new guycoming out. You'll be surprised who it
is when we were playing junior andand I remember it like it was yesterday,
and he and Jake wouldn't tell mewho it was. And I was
the captain of the team him thenand I said, come on, Jake,
(18:02):
tell me with his He says,don't, you'll be surprised. So
it was it was Billy Chisholm.And uh, I don't know whether you
know him or not, but uhuh he was a good friend of mine
from that day on. He waslike me. Um. I was working
in a factory at the time,and the the form in his name was
(18:29):
Charlie Frederickson. He wanted to uhteach me a lesson because I was like
having Keith fit classes and sometimes letthe line back up him. He didn't
like me and uh so, soyeah, trouble paint attention and uh so
he he used to um put mein the ball we used to play on
(18:56):
Tuesday night was our home night.And then and and uh we're we're working
guys, like all day on ourfeet. I used to work in a
box car doing bulk piling. Itwas the hardest job there was in the
whole factory. And he this kindof this foreman used to put me in
the box car and I couldn't figureout what what was going on? How
(19:18):
tuesdays and and then and then onTuesday night we play at home and then
uh then we'd traveled to Victoria soas a back to back game. And
Victoria was a uh tarazzio four,very hard and big, big long surface
and uh and then uh so andwe'd you know, have we used to
(19:45):
drink beer like it was going ona style much anymore, very little and
uh uh and then I'd come towork on on Thursday morning and back down
in that box car again and uhso, uh it was, it was.
It was tough, but but wedid everything together and we partied.
(20:07):
We used to go to a placecalled Henry's Golden Horseshoe. It was a
Chinese restaurant in the East end ofVancouver, near near Renfrew, and we'd
we'd close the place up. Andone of our players, Terry mckibbn was
(20:29):
his name. He was a goodfriend of Billy Chisholms and myself. He'd
he'd uh talked to Henry and say, you know, let us stay.
We want to drink for a while, you know, So you'd get the
keys and really believe us there andhe'd come back in the morning. We're
(20:51):
still there. Uh, he's hada lot of energy us. We were
close, we were so close.Was he was he an out player?
He was. He was one ofour star players. Yeah, yeah,
very well, respect yourself. Hewas a kind of a guy. When
we played Salmon Bellies, Um,we needed a lift, we were down,
(21:15):
maybe down a few goals or something. And he wouldn't just try and
run around a guy. He'd startup at the end of the floor and
he'd run right through him, youknow, right over top of him.
That was his way of doing things. He could have picked the whole town,
No, picked the whole team up. No, he wasn't that big,
you know, he was about hewas a little heavier than me.
(21:37):
He's probably about one hundred and eightypounds. And he spent he spent twenty
full games in the penalty box,which was out out of his time that
he was playing. And uh,nobody's ever caught that. Many found the
(22:00):
referees hated him, you know.Yeah, they just just stick it to
him, you know. Sounded likehe should put that in his rec room,
like a penalty box. Yeah.I was interested because you could play
left and right, which not everybodycould do that. What was the percentage
of goals you'd score kind of bothways? You go eighty percent one way
(22:23):
and then twenty percent when you neededit or I would say that would be
close to that. Uh you know, I wasn't. Now, I was
a little weak on my on myon my one side. Um, well,
you're righty mainly or lefty mainly.I was. I was regularly usually
a lefty little usually left a lefty. Yeah, this was harder for me
and um but the best guy ofall for Switching Hounds, East West you
(22:55):
name it, professional was Gordy Gimpelokay played. Yeah, we've interviewed Gordy
before, so yeah, well that'sGordy was on that team. He was
I think he was the captain atthe time too, when they picked me
up for that Mental Cup, youknow, okay, and he remembered very
(23:17):
clearly those six goals as you wereon six shots. That's amazing xel Cross.
At that time, it wasn't youweren't. It's not like it is
now where you've got an offense anda defense right and it's and the offense
is on there all the time.You know that was that was tough to
score that many goals in the olddays. And what do you think of
(23:40):
the way it's played now? Doyou have any room for that or you
wish it was all different? Um? I still have maintained my interest and
go to the games all the time. And I used to take Billy Chisholm
out when he was crippled because henever would get his knees done or is
or is uh and uh I rememberin uh about it was about three years
(24:07):
before he retired. We used toUh. I used to tape and Billy
Chisholm would tape every game, youknow, because I had a problem with
my ankles and knees and stuff.And Louie Morrow, who was our our
trainer and very well respected and he'sdone about four or five Hall of Fames.
(24:29):
He was one of the original trainerswho took up and became a professional
trainer. And he told me becausehe knew I was very close to Billy
Chishom's. He says, Jesus,can't you get Billy to quit? He
says, his knees are so bad, you know, And he used to
play through pain, and I thoughthe was unreal threshold for pain. Did
(24:53):
you ever get hurt badly myself?Yea? When I played rugby, which
was for the Cats rugby club.Um, I had a fractured jaw.
And in those days, they usedto go in through the top of your
head and they'd pull that out likethat, that jaw really yeah really and
(25:15):
uh? And I had to wearan antenna and I played. I played
in the final game rugby or inrugby. Uh, without antenna? Can
they the referee had to have ahuddle with the linesman to see if it'll
(25:37):
allow me. They didn't know whatto do. It was scary, believe
me. Well, that's amazing.I never knew they used to do.
They do and they pulled the jawbone out like that. About lacrosse,
did you get anything like that lacrosseat all? Or just who knows?
(26:00):
I had? I had problems withthe bottom of my feet. Uh.
It's called the metatarsal bone because thefirst Yeah, I used to get so
excited when when I when they wantedme to go out for a special time,
(26:22):
maybe man short or something. AndI used to jump off the boards
onto the tarrazzio floor. I landon my heels one time somebody grabbed my
arm or something, I land onmy heels. So ever since then,
I had trouble with that with theheels of my feet. And that was
uh time when I was hurting inlacrosse. But but uh, you know,
(26:48):
my back started giving me trouble andum, and then that's when I
started having my hips done and uh, I found that it wasn't my back,
it was it was the hips forcausing the problem. So I end
up I had I've had both thehips done and on my right knee.
Is that after you're playing card afteryour playing career? No, this was
(27:15):
but but but I uh but Ididn't play long after. Um it was.
Yeah. I would say it wasmainly after my career because those are
tough like I. You know,I see other athletes maybe pro football players
and that, and they have ahip done and it's it's it's traumatic,
it really is. Yeah. Anduh yeah, now when did you kind
(27:40):
of get he went he went intocoaching and management and when did that all?
Well? I I only coached fora short time. I was mainly
general manager, but I was runningthe whole team, the Bards, Yeah,
the Berards. I was always runningthe whole team. I was uh
(28:00):
myself and and uh one of mycoal players, John Survey, and uh
and we pretty well run the roundthe whole team, you know. Yeah,
you're yeah, very very good.And uh so I was general manager
for quite quite a long time.Um and and I learned I learned the
(28:22):
business aspects from a uh. Wehad an owner of the team. His
name was Bill Ellison way back when, and uh and I learned business things
from him. And then I justwas very came very natural for me to
be a general manager. And Iwas I would like John Tavaris um that
(28:48):
I started scouting when he was aboutfifteen years old. And uh uh when
I when I uh, I phonedhim and phoned him and phoned him and
phoned them. And the only theonly reason I got him to come was
he had a girlfriend at the timeand he wanted to bring her out here
(29:11):
too, So so I said,a good job for your girlfriend. But
you annoyed some of my regular guys, you know, because they weren't the
figure. They were getting extra treatment. But he was so good a player,
I mean, did you find himat age fifteen? Well, I
had uh, Like I said,I had a large scouting staff. You
(29:34):
know, I had a financial committeeand uh, you know organized, yeah,
very well, very well, andUH and I built that up over
a period of time and uh andthen UH and then I UH and I
had I had a couple of guys, UH that were junior A coaches back
(29:55):
there East that were working for me, or they were they were assisting me,
and his name kept coming up,coming, up, coming up.
He's now owns records in UH,in the Pro League, the NL,
which he'll never be broken. I'mtelling you, because I just know that
(30:15):
even some of the top players,they're going to be close, but they'll
never break them up. And heused to and he always got an equal
number of goals and an equal numberof assists because they used to double team
him. And then he'd flipped theball off, you know. And UH,
Paul Day, I don't know whetheryou know him or not. I
(30:36):
brought him out at the same time. And and the Salmon Belly UH coach
has said said, how do youget those guys? We were trying to
get them all that time. Theythey said, you got the right the
right two guys, And sure enoughthey're they're well, John's in a couple
(31:00):
of Hall of Fames. But he'swhen you were a player, who are
the top three players that you rememberplaying against, whether with you or against
that stick out your mind. Let'ssay three. Um. Gordy Gimple would
be one, ye Um Uh,Peter Black, yes, he'd be another.
(31:27):
Um, Billy Chisholm would be another. I forgot to mention one thing.
Like, we were so strong inlacrosse during those years. The league
decided that they wanted to to takesome of our strength away. And Gordy
(31:48):
Gimple and Uh and Uh Gordy Gimpleand and Alec Carry that played on the
same line. They took them andput them with Uh with another team.
I forget who it was. No, I think it was Coquitlam and Uh
(32:12):
yeah and Uh and then and thenthe following year they took the other guy
off that line was it was fredUsselman and Uh and Billy chose him.
He was so mad that those guysleft our team and and he got in
(32:35):
a stick fight with Freddy Husselman.It's probably the only fight he ever lost,
because fred Usselman had such a longreach, you know, and he
was whacking them on it. Theywere going at it. That was when
they took Usselman and Usselman left,so we we ended up still being a
very strong team, but without thattop line of ours. There's a lot
(32:59):
of goals that heard us that hurtus. It really hurt us. So
as a manager, who were thetop three players that you saw, you
know, from your management for frommanagement point of view, Yeah, yeah,
well old John Tavaris, sure,yeah, yeah, he would be
the top guy, John Tavarus.The other guy was trying to think of
(33:23):
his name was Johnny Rosa. Okay, yeah, he was. He was
single at the time, and uh, he was a woman's man. He
was a nice looking guy, Italian. And uh I let him stay at
my house one day when or oneweekend when I was away my wife at
(33:45):
the time, and uh and uh, these girls, these girls I got
back therefore words Johnny, because hehad them over different times, you know,
these girls. And uh he saidhe came to me one time after
a game and he said to me, coat or general manager, Bobby,
(34:10):
you got to help me out here. I got three girls out in the
stands that all think I'm going tobe taking them all they're waiting for him
to find what were your words ofwisdom, my words of wisdom. I
helped him. You know, yeah, you ran interview. He never forgot
(34:30):
that you ran interference for him.He was another guy that said I was
instrumental in his life. Well,Bob, we've come to the end of
our time that we've got allotted foryour interview. But thank you so much
for coming today and sharing some greatstories about the Berards and you know,
as a player and a manager.You know, yeah, thanks, Well,
(34:52):
I appreciate your including me in yourlist of people you interview. Remember Thember backing
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