|
In
1960, Bishop had reached a point in his many careers where he needed a
bigger stage on which to mount his show. Oshawa was the spot. He
accepted the job as sports director of CKLB and opened his sporting
goods store. Oshawa had another attraction: No lacrosse. Bishop
quickly remedied that situation.
"A lot
of people told me I was nuts trying to get lacrosse started in
Oshawa," Bishop said. "Oshawa was, and still is, a big softball and
baseball town. I figured any town that interested in sports would
have to like lacrosse."
Bishop
started modestly that first year, organizing a juvenile lacrosse team
in neighbouring
Whitby,
which missed the Ontario title on the final game of the season. He
also commuted to Huntsville where his bantam team won its fifth
consecutive national title.
In
1963, Bishop started the junior Green Gaels as part of a five-year
plan to build a good junior team and a strong minor set-up. The minor
system was a flop at first, but the Gaels weren't, winning the
Canadian junior title in their first year of operation. They haven't
stopped winning since then.
However, the Bishop era in Oshawa might be over. After the 1968
season, he stepped down as Gael manager-coach to devote his full
attention to the pros. If the pro league has difficulties, he'll
probably return to the job.
"I
wasn't jaded by the continual winning," he said. "I feel the pro game
can be a success if we can get the right people involved. I just felt
there wasn't much more I could accomplish in
Oshawa.
The Gaels have an excellent executive organization and the traditions
we established should continue. The big boom in minor and junior is
set to payoff for the pros. There are a lot of good players available
for the pro league."
For
Bishop, the 1968 season was a gruelling experience. He was
manager-coach of two teams 300 miles apart, a hectic schedule that
wasn't much fun for him, only hard work.
The
pro lacrosse league was the result of a great deal of talk, much of it
led by Bishop. Along with Morley Kells, manager of the Toronto Maple
Leaf team, broad- caster Brian McFarlane, who was involved with the
Montreal
franchise, Bishop got the league started. Backing came from the Maple
Leaf hockey organization and Bruce Norris, owner of the Detroit Red
Wings and the
Olympia.
"Norris had a lot to do with getting our idea into the reality class,"
Bishop said. "The Green Gaels and senior Maple Leafs played an
exhibition game in
Detroit.
He saw the game, his first lacrosse game ever, and liked it. We
rounded up four teams in the east, but if we hadn't got the west to
join in, there wouldn't have been a league."
The
maiden season was a tough one, combining the organization of new
teams, attempting to interest spectators in the game, working out
arrangements with the amateur associations and writing a new rulebook
designed to make the game as entertaining as possible.
"We
made some progress," Bishop said. "In any new sports venture, you
must be prepared to have a rough time at first. National Hockey
League expansion hasn't been too big a success in a couple of the U.S.
cities. We had our share of knockers. But I wonder if they remember
when the National Football League was in Canton, Ohio, just getting
started.
"The
people in
Detroit
knew nothing about lacrosse, but, by the end of the season, we had a
good core of about 2,500 fans, who really enjoyed the game. Bruce
Norris is a big booster. He thinks it is a great game and that the
pro league has a future. We'd like to expand into some U.S. cities,
especially those in the NHL, get the backing of the hockey operators,
who own the arenas. Lacrosse could be a good summer attraction for
them. The league played a good variety of lacrosse that can only get
better."
There
have been rumbles about Bishop taking a coaching job in hockey. "I
might like to try it sometime," he said. "I feel the coaching
techniques I've used in lacrosse could be applied to hockey. But
lacrosse is my game and I want to stay in it, if I can."
Should
the pro lacrosse league encounter troubles, Bishop can always rejoin
the Green Gaels and try for seven consecutive titles.
Back -
Start |
