Shearwater Flyers Football Team
 Canadian
football played a major part in life at Shearwater during the period
1947-1967. Initially, the Dartmouth Air Station Flyers (renamed
Shearwater Flyers in 1949) competed in the Halifax City Canadian
Football League. Subsequently, they played in the Nova Scotia Football
League from 1951 and the Atlantic Football Conference in 1965 whereby
they provided the best of recreation and exceptional entertainment for
the Base and surrounding community.
The
successes of the Flyers were many. The team won seven Purdy Cups as the
Nova Scotia Champions. They also won three Maritime Championships, two
Eastern Canadian Intermediate titles, and in 1957, an undefeated
Shearwater Flyers team went on to win the Canadian Intermediate Football
Championship. This was the first Maritime team to win a National
Canadian Football title. This winning year led to the team's induction
into the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame and into the Canadian Forces
Sports Hall of Fame.
Personnel who played and worked for the Flyers comprised of aircrew,
technicians and members of the naval trades and ranks. They were
consistently an inspiration to their fans and a source of high morale
for the Naval Air community.
The Flyers last season was 1967 (renamed MARCOM Flyers) but not
before the team won the Atlantic Football Conference Championship and
the Purdy Cup those last three
 years.
Bruce
Walker
Shearwater Flyers
Harvey Mills became head coach of the 1957 Shearwater Flyers and
put together what was arguably the best football squad ever assembled in
this province. It was to be a truly exciting year at the naval airbase.
By the time the regular season was over, the Flyers had smashed just
about every gridiron record this side of the St. Lawrence. The trio of
Bob Hayes, Bruce Walker and Buck Taylor made a shambles of the
individual scoring statistics with Hayes and Walker being tied for the
scoring title at 114 points each. And Taylor placing third with 78
points. The Flyers as a team piled up 389 points. The next best was 115
points by St. F.X. When the Flyers moved on to face Mount Allison
Mounties, the New Brunswick champs, they racked up a 40-18 victory,
their ninth straight win of the year. That earned them a date with the
Brantford Tiger-Cats for the Eastern Canadian intermediate championship.
With 3,000 people looking on at the Wanderers Grounds, Shearwater scored
an electrifying 12-7 victory to earn a birth in the final against the
Fort William Redskins. A record 5,000 fanatical followers crammed the
Wanderers Grounds to watch the Flyers fall behind 21-14. As the Flyers
dug deeper, they piled up 13 unanswered points and a 27-21 win becoming
the first Maritime based team to win the title.
Members of Flyers were Buck Taylor, Bruce Thomas, Ron McLean, Don
Lilley, Doug Grant, Bruce Walker, Al Caulier, Ken Whitney, Gabe
DesRoucher, Sam Brushett, Ron Parker, Dan McCowell, Alf Nicholson, Bob
Hayes, Les Keyes, John Smith, Roy Carriere, Bill Key, Foxy Reynard, Len
Smith, Ivor Axford, Pete McGregor, Ed Rieger, Charlie Cox, Paul Gowan,
Andy Swan, Vern MacDonald., Tom Graham, John Salmon, Les Elworthy, Jack
Beck, Joe Carver, George Main, Bill Harper, Dale Klassen, Bob Findlay,
Gord McLeod, Jim McCombie, Pete Davidson, Bill McKinney, Harvey Mills
(Coach), W.B. Gourley (Manager), Jimmy Pike (Trainor).
|
