The 1938 St. Catherines Athletics were the winners of the Mann Cup in that Year. With the exception of one player, this team was comrised of graduates from the St. Catherines minor and junior lacrosse teams. The Majority of this team went on to win Mann Cups in 1940 and 1941, having lost in 1939 to the New Westminster Adanacs. These tams were broken up in 1942 and 1943 due to war service. In 1944 and 1946 the Athletics again won the Mann Cup with a few of the veterans from the 1938 team, and several rookies who got their experience rom the verteran players. The 1945 Athletics lost the Mann Cup to Vancouver. The 1938 Athletics team was the first of five Mann Cup winners and severn Eastern Canada championships over the next nine years for the Athletics. There are 11 members of the 1938 team that are in the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame. They are Joe "Curly" Cheevers, Bill Fitzgerald, Carl "Gus" Madsen, Frank Geezil Madsen, Jack "Wandy" McMahon, Danny Miller (Builder), Roy "Pung" Morton, Tom "Tank" Teather, George "Spark" Urquhart, Bill Whitaker and Bill Wilson. Individual players from the 1038 St. Catherines team combined to win numberous Minto Cups for various teams including St. Catherines, Orillia Terriers, Hamilton Tigers, Mimico-Brampton Combines and the New Westminster Salmonbellies. A number of these players still rank in the top of the OLA Major Scoring Leaders such as Roy Morton, Joe Cheevers and Jack McMahon. "Hailed by the world of lacrosse as the greatest band of native-born sons of sport, the St. Catherines Athletics have been dubbed in that pastime as the Ontario 'homebrews" largely from the fact that the personnel of the team practically grew up together, from juvenile ranks to that of senior." |
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