Sir: In early March, 1904, at a meeting at the Garner House, a Lacrosse team was born. The team colours would be black and white and their name would be the Chatham Tecumsehs. The name ‘Thistle’ was also proposed, but no person seemed stuck on it.
The Tecumsehs would enter the year in the Intermediate class of the Canadian Lacrosse Association (CLA), with Frank Babcock as manager.
Following a successful regular season against District #1 opponents such as London, St. Thomas, Wallaceburg, Blenheim, Brantford and exhibition games against Detroit and Chicago, the Tecumsehs went on to defeat St. Thomas to win the District #1 championship.
The Tecumsehs then defeated Mount Forest, champions of District # 2 in a very rough final played at the Fair Grounds in Chatham. The Tecumsehs were now champions of District #1 and #2.
This put the Chatham Tecumsehs in a final round against Orillia, champions of District
# 3 and # 4.
The first game ended in a 3-3 tie. In the 2nd game, Chatham won 1-0. However, Orillia challenged the win, declaring the whistle had blown before Chatham scored its goal.
As a result of the protest, the CLA executive had to decide the outcome. The CLA decides that the game will be replayed in neutral territory, at Galt, Ont. where the teams would battle for Dominion honours.
On Sept. 21, 1904, the Chatham Tecumsehs defeated the Orillia Terriers 2-1, to win the Canadian Intermediate Lacrosse Championship, before 2,500 fans. Lacrosse fans from Chatham, Orillia, Galt, Elora, Fergus, Guelph, Berlin, Waterloo and other eastern towns witnessed a rough game, culminating in a Canadian Championship for Chatham. There were no Intermediate teams west of Ontario.
This was the first Canadian Championship that Chatham has won. The second was the 1960 Chatham Sr. Maroons winning the Allan Cup over the Trail (B.C.) Smoke Eaters 5-4 to win the National title. And the third, was the 1973 Chatham Peewees. On loan to the Peewees was
A 12-year-old pitcher from Brantford, Wayne Gretzky. The Peewees defeated Sydney, N.S. to win the National title. The games were played in North Battleford, Sask..
Fred Osmon
Chatham
