Banner raising for Higgins long overdue
There is little doubt senior lacrosse in Peterborough wouldn’t be the success it is or possibly even exist if not for Ted Higgins.
His involvement with the Century 21 Lakers goes back as far as 1964 when he was the back-up goalie and general manager of the Speedy Ern Petes revived after several years with no senior team in Peterborough. On two occasions, Higgins spearheaded efforts to keep the team going when it appeared it was going to fold, even putting his own money in to keep it afloat.
The most recent was in 1994 when the team folded in the middle of the season when those running the team walked away after a second straight game where seven or fewer players showed up to play. Higgins, who also 20 years earlier had put money into the team to keep it going, had scaled back his involvement for about a decade when he got a call from the late Jim Bishop asking if he could do anything to help keep the Peterborough team going. Higgins went to the arena to find the dressing room cleared out of all equipment.
“I came home with Rosemary (his wife) and we made a couple of phone calls to some of the kids we knew,” Higgins said. They organized a meeting at the rink the following night, a Wednesday.
“We had a full turnout,” Higgins said. “Everybody went around the room and voiced their opinions, good or bad. We came to the conclusion it was viable to keep it going. I said I was prepared, if it took a little money, to be a mini-financier to keep it going. The rest is history.”
Theteamdidn’thavealotofsuccess but kept going until the early 2000s when a series of factors turned the club’s fortunes around. A relatively new board recruited a sponsorship of $25,000 from Kawartha Chrysler, compared to $5,000 from previous major sponsors, which allowed them to convince some high-end players to come to Peterborough.
The junior system was also graduating players like the Evans and Self brothers and players like John Grant Jr. and Tracey Kelusky returned from out west. They were recruited by a young coaching staff led by Jamie Batley and Bobby Keast who later added Jim Milligan and Joe Sullivan.
The final piece was the 2003 PMC renovations that brought air conditioning and new seats and made it a more comfortable environment. All those things created a dynasty that has now been to the MSL final 14 of the past 15 years collecting five Mann Cup titles and seven league championships. Average attendance exceeds 3,100 annually.
On Thursday, the Lakers will honour Higgins by raising a banner bearing his likeness to the Memorial Centre rafters. The ceremony will take place at 8 p.m. prior to the Lakers facing the Mann Cup champion Six Nations Chiefs.
“He’d do whatever he could to keep the game going,” said Len Powers, who spearheaded the current Lakers board’s decision to honour Higgins. Powers was 11 when Higgins coached him in hockey and took his team to the Quebec International Peewee Tournament in 1963. He also worked at Higgins’ flooring business as a teen and Higgins married Powers’ sister Jean with whom he had two daughters Tammy and Tracey. Powers played junior and senior lacrosse for Higgins and coached the seniors for Higgins.
Higgins also played a role in helping revive the junior A team which had left town for several years in the 1960s. Powers remembers Higgins literally drove the bus as he owned an old school bus to road games.
“We called it Easy Rider,” said Powers, recalling the bus had seen better days. “I remember pushing it across the Burlington Skyway. It was pretty scare on some nights but we always got there.”
Powers said the Lakers board agreed the honour was overdue.
“We’ve honoured, rightly so, a lot of guys over the years,” Powers said, “but one person who hadn’t been looked after was Ted. The board felt the same way. If anyone deserves to be in the rafters of the Memorial Centre, Ted does.”
“I’m very honoured,” Higgins said. “I’ve been around a long time and we’ve certainly done a lot of things to keep the game going. I share this with all the folks who have helped along the way and there have been many; coaches, managers, trainers, volunteers particularly and a big, big pat on the back to the sponsors.
“Most of all, to the players who played for me 20 years ago when this team was nothing. I have the utmost respect for those guys. They were committed and stuck it out. There were a couple of years we didn’t make the playoffs and those kids were dedicated and committed. I hope all the above mentioned will share this honour when the flag goes up and all feel a part of it because they all had a hand in it.”