Armstrongs Band of Brothers In April of 1995, I received a phone call from Innes Cooper, a volunteer at the Armstrong Spallumcheen Museum, who advised me that a person had just donated a really old lacrosse trophy to the Museum and I should come down and take a look. I went immediately to the museum and Innes advised me that his quick research identified the trophy as the Shaw Cup. The Shaw Cup was offered for competition by MP Shaw of Kamloops in 1910 for teams competing in the Kamloops/Yale District for field lacrosse. We have determined that the Cup is the second oldest lacrosse trophy in Canada that is still being competed for only behind the Minto Cup. The Shaw Cup was the prize sporting trophy through the early 1900s with Armstrong teams winning so often that the Cup was given to Armstrong in perpetuity. The last known competition for the Shaw Cup was in 1931 when a young team from Vernon challenged Armstrong. Field lacrosse had been on the decline for a few years as many of the players who played for the great Armstrong teams had aged, however, this did not deter the Armstrong contingent from accepting the challenge. Many elderly players from Armstrong came out of retirement to defend the Cup including Fred Murray whose two sons Bill and Jackie were up and coming athletes themselves. Also picking up a stick was Steele Fisher whose two boys Frank and Bill were outstanding athletes who were becoming great lacrosse players. The Armstrong team successfully defended the trophy and the Shaw Cup remained on display at Armstrong City Hall. The Shaw Cup was not mentioned again until 1937 when a discussion ensued between Armstrong Mayor Dr. VanKleek and Alderman Fred Murray…it is this discussion that solved a mystery that a team of local historians including myself, Innes Cooper, Dick File, Len and Jesse Ann Gamble and Bob Nitchie were exploring…. I never knew who the people were that donated the Shaw Cup to the museum. All I was ever told was that the person advised Innes that the Shaw Cup was found tucked away in the rafters of an old building that was located in Armstrong. I always wondered why the Cup appeared to be hidden away and I found it ironic that the year after we restarted the Shamrocks the Cup reappeared. During the research for Innes Cooper’s book “Lacrosse is Armstrong’s Game” I learned the story of a great group of Armstrong athletes who became the very first ‘Armstrong Shamrocks’. This team featured the Fisher brothers, Murray brothers as well as Dave Henderson, Chuck Maundrell, Percy Maundrell, Jim Watt, Mel Dunkley and Ken Watt and others. This team dominated the lacrosse circuit going undefeated in 1938 and winning provincial championships in 1940. Tragically, both the Murray brothers and Fisher brothers as well as Dave Henderson were killed during World War II and we never learned to what height this team could have achieved. It is around 1940 that any and all records of the Shaw Cup seem to disappear. The Theory I found it very coincidental that the trail of the Shaw Cup seemed to end right around the same time that the group of five Armstrong Shamrocks enlisted in the armed forces. I combined that coincidence with the fact that the Shaw Cup was recovered deliberately hidden away in an old building in downtown Armstrong. The fact that the Cup was never mentioned in any newspaper or account from players past seemed to suggest that no one really knew of the Shaw Cup’s whereabouts. From this research I wondered: “Is it possible that one or more of the players lost during the War hid the trophy for safekeeping from possible German invaders or perhaps keep the Cup from competition with a plan to retrieve the trophy upon return from the War, reunite the Shamrocks team and win the Shaw Cup themselves as many of their fathers had done.” Research Begins Prior to the Kraft Celebration Tour event this year I was asked by producers from TSN to provide some local interest sports stories. One of the stories I told them was about this group of exceptional lacrosse players who were lost during the War and my theory that perhaps they had a connection to the Shaw Cup and its apparent disappearance. Following the Kraft event in Armstrong I was contacted by Paul Harrington of TSN as a follow up to possibly explore the theory in the hopes of creating a Rememberance Day feature story. I took up the challenge right away and enlisted the help of our very enthusiastic historical experts. We first located the original museum donation receipt which had a description and noted the donor as Lois Huband. Mrs. Huband advised Innes that she found the Shaw Cup located in a machine shop that her and her husband owned that she called the A. Smith garage. She found the trophy in 1974 and kept the trophy in her home until choosing to donate the Cup to the Museum in 1995. From local accounts we assumed that the building she was referring to was an old garage building on Smith Drive where the current Armstrong Collision building sits. It was well known that the Hubands owned this building which burned in the early 1980s. There also existed the A. Smith & Son Garage, a building which was torn down in 1979, however, we initially discounted this building as we believed it to be owned by the Lukens family as well as Ken Watt. I then began to research which of the five lacrosse players had a possible link to the Smith Drive building and I learned that Dave Henderson worked for the Armstrong Mill which was located where Shepherd’s Home Hardware currently sits. I wondered if the old machine shop on Smith Drive owned by the Hubands could have once been a part of the sawmill site which would link the building to one of the lacrosse players. Could Dave Henderson have acquired the Shaw Cup and hid the trophy in the rafters of the old machine shop building with a plan to return after the War, recover the trophy, reunite the Shamrocks and compete for the Cup? My theory seemed possible and a vague recollection of an old story from the son of one of the players seemed to corroborate the story - it was enough to peak the interest of TSN and they began to conduct research themselves and made plans to come to Armstrong to conduct some interviews and gather footage. The Truth Unfolds Five days prior to the planned TSN visit I was able to contact Dave Huband in Port Alberni. I wanted to confirm which building the Cup was found in. During my discussion I learned that he and his wife had purchased the A. Smith & Son Garage in 1973 and his wife had found the trophy in the basement rafters in 1974. This information clearly threw a wrench in my theory but we were still prepared to move forward as the Cup was found hidden away and there could have been a link still between one of the players and that very old building. I spoke to Mr. Oberle, who advised me that the old Smith Drive building we initially thought the Cup was found in was in fact built in the late 1940s as a tractor dealership which would completely discount this building. Two days before the TSN crew was set to arrive, Innes brought to my attention some research that he had uncovered that factually dispelled my theory. A recorded conversation between Alderman Fred Murray and Mayor VanKleek in 1937 recounts that they both wished to amend the terms of competition for the Shaw Cup and allow the Cup to be awarded to the lacrosse champion of a newly created version of the game called ‘box lacrosse’. The Shaw Cup was specifically to be awarded to field lacrosse champions only and VanKleek proposed that a trustee from Armstrong, Vernon and Kelowna be appointed to see the Shaw Cup awarded to the box lacrosse champion. VanKleek learned that MP Shaw was still alive in Kamloops and traveled to the city to meet with him to discuss his proposal. There are no details of the discussion, however, VanKleek reported that MP Shaw was not amiable to the change in terms for the championship and therefore the Shaw Cup would be decommissioned as a championship trophy and remain in Armstrong as a memento to the glory years of field lacrosse in the early 1900s. The Shaw Cup was decommissioned as a championship trophy prior to the first Shamrocks team being formed which discounts the link between it and our band of lacrosse brothers. Likely, the Shaw Cup remained on display at Armstrong City Hall for a few more years. Sometime in the 1950s the Shaw Cup was probably acquired by Ken Watt and placed on display in the A. Smith & Son Garage which he owned. Ken Watt placed the Shaw Cup out of the way in the basement of his garage for safe keeping and it was simply forgotten. By no means does uncovering the truth about the Shaw Cup take anything away from the exceptional service and sacrifice that Frank and Bill Fisher, Bill and Jackie Murray and Dave Henderson gave to our country. Frank Fisher piloted a Liberator bomber that was escorting Winston Churchill’s flotilla from Quebec City back to England when he came across a German U-boat. Fisher attacked the submarine and with his last depth charge managed to sink the U-boat and he returned to England a hero. Frank Fisher was flying in over Quebec when he lost sight of a runway and his plane and crew crashed into a mountain area. His brother Bill was flying for the RCAF in operations in India when his plane crashed. Bill Murray was flying his Halifax bomber over Essen Germany when his plane went missing in 1942. Jackie Murray was flying a Wellington bomber used to locate and light up enemy ships. His plane located several ships on Oct 3, 1944 but during the ensuing battle it is believed his aircraft took a flak hit and was lost in the North Sea. Dave Henderson was shot and killed in action while advancing with his regiment near the Leopold Canal in Belgium on October 17, 1944.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 21:32:46 +0000
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