William Humber - A Sporting Chance: Achievements of African-Canadian Athletes

A Sporting Chance

A
SPORTING
CHANCE

Achievements of
African-Canadian Athletes

WILLIAM HUMBER

Foreword by Spider Jones

NATURAL HERITAGE BOOKS
TORONTO

Copyright 2004 by William Humber

All rights reserved. No portion of this book, with the exception of brief extracts for the purpose of literary or scholarly review, may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the publisher.

Published by Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc.
P.O. Box 95, Station O, Toronto, On M4A 2M8
www.naturalheritagebooks.com

All photographs are courtesy of the author unless otherwise identified. Front cover, clockwise from top left: Perdita Felicien, Courtesy of the University of Illinois Sports Information; Jarome Iginla, Courtesy of the Hockey Hall of Fame; Larry Gains, Courtesy of Canadas Sports Hall of Fame; Rosella Thorne, Courtesy of Canadas Sports Hall of Fame.

Back cover, clockwise from top right: Patrick Husbands winning the Queens Plate, Courtesy of Woodbine Entertainment, Fergie Jenkins, Courtesy of Leo Kelly; Perdita Felicien, Courtesy of Nike Canada Ltd.; Herb Carnegie, Courtesy of the Carnegie Family Collection; Molly Killingbeck, Courtesy of Tony Techko.

Design by Blanche Hamill, Norton Hamill Design
Edited by Catherine Leek
Printed and bound in Canada by Hignell Book Printing, Winnipeg, Manitoba

The text in this book was set in a typeface named Minion.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Humber, William, 1949
A sporting chance : achievements of African-Canadian athletes / William Humber ; foreword by Spider Jones.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-896219-99-3

1. Athletes, BlackCanada. 2. Discrimination in sportsCanada. 3. Racism in sportsCanada. I. Title.

GV697.A1H84 2004 796.08996071 C2004-905750-2

Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc. acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We acknowledge the support of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development Corporations Ontario Book Initiative. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) and the Association for the Export of Canadian Books.

Contents

by Spider Jones

A history is more than a simple record of the past. It attempts to broaden our understanding of both another time and of our own.

My interest in the sporting achievements of African-Canadian athletes dates back to my research on Canadas baseball, cycling and Olympic history. I continually discovered that the isolation of many minorities, and in particular that of Black athletes, from the sporting mainstream was not limited to the United States but played a significant role in Canadas development.

In the process I hope to open a window on the Canadian experience of some of its first citizens. This includes the years in which the Black population was so small as to be almost invisible, to the impact of immigration and the transformation in Canadian sporting achievement. Today issues surrounding race continue to be part of a larger public dialogue, even as a broader understanding of what it means to be Canadian and the rise of a generation prepared to describe themselves as ethnically ambiguous transcends older and more limited definitions of identity.

Thanks to Barry Penhale and Jane Gibson and their extraordinary staff at Natural Heritage Books for making this book possible. A tip of the hat to Ken Pearson and Sheldon Taylor who reviewed earlier versions of this book, and special regards to my favourite radio personality and long time friend Chuck Spider Jones.

Others who provided help included my neighbour Hugh Walters, Tony Techko, members of the BigUp Volleyball organization, Canadas Sports Hall of Fame and its director Alan Stewart, Phil Edwards daughter Gwen Emery, Ray Lewis, David Crichton, Karen Clarke, E.G. Hastings, Donna Ford, Bill Linton, Melissa Thomas, Ed Grenda, James Duplacey, David Shury, Kevin Walsh, Renaldo Nehemiah, Woodbine Entertainment, my brother Larry Humber, and many others, including students in my Canadian sports history course at Seneca College.

Appreciation, as always, to my family including Cathie and our children Brad, Darryl and Karen.

I dedicate this book to the almost forgotten Bob Berry, champion rower, barred from competition in a Toronto Regatta, a bare month after Canada became a nation. Let this be a rebuke to the behaviour of small-minded men. Berry was a true Canadian and of that company, as described in Ecclesiastes, whose bodies are buried in peace but their name liveth for evermore.

Ive got a high noon hook-up with a publisher whos expressed deep interest in another book Ive been working on. The rendezvous is to take place in downtown Toronto and, as usual, the Spider is running late. I check the clock on the kitchen wall as Im cuttin out the back door. The big hands on six and the little one on ten, which allows approximately 30 minutes to make my 40-mile destination. In addition, Ill have to find a parking spot in the heart of downtown Toronto! Thats kind of like searching for a wart on Tyra Banks face.

Just as I slam the door behind me, the phone rings! So its back inside and dash for the blower. Hi Spider, its Bill Humber, you got a few seconds? P-u-1-e-e-z-e! Im running so late, a few seconds are like eternity. Im getting ready to blow him off quicker than heaven gets the news. But before I get the opportunity, he informs me that hes just completed his latest literary venture entitled A Sporting Chanceand now all he requires is the introduction Id promised him.

Say What! An introduction! Sure, I was flattered when he approached me with the idea, but since then Id taken on so many commitments that it had completely eluded me. Nevertheless, Humber is a special friend and someone who has always been conscientious and supportive in the fight for racial equality. Keeping this in mind, I left him with a promise the intro would be in his possession within a few days. First, Id have to read the book. When I eventually laid it to rest in the wee hours of the following morning I was infinitely a wiser soul.

As an avid sports fan whose roots are deeply entrenched in Canadian history I can honestly say that A Sporting Chance is not only a historical treasure, but also an enlightening revelation into the African-Canadian sports culture. The book is loaded to the gills with countless inspirational stories and anecdotes about our nations greatest Black athletes. There are, of course, the exploits of Lennox Lewis, Donovan Bailey and Ferguson Jenkins, but also more recent heroes like Jarome Iginla, arguably the best all-round hockey player on the planet. Hes a perfect role model for Canadian youth of all cultures. And so is Perdita Felicien from my own community in Pickering, Ontario. She is Canadas premier track and field performer and a world champion with a contagious smile.