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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1976-07-07, Page 22Page 22 -Citizens News, July 7, 1976 Bayfield man championskaterat9,quitatl 7 By FRED YOUNGS There is a story Orel Duffey tells of when he was at a speed - skating competition and he was being interviewed by two newspaper reporters. The two reporters, one of whom was from New York, asked him how Duffey thought he was going to do in the competition the next day. Can- didly, Duffey replied that he would "win every race and break every record in the book," That was all well and good, but the reporters took it with some skepticism. Later that evening, one of them phoned Orel's mother. Mrs. Duffey, who is now 93. He told her that her son was making "rash statements" and he should be careful what he says to the press. Mrs. Duffey asked what statements were being made and when told, merely replied that if that was what Orel had said, then that was what he would do. The next day he did; entering four speed -skating events, winning them all and breaking all of the records. Now, reporters are not in the habit of phoning j athletes mothers when they make grandiose proclamations for the press. except when thatl athlete was someone like Or Duffey, who won nine championships in speed -skating all of them before the age of 17 when he gave up the sport and entered hockey. + + + Orel Duffey was nine when he took his first championship. A year later he would appear in Wingham at an exhibition, billed as the "ten -year-old wonder skater•" Through the eight years he continued to skate com- petitively, he would compile a total of 144 medals, numerous trophies and nine titles. He would give up the sport when he could not go to the 1936 Olympics and turn to hockey, where he had a brief if unspectacular stint with the Chicago Black Hawks. A prodigy of sorts, Duffey's competitive skating career was carefully chronicled by his mother who kept a scrapbook of stories and pictures on her son dating back to 1927. That was the year Duffey took the juvenile championship and started his string that would remain unin- terrupted until he quit speed - skating. In the poriod, he set four world records. some of which still stand and took the North American championship for his class in 1929. 1930. 1932, 1933 and 1935. In 1935. at '17, Duffey won the North American championship, the Canadian -Open, the Western Open Indoor meet and the US Open. Often when he was com- peting in the United States, he would be the only Canadian in the field. Duffey trained himself against a stop watch since there were no other competitors in his class who could stay with him. He and his trainer, Basil Cosgrove, who skated around the inside of the track while Duffy went around the course developed the style that would take him to the top. Duffey was fortunate enough to be given the use of Varsity stadium, which was flooded in the winter, for his practicing. Public skating was held from 7:30 p.m. on, but if one was there early enough back in the twenties, one could see Duffey, with\ or without Cosgrove, racing the stop watch. His reign continued for eight years, when the only competition he had was Leo Freisinger, a Chicago youth. Freisinger was two years older than Duffey, so, often, when Duffey moved up an age bracket, Freisinger would be in his last year. He would take the championship that year, before moving on, leaving the class to Duffey. One clipping shows both Freisinger and Duffey together, calling them the King and Crown Prince Of speed skating. Freisinger went to the 1936 Olympics, leaving Duffey at home in Canada. "I was bitterly disappointed" he says now, recalling how he was kept from the competition because of a lack of money to finance his trip. Ile feels sure he could have brought home a gold for Canada, since Freisinger, who was not as fast as Duffey, took two seconds and a third, Duffey at the time was being sponsored by F. G. "Teddy" Oke, the -millionaire Toronto promoter and investor. Oke told him that he could well have afforded to finance the trip to Germany but since his (Duffey's) country couldn't or wouldn't come up with the resources, then he wouldn't either and he advised Duffey to quit speed -skating and get into hockey. Duffey had never played hockey in his life, and had never worn the shorter blade hockey skates. He spent the summer on roller skates on a dead end street he says, trying to control a rubber ball. The practice must have stood him in good stead, because he made the OHA Jr. A Toronto Lions the next year. After a year of OIIA, he moved to Yorkton,' Saskatchewan, to play OREL DUFFEY AT 11, already a championtwo years running, Duffey continued his streak until he was 17. when he . quit speed -skating because of a fall out over the Olympics and went into professional hockey. Today at 59, Duffey is a retired insurance man with a home near Bayfield. T -A photo. OPEN DAILY Saturday July 10 Silver Strings Green Forest Motor Hotel YOUR HOSTS "PETE" and "CAROLE" DEITZ HIGHWAY 21 — GRAND BEND for the Yorkton Terriers. The Terriers were one of the top teams in the Sr. A. league that year, going all the way to the semi-finals. After a year in Yorkton, Duffey spent some time with the Chicago I31ack hawks before being sent to the Miami Clippers. Miami coach, "Bullet" Joe Simpson had a connection with the parent NHL club. Duffey's hockey career in Miami was shortlived, however, when he was hook -checked from behind and the stick caught his right eye. He was sightless in the eye for six months and it took another five years to heal. The injury came at the peak of the war and it kept Duffey out of action, as he failed tests that would allow him to follow his two brothers into the air force. + + + Today, over 40 years after winning his last speed skating champ championship, Orel Duffey is retired. At 59, he owns a home near Bayfield where he and his wife spend most of their time, sometimes wintering in Florida. After the aborted hockey career, Duffey went into the life insurance business, spending some time on the east coast before returning to Toronto in a management capacity. He is still involved in sports, having coached a company team and he still skates. tie views sports as an integral part of any person's life and has been asked to coach the Zurich Flyers in the South Huron Hockey League. First of all though, he wants to skate with the team to find out how they play, then he'll consider it more carefully. but just now he isn't opening or closing any doors on the possibility. He is still an avid golfer, and at the peak of his skating career, said he would prefer to be a pro golfer than a skater. Speed skating sounds decep- tively simple when Duffey talks about it. The hunched back to cut wind resistance, the arms folded behind the back for balance butlmostimportantly because it is relaxing and then in the final dash of the longer distances, the arms swaying from side to side in rhythm with the strides. He makes it look too easy. Ile still retains some of his former accounts that • he held before retiring and he claims that keeps him busy but life is slower now for a man whn was an all - Ontario football player, played baseball with Turk Broda,, Bill ilarr'is Sr., Busher Jackson and Reggie Hamilton; who played minor -professional hockey and for eight years held a grip so tight on the world of speed -skating that it shook at his name. "You have to want to enough" is the way he describes his success and Orel Duffey wanted to, and did, more than enough. , Summer season begins The Huron Country Playhouse began its summer season Wed- nesday night with "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown," a musical comedy. It was well received by the aud- ience of approximately 1,500 people. The name Charlie Brown in the title seemed to draw a varied audience to see the play, children as well as adults. The play itself is directed towards adults but everyone seemed to enjoy the action and music. 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