With it being the 125th anniversary of The Varsity, the sports section has been looking to the past to bring our readers a better idea of how U of T athletics developed over time. While this list does not include some notable games, such as the lowest scoring football game in North American history, a 1-0 win over Queen’s in 1965, or the undefeated 30-0 season by the women’s basketball squad in 1986, or the 35 straight OUA championships by the men’s swimming team, it does try to harness the most important moments in shaping the department.
Huge aid was provided by Paul Carson, the current Executive Assistant to the Dean in the Faculty of Physical Education and Health. Carson has been part of U of T since 1961, was sports editor of The Varsity in 1969, and headed the Sports Information Department for more than 25 years, beginning in 1970.
10.) The rise and fall of Varsity Stadium: On October 13, 2001, the last intercollegiate football game ever at Varsity Stadium was played-and it was also the last win for the Blues. In their last home game of the season, Toronto defeated Windsor 13-11 before their present five-year losing streak began.
The present site where the football games are played was initially called the Devonshire Place Grounds and the university began ticketing the space in 1898. In 1911, a covered stand, bleachers with a capacity of 11,000, and a regulation playing field were constructed.
Its first major reconstruction was in 1924, as the seating in the stadium was increased to 19,000 and improved thanks to a design by T. R. Loudon, a professor of aeronautical engineering at U of T. He was responsible for major improvements to the west side of the stadium.
“Being a fabricator of formuli, he invented a type of concrete that was unbelievably strong,” recounts Carson. “It had a secret ingredient that is not too fashionable these days-asbestos-but it’s still the toughest concrete in Canada.”
While the maintainance of the facility was continued under a hefty price for many years, Varsity Stadium was finally closed in 2001 for being too financially burdensome to keep open. The closure was also due to the deteoriating condition of the facility-especially the east grandstand-which made it unsafe for spectators.
9.) Time for a fresh start: John Evans, a decorated football player for the Blues and a Rhodes scholar, became the president of the university in 1972. Under the mantra that a new tradition must begin for U of T athletics, Evans merged five separate departments, including men’s and women’s athletics, into one department under one director in the May of 1977.
“This is an incredibly important date, as it united the entire athletic administration under one common director, administration, and operating policy,” Carson said.
Under the guidance of the new athletics department, the Athletic Centre was opened in September 1979, which was considered “a significant step in the new tradition [of U of T sports].”
8.) Female athletes finally get their own building: After decades of broken promises, as the male dominated university moved with glacial slowness to provide appropriate athletic facilities for the growing number of female students, women athletes finally had their own facility with the opening of the Benson Building in 1959. At the forefront of the movement was an unlikely heroine: Dr. Clara Benson, after whom the building is named.
“She is easily, without question, one of the most influential people [in U of T sports history],” Carson said. The first woman to receive her PhD from U of T, she was not an athlete, but “fought the good fight against the university for women, including those that wanted to participate in athletics.”
Later becoming the president of the Women’s Athletic Association, Benson and many other forceful,articulate and dedicated leaders of women’s athletics endured many hardships and overcame numerous obstacles, and the Benson Building is a tribute to their persistence. What makes its construction all the more savvy is that it was completed at a time when the men’s facilities-the Arena, the Stadium and Hart House-were aging.
“The women were in a brand-new facility and had comprehensive, well-run programs, and the men, who had cast a deaf ear to their complaints for so long, were facing the reality of having to pay for buildings that were showing their age with steadily decreasing ticket sales,” said Carson.
7.) The Blues play the Russians: What many consider the greatest game in U of T history might have never happened if not for the stubbornness of Canadian hockey. It was February 1972 and Canada had been out of international hockey for two years, boycotting the ban of minor pros imposed by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). At the end of 1971 what was essentially a peace treaty was signed and the first international game was to be between the Blues and the USSR Student National Team.
“Their players were from the Russians elite league, disguised as students,” Carson said. “We were served up by the IIHF, supposedly as the sacrificial lamb.”
Coached by the great Tom Watt, who won nine national championships for the Blues in eleven years from 1966-77, U of T played in front of a packed Varsity Arena.
“Much to many people’s shock, we beat them, 5-1.” remembered Carson. “For many, it was Watt’s greatest game, and it basically put Canada back on the international hockey map.”
6.) The Argo’s pull-out of U of T: You couldn’t tell by the turnout mustered over the past few seasons, but Blues football was once the best selling ticket in town. Winning the first three Grey Cups from 1909-1911, and another in 1920, the program then had the highest attended sporting events in the country.
After WWII, U of T football and its firmly established spot in the national athletic scene joined with the just-made-professional Toronto Argonauts as a double feature for season ticket holders. It was, however, one that would be short lived, as the Argonauts pulled out of the joint ticket sale in 1956, killing U of T’s revenue.
With attendance diminishing through the ’60s, the department was confronted with paying for two aging facilities in Varsity Arena and Stadium, a problem for what was an all men’s athletic program.
If you liked this article, then be sure to read the sports section on April 6 for the top five moments in U of T sports history.
