Cape Breton's Magazine

Murray Matheson Well, I can re? member one night going to North Sydney, I used toj get picked up at Kay' s - - Kay' s Lunch on Townsend Street. 'Cause I was living in Sydney. And they had the bus from Glace Bay, and they used to come in and pick me up. So I'd get on the bus. And we'd be going to North Sydney. And the bus was usually a good spot there: everybody's laughing, carrying on, going over to the game. And this night we were going over. And I think it was Johnny Read--he was one of the managers--he worked at the Co-op in Glace Bay. He was one of the managers or something there, anyway. He got up at the front of the bus and he said, "Fellows, I've got bad news. This is our last bus drive. We've got no money left to pay for the bus. This is the last one that's paid for. And," he said, "I've got one package of gum." And he stood in front of the bus, and he took the gum and he broke it into pieces and gave everybody a piece of gum. And that's the night we caught fire. She just went from there. ("The night we caught fire," meaning...?) It could have had something to do with that bus drive. Everybody just lifted up, and just said, "To hell with it, we're go? ing to win it. That's it." You know, the emotd'on. Said, "These people put out money for lis. And here we are going to a play? off, and we haven't even got a chance to win it." Then all of a sudden, boom! (You did win it.) We did win it that year, yeah. That's the year we beat out North Sydney. That stuck in my mind over the years. You know, it was just the last bus drive; we had no money, we had nothing. And all of a sudden we just--went into North Sydney, we beat them. And we beat them Saturday night in Glace Bay. And we just caught fire and that was it. Like Porky said, it's just something that started to jell, and away we went. Manning Mclntyre (You were the coach. What turned that team around in 1955-56? What made that team suddenly win?) I think there were two things. Num? ber 1: there was a man who was as? sociated with the team, and his name was Johnny Read. And Johnny Read was one of the directors of the club. But he attended the practices, and sometimes he'd sit on the bench with us. And Johnny Head contracted cancer. Then he couldn't--it got so that he would attend a game, he'd miss a game, and he was going on like that. And we reached a stage where, because of this, they felt that they had to do something for Johnny Read. How proud he'd be, if he was home in his bed with cancer, and had heard that they won. That type of thing. So that was, to me, that was one of the main things. c'mljEX 0aU On ds !B'd BEACH HOMES MOTEL CHALETS P. O. Box 177, INGONISH BEACH, N. S. BOC ILO (902)285-2525 OWEN FITZGERALD PHOTOGRAPHY ltd. Since opening his studio in 1978, Owen has received wide acclaim with the publication of three books and awards in Portraiture, Industrial and Press Photography. 423 Charlotte St., Sydney, N. S., 562-2321 The only key to trouble-free and long car life Is regular and careful maintenance. For over 25 years, maintenance • solely of European cars • has been our occupation. If you don't wish to maintain your car, neither do well If you do, we'd like to help!! EUROCAR SERVICE LTD. 649 WESTMOUNT ROAD SYDNEY 564-9721 77