The Sportsman, An Edmonton childhood memoir from the 1940s, by Denny May

A young boy in the 1940's is determined to have fun in his own way.

In the late 1940's my parents wanted to get me into sports - I really was into sports - we had pick-up baseball games on a nearby lot, we played "war", we looked into flying in the forest (by climbing up a sturdy sapling with a rope - friends pulled the rope down and then let us go - whipping back and forth) and we were certainly into cycling - but somehow to my folks this did not seem like "sports" so I reluctantly signed up for wrestling and boxing with the Westmount Community League (I believe) and went to classes of sorts to teach me how to wrestle - there was a lot of hugging and rolling around on the floor in those classes, then there was boxing and I learned how to run quickly in the opposite direction.


After some weeks I was deemed ready for my first big fight and I was, again reluctantly, signed up for a boxing match - with great trepidation we went to the community hall - there were lots of parents and other kids and lots of shouting, bells clanging and kids limping out of the ring with bloody noses. I watched for a while and then my turn came. I did not like the idea of being beaten up in front of others and I kept seeing those bloody noses and finally after being called a number of times - I was sitting glued to the bench - my Dad was pushing me and finally I told my Dad that I did not want to fight. I was driven home, quietly, my Dad was not talking to me.


The next foray into sports was in the winter - there was a hockey league in the area and I went along for a practice - the coach said I would make a good goalie as my ankles did not want to stay straight and my skating skills were lacking. They gave me a big thick stick and put me in front of the goal - every time someone shot a puck at me I stood there watching as it came - held out my stick and ..... the puck went right by me. The coach said maybe I should try boxing!


Spring 1949 was lovely in Edmonton. The Glenora School yard was a wonderful place - kids running in the ravine, sadly now gone, baseball games, swings and teeter totters. My good friend Jerry Hyndman and I used to spend recess sitting on the teeter-totter - talking about important things - sharing experiences and ideas. The principal, Mr. Stockwell, came out one day and said to us "if you two don't participate in sports you will never amount to anything" and he gave us a baseball. We invented our own sport - sitting on the teeter-totter, throwing the ball back and forth. Mr. Stockwell gave up. Jerry and I both did amount to something - Jerry "Lou" Hyndman is a successful Lawyer, long-time M.L.A. and later Chancellor of the U of A. I had a long (38 year) career with Boy Scouts of Canada serving in Northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories.


My Dad quit bugging me about sports after that - I was in Scouts and Sunday School and that seemed enough. In those years Edmonton was a big playground - there was lots to do - bikes to ride, the forest to play in, the river valley - it was a joyous time to be a kid. The days were never long enough - nobody worried about you - it was just FUN.