There is more to the Tom Longboat Story

I was remiss in my research regarding The Tom Longboat Award. Allow me to explain. The Award, as I mentioned, was established in 1951, a joint project by the then Department of Indian Affairs and the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada. Since 1998, the award has been administered by the Aboriginal Sport Circle which represents Aboriginal Sport and Recreation in Canada.

Tom Longboat was honoured in many ways – a CBC-TV film with Bruce Kidd as script consultant, technical advisor, and actor, released in 1982 – Wildfire: The Tom Longboat Story and a 1993 documentary film entitled Longboat. Mr. Longboat was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1955, into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1960, into the Canadian Indian Hall of Fame in 1967, into the Canadian Road Running Hall of Fame in 1991, in 1999 Maclean’s magazine named him the top “star” of the twentieth century, and a Tom Longboat commemorative stamp for 2000 millennium collection was released. Not many people, athlete or other, earn this level of recognition and honour.

The selection process for the Tom Longboat Award was and is quite involved. Tom Longboat left a clear trail to follow, and the award was meant to honour the best. The top male and female athletes were selected for each of the thirteen geographic regions in Canada, and from this group the top male and female athlete were selected for the prestigious national award. What I didn’t know was that two, among the recipients, were local to Couchiching First Nation and Fort Frances. The athletic prowess of two locals was honoured and recognized by the Tom Longboat Award.

Roy Vernon Mainville, known as Vernon, born at Couchiching First Nation in 1940, was a regional winner in 1956 of the then relatively new Tom Longboat Award. Vernon was just sixteen years old at the time, and he had already demonstrated his superior athletic ability. He was recognized for his skill at baseball and was a hockey superstar, a talent that led him to try out for the Detroit Red Wings. Vernon had personal struggles, as so many of us do, and after he righted his ship, he used those struggles to leave his own legacy of counselling and helping those who needed him, while inspiring others with this athletic skill. “He was a naturally talented athlete,” says son Greg of Kenora. Vernon shared many hockey stories with Greg in the last years of his life and I could hear the joy in Greg’s voice when we spoke as he revisited those memories. Vernon passed away in Fort Frances in June of 2002 and was laid to rest with his medal tucked into his pocket.

In 1961, the National male athlete Tom Longboat award was awarded to Bruce Lloyd Bruyere, born in1930 in Fort Frances. Bruce attended St. Marguerite’s Residential School at Couchiching First Nation where he was an avid sports fan who loved baseball and hockey. He was first baseman for the Couchiching First Nation baseball team as well as a back-up pitcher. He later played fast-pitch. Bruce played for the Mando hockey team. He later coached the young men’s baseball team, sharing his talent and passion for sport wherever he could. When he won the award, Bruce was a father of two, with four more yet to come, rounding out his perfectly balanced family with three girls followed by three boys. Bruce then turned his attention to supporting his children and encouraging their participation in sport, while he supported the teams they played on. “He got up early on Saturday mornings to bring us to hockey,” son Blake shared, proud of his father’s achievements and commitment to sport, a father who supported his children’s activities long past childhood, until his death in 2006.

These men made a difference in their communities through their love of sport and sharing their passion with others as they walked among us, earning the recognition of the legacy of Tom Longboat. Mr. Longboat would be glad of these two kindred spirits, and I believe he would have said, “well done”.

wendistewart@live.ca

Bruce Bruyere with the Tom Longboat Trophy in 1961.