McVeigh Roller Hockey

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Good times.

Back in 2002, I was able to reconnect with Gary Balmer in person in St. Petersberg FL. We kept in touch when he left Philly to retire down there but this was the first time I was able to catch him in person. I was in Tampa on business and knew he worked at the City of St. Petersburg Softball fields. So I looked up where it was located and shot over there for an unnannounced visit. I drove up and asked for Arnold. "Don't know anyone named Arnold" a guy says. I asked for Gary. "Don't know anyone named Gary" the same guy says. I said he's a scorekeeper for the Softball league. The guy says "you mean the Commish!. He's over there on field 3." So I go over and there is Armold. Working with one of the scorekeepers, a paid position for the City of St. Pete. He did the same job for a year. When the then Commissioner was getting ready to retire, he tapped Arnold, having knowledge of his background at McVeigh Park & Recreation Center. I believe that he was pretty much in that job until really retiring in like 2013. He managed those fields and games all that time and as he said, 29 weeks a year, 3 or 4 fields, 2 or 3 games per field, each evening. What a gig that was!

This is a great listen.

Community of Flin Flon shaped Bobby Clarke's life and career Most people's hometown hold a special place in their heart. For Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke that place is Flin Flon, Manitoba. Michael Farber has the story of how Flin Flon shaped Clarke's life and hockey career.

Tomorrow we celebrate two great men. First, Sgt. John J. McVeigh, US ARMY MOH receipient. He is who our playground was named after for his heroics.

Second, we celebrate the man who worked at McVeigh Recreation Center for years, Gary "Arnold" Balmer, building programs in hockey and baseball that he used to build boys into men like the man the playground is named after.

I hope to see you there.

www.hookedonhockey.com

Arnold would never want us to do anything easy. Always pushed us to be the best.

Pelle Lindberg vs. Gretzky, love that mask.

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I know you have all seen this mural, whether you played here or only seen it here on this page. Reggie Leach saw it and commented. Well the man who painted it left us yesterday for that big rink in the sky. Samuel Edward Toy created all the artwork for Arnold's McVeigh Roller Hockey League and was a talented artist as a young man growing up in Kensington. He was the only person I knew who could draw anything, just like he was a copy machine. RIP Sam, your art will live on here. We love you brother and will miss you.

Looks like "F" & Hilton, who's ready to lace 'em up?

Let's play!
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This is an update for all the ladies who wanted a copy of that yearbook. This will be easy for those who are computer literate; you'll know what to do with this. If you don't go, get a millennial or school kid to figure it out. In all seriousness, these can be difficult to view on your smartphone. Go to the Google cloud space that I set up and download, save, read, share with your kid, or print it out. Enjoy ladies, we all did!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PYff9PiFEVZCYKZ8auYjMZpXej4fRvB9/view?usp=sharing

Below is the link for the yearbook for the MRHL 1972-73 Seniors. This league featured the Fishtown Canadians and the LC Rangers. Some of the most memorable battles to ever take place in the were during this year! My crew, we were just a bunch of little guys back then. We watched in awe when these guys played.
I attached the cover so you know what yearbook it is. If you click on the link below, it'll take you to a Google Docs location where you can view the yearbook and/or save and print a downloaded copy of your own copy for that division. Knowing how difficult it is to read these on a smartphone, I figured that I'd create an archive on Google for these should Facebook get tired of providing free space. Don't Worry Ladies, I'll get the Girls Roller Hockey yearbook up there soon. Enjoy!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jFG-Poi-kv-o8w7qkIP2FjSEvyydLqcv/view?usp=sharing

Here's a couple video shorts so you can see the process to ready these documents for a posting. Arnold used a pencil, a typewriter, a miemograph, little hands to collate the final product, and then, with a nail gun, stapled them together. I am reverse engineering these books.
I pull them apart, gently. Place them in the scanner, name the file on my computer, scan to the folder, and save it to my hard drive to be posted later. Here is a look at the magic of technology.