I guess that what sports a child plays depends on how sports -inclined their parents were. Mine were not. My mother could swim having come from northern Alberta where there were lakes but my dad, from the bald prairies of Saskatchewan had little interest in it. My sister and I as a result did not go to beaches or even to swimming pools much as kids. Other families in my cohort were different though. My future husband, also raised in the 50s and 60s on Calgary’s north side, was in a household where sports were encouraged. The kids were taken on hikes, and the YMCA was a key feature of their lives, where the boys not only learned to swim but also to do wrestling and trampolining. Their dad played handball at the YMCA courts and their mother in her senior years even became a nearly daily lap swimmer at city pools, for the exercise.
Calgary did have many options for sports:.
1902 – had a centre in Mission district
1905 – The YMCA was established nationally
1910 – the “Old Y” in the Beltline was a hostel originally for single women
1919 – The main building for the Y was downtown at 9 avenue and first street SE. Many in my cohort learned to swim and do indoor sports in the 1950s
1950 – YWCA was built at 223 – 12 avenue SW
1955 – YMCA hosted sock hop dances for teens (we were only 6 then but in later years these were useful)
For little kids in the fifties there were the parks. Bowness Park was a favorite, though for us it was a drive to the west and we could not do that too often. It had a lagoon, paddle boats, canoes and even a centre loudspeaker broadcasting music as you rowed. It had a kids’ amusement park with a merry go round and little train and people picnicked under the many trees. In the winter the lagoon froze over and it had a skating rink, with skating paths between the trees . These 74 acres were a treasure for visitors even before Bowness was annexed to the city
Swimming
Many districts had neighborhood swimming pools, especially outdoor pools.
1910- Ezra Riley had donated 20 acres of his huge Cochrane Ranch to the city and it became Riley Park along 10th street NW. It had a children’s wading pool built in 1913 that is still operating in 2026. The park also had a toboggan run in 1914 and a cricket pitch in 1919 that still operates in 2026. As I recall Riley said that any sport could be played in the park as long as it was cricket.
1914 – Elbow Park pool on 30 avenue SW was very popular in our childhood
1922 – Southside Pool in Queen Elizabeth Park
1930 – Stanley Park Pool
1950 – there is a pool near Mewata Armories in downtown area
1954 – Highwood Pool in northwest Calgary
1954 – Marilyn Bell at age 16 swims across Lake Ontario
1955 – South Calgary outdoor pool on 16 street SW (where many of my cohort went)
1956 – Bowview Pool on 6 avenue NW
1957 – Mount Pleasant Pool on 23 avenue NW
1960 – Dick Pound of Canada swims at Olympics
1963 – Inglewood Pool – in SE Calgary
1964 – Forest Lawn outdoor pool at 39 street SE
1966 – Ron Jacks wins gold at Commonwealth games
1968 – Elaine Tanner wins 3 Olympic medals
Horse riding
My dad and his brothers were raised on a farm in Saskatchewan. Once in the ‘big city’ of Calgary they still had a nostalgia I think for horses. Going to the Stampede race track and watching the ‘ponies’ was a favorite pastime and they did place a few bets. They enjoyed thoroughbred racing and also watching the sulky races, with the driver on a 2 -wheeled cart that the horse pulls.
In our house, news of the wonder horses of the time was happy news. We got to hear about Northern Dancer and Seabiscuit and Secretariat and about famous jockeys like Eddie Arcaro, Johnny Londen, Ron Turcotte, Sandy Hawley.
1948 – Citation, ridden by Eddie Arcaro wins horse championships
1950 – Red Pollard rides Seabiscuit
1950s – Johnny Longden and Hedley Woodhouse are famous jockeys
1962 – Ron Turcotte rides Secretariat
1964 – Northern Dancer wins many races
The movies made about the era are still very touching to watch looking at the bond people have with horses. National Velvet (1944), The Black Stallion (1979) and ones about that era but made later, Seabiscuit (2003), Secretariat (2010)
There were horse-riding stables the public could visit to learn to ride. We did go to a few
1950s
Twin Bridges – on Richmond Road
Bowness – on 34 avenue
Windsor Park
1960s
Happy Valley – northwest in today’s Valley Ridge district
I was not a great rider. The horses knew it immediately. When I was ten one stepped on my foot and when I was about 12 the horse decided he’d head back to the barn and I had no clue how to stop him. We went charging back into the barn and I had to duck to not hit my head. My dad by contrast sure knew what he was doing. The moment he got on a horse he took charge, the horse alerted and responded. It was magical to watch. Quiet competence.
Trampoline
When I was a teen it was possible to rent a trampoline to have for a week at your home. We did that. It was a great way to entertain friends. The trampolines were not at first as safe as later versions and early ones did not have netting around them to prevent you from falling off, or covers on the springs to prevent you from getting stuck there.
There were even venues for teens to go and jump on trampolines, outdoors. There was one place in northwest Calgary that was crowded with kids. Those apparently shut down quite quickly after personal injuries and problems with insurance coverage.
What trampolining and wrestling training did for many people was give training them how to fall. My husband, also part of the 50s cohort, became adept at the trampoline and knew how to even with very short notice, fall safely. This paid off for him amazingly because in his 50s he was biking, was hit by a car and knew enough to roll not just fly off the bike. He survived the fall with a few broken ribs and a broken shoulder but no head injuries.
Other feats during our childhood
1953 – Hillary and Tenzing summit Mt. Everest
1954 – Roger Bannister runs a 3 minute 59 second mile
Football
Calgary got well known for its football teams. It became a huge business and attraction for the public.
1945 – the Calgary Stampeders club forms
1948 – Normie Kwong plays for Calgary Stampeders, then for Edmonton Eskimos
1948 – the Calgary Stampeders win the Grey Cup (this is the year before my cohort was born)
1950 – Jackie Parker playing for Edmonton Eskimos helps win Grey Cup
1950s – Harry Langford and Sugarfoot Andersen play for Calgary
1952 – Johnny Bright, born in US, plays for Calgary Stampeders
1957 – Bernie Faloney playing for Hamilton helps win Grey Cup
1960 – Calgary Stampeders football team moves from Mewata Stadium to McMahon stadium
1960s – Kenny Ploem (Winnipeg), Angelo Mosca (Hamilton)
1960s – Russ Jackson (Ottawa), George Reed (Saskatchewan)
1960s – Wayne Harris plays for Calgary Stampeders
1964 – Herm Harrison joins Calgary Stampeders
1967- Calgary Colts form for junior football
1971 – Calgary Stampeders win Grey Cup
Soccer
Soccer was a very popular sport in Europe apparently but not in North America. Most of us knew little of it. There was potential confusion. The word ‘football’ in Europe meant soccer.
In Canada football meant the American game .
But we did have many many attempts at forming soccer teams here, and some successes.
1898- Calgary Football Association
1904 – Calgary Callies form and win the People’s Shield in 1909
1909 – Calgary boomers play at Mewata but close in a few years
1950 – 200,000 attend a world soccer game in Brazil
1964 – soccer match riot in Lima kills 300 spectators
There have been other teams in Calgary since we became adult.
1977 – Calgary Foothills
1977 – Calgary Blizzard
1981 – Calgary Boomers
1987 – Calgary Kickers, later Strikers win a championship in 1987 but close in 1989
2001 – Calgary Storm
2004 – Calgary Mustangs
2015 – Calgary Foothills FC
2026 – having some matches of the World Cup played in Vancouver, Toronto and the US has soared interest in the sport in Canada
Hockey
1936 – Calgary Broncs football team forms
1938 – Calgary Stampeders ice hockey team is formed
1946 – Calgary Stampeders win the Allan Cup
1950s – Stampede Corral opens
1950s- Gordie Howe from Canada plays for Detroit
1950s- Maurice Rocket Richard, Jean Beliveau, Boom Boom Geofrion play for Montreal
1950s- Sid Finney of Calgary Stampeders
1954 – Calgary Stampeders hockey team wins the WHC championship
1955 – Calgary Buffaloes play at Victoria Arena
1960s – Bobby Hull from Canada plays for Chicago, Bobby Orr for Boston
1960s- Frank Mahovlich plays for Toronto
1963 – Calgary Stampeders hockey team is disbanded
1967 – Calgary Buffaloes become the Calgary Centennials
Baseball
I only went to one baseball game in my life, at McMahon Stadium as an adult. However the tradtiions were magical to watch, the 7th inning stretch, the cheering. Some households were keen fans watching games on TV. The names became familiar even to me. In the 1950s- Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, Hank Aaron. In the 1960s we also had Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax. Clearly these were American players on American teams. It did not matter. We took great pride in them.
Calgary had some baseball teams in 1921 and the Calgary Brochos won the Western Canada League in 1920. There were touring teams too that came to demonstrate the game.
1938- Calgary Buffaloes baseball team forms
1950s – Satchel Paige born in US plays for Canada
1950s – Tommy Lasorda born in US plays for Montreal
1955 – Glen Gorbous born in Drumheller plays for Philadelphia
1967 – Mickey Mantle of New York Yankees scores 500th career home run
Bowling
Bowling was very big in my childhood. Calgary is a winter city and a sport you can do indoors has real appeal.
Five pin and ten pin lanes were built in many locations.
1958 – Mountain View bowling in Glamorgan
1959 – Gibson’s bowling on centre street
1960 – Chinook bowladrome had 32 lanes
1962 – Fairview Bowling on North Hill had 48 lanes
1962 – Topple bowl on Fairmount Drive in the south
1968- Paradise Centre – in Forest Lawn
The bowling pins were reset manually . There were jobs for ‘pin boys’ who each round jumped up to set the pins back up.
Lawn bowling
Lawn bowling was for older people. I never did get into it and neither did my parents but the centres were nearby and many loved them. I think they hearkened back to an era of British gentility.
1912 – Calgary Lawn Bowling club in Spruce Cliff
1931 – Rotary Park lawn bowling on the top of north hill overlooking downtown
1932 – Bow Valley Lawn bowling in Bowness
1946 – Inglewood lawn bowling club on 8 avenue SE
There were other sports. At school we played dodgeball and other games in the gym in elementary school. In high school we played volleyball and basketball and worked with the box horse and tumbling mats. I never got remotely good at any of these but some did.
Basketball
1922 – J. Percy Page coaches the Edmonton Grads. They compete later in 4 Olympics games
1950s – In US, Wilt Chamberlain starts to set many NBA records
1960s – Calgary Dinos form at the University and win a national championship in 1965
1988 – the Calgary 88s competed in the world basketball league and their home base was the Olympic Saddledome (my cohort was 39)
Cycling
1931 – Calgary Cycle operates downtown
1945- Harold Ridley Opens Ridley’s Cycle in Kensington
1956- Calgarian Pat Murphy competes at Olympics
1957- Bow Cycle opens in Bowness ( we are 8)
1960- Tuxedo Sports opens in North Calgary and sells bikes
1960s- Eddie Merckx is famous Belgian cyclist
1968- Calgary Jocelyn Lovell competes at Olympics
What some in my family did though, which shows a generational shift I guess, was get deeply interested bicycling. I fell off a bike when I was ten, broke my arm, and did not get back on again till I had kids of my own. My husband had biked since childhood. He took up biking again in the 1980s (he was in his thirties) and became a keen long distance cyclist going to Montana and BC on solo trips each summer. Our entire family did an epic family bike ride to Banff with a tandem in the summer of 1990. But in my childhood bicycling was mostly for kids.
Running
Running races have been common through history but were not a huge fad in the 1950s yet
1964 – Sprinter Harry Jerome wins bronze at Olympics
1963 – Calgary Marathon tradition is begun by Doug Kyle. Nineteen men compete. Kyle lives to age 91 and only misses competing in one race over 59 years
1964 – Runner Bill Crothers wins silver at Olympics
1964 – Runner Abby Hoffman competes at Olympics
Once we were adult, some of my cohort did take up running and in particular so did our kids and grandkids. I never did it, gasp no, but my kids were often keen to do this and our son even ran in the Boston Marathon in the 1990s. it is something my cohort did not do much but our kids and grandkids sure do.
Golf
My family were not golfers. It was a pastime we associated with the rich and we were not that. However Calgary had for years had good golf courses. I took golf lessons myself in the 60s as a young teen, and was mortified at how poorly I played. I was even mortified that at the top of my swing my shoulder made a clicking sound and even the golf instructor found that odd.
People who golf, play tennis, baseball or badminton have a skill that is pretty amazing- they have a sense of where their arms are in space. They know how to connect with an object not just in their hand. I never had that. I always felt somehow that my control ended where my hand ended and of course that was a real problem with many sports.
1897 – Calgary Golf and Country Club had a 6 hole course on land near the Palliser Hotel today
1915 – Shaganappi golf course opened in Spruce Cliff in the southwest
1919 – Earl Grey golf course opened in Elbow Park and later moved nearer the Glenmore Reservoir
1923 – Regal Golf Course opened in Winston Heights, operated by the Elks Club
1950s – Moe Norman, Stan Leonard and Al Balding are famous golfers in Canada
1953 – Ben Hogan wins US open
1954 – Arnold Palmer wins US golf championship
1958 – Jack Nicklaus wins US golf championship
1960s – George Knudson, Gary Cowan and Sandra Post are famous golfers in Canada
1961 – Happy Valley, west of the city limits had a par 3 gold course and a miniature golf course
1961 – Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player win US golf competitions
1962 – Highland Golf course on 4 street NW – a 9 hole course
1965 – Willow Park golf course provided by Keith Construction
1968 – Lee Trevino wins US golf championship
Tennis
There were some tennis courts when we were young. The early ones were private though, not for public use.
In Calgary’s winter climate an outdoor court would not be useful but summer lawn courts were. There was also a transition period where some bubble like coverings were put over outdoor courts to make them useful longer.
1889 – Calgary Lawn Tennis club is organized at 2 street and 7 avenue SW
1907 – Mt. Royal has four tennis courts on shale base
1912 – Calgary tennis club moves to Sunalta
1920s – Dr. Alfred McKay leases land to a tennis association at Point McKay in the northwest
1932 – Mt. Pleasant Tennis club holds championships played on red shale from Drumheller and
1948 – Pancho Gonzales wins at lawn tennis
1960 – There are now indoor courts at the Calgary club
- – Billie Jean King wins tennis championships
More changes came after we became adult
1971 – Eventually the shale base on courts is replaced by asphalt plexi surface
1973 – Glenmore Racquet Club hosts the Canadian championships
By 2026 there are 160 public tennis courts in the city.
Ice skating
In a cold climate like Calgary’s ice skating of course was a joy . Many of us had back yard rinks our parents flooded each winter.
We also had neighborhood skating rinks. I guess due to the kindness of volunteers these rinks were set up, flooded and maintained for several months of the winter all around the city. Even now a person can walk by and at 7AM in the dark see such heroes flooding the rink for the little kids later that day. My cohort had a lovely one in South Calgary by about 14 street and I still have memories from the 1950s of gliding along and trying to do stops and crossovers and if I could, spins.
1880s – early settlers skated on frozen sections of the Bow and Elbow Rivers
1908- Bridgeland community centre is set up.Many put in rinks
1909 – Skeena Rink on 17 avenue SW had artificial ice
1910 – rink at main street at Victoria
1914 – Riley Park had an outdoor rink
1914 – Rink at Bowness Park on the man made lagoon
1930 – Elbow Park had an outdoor rink
1947 – Crystal Ice had a skating rink at 11 avenue and 9 street SW
1948 – Barbara Ann Scott wins gold medal
1950s – South Calgary Community association is set up at 16 street and 31 avenue SW
1960 – Canadians Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul win gold at Olympics
When community centres were established they often in the winter made a little skating rink for the kids and some put in a hockey rink too with wooden boards around the edges. After our teen years, In the 1970s in particular there was a surge of community centres built. Some even had ice shacks. There were new associations at Silver Springs (1974) Thorncliffe (1977), West Hillhurst (1979)
The Max Bell arena in 1977 had two indoor rinks and seating for 2121 (we were however no longer kids. We were 28)
Hockey
1893 – first hockey game played in Calgary by early settlers
1912 – Sherman rink puts ice on a former roller rink
1920 – Calgary Tigers form and play in Stanley Cup in 1924
1938 – Calgary Stampeders Hockey Club forms and wins Allan cup in 1946
1960 – Montreal Canadiens win Stanley cup for 5th year in a row
1965 – Montreal Canadiens win Stanley Cup
After we became adult there were more changes
1975 – Calgary Cowboys form as part of WHA – till 1977
1980 – Calgary Flames move from Atlanta and win Stanley Cup in 1989
1994 – Calgary Hitmen form
Skiing
Obviously with mountains people in this area had thought of skiing.
In the 1880s some had tried on Cascade Mountain in Banff and in 1894 Geroge Prais was inspired by Norwegian immigrants to ski in Banff.
1911 – a ski jump is built at Tunnel Mountain in Banff
1917 – early skis are mostly hardwood based and poles are often polished broom handles. People lash their shoes or moccasins onto the skis with leather straps
1917 – Banff hosts a winter festival with ski jumping. Prisoners interned at a nearby camp build an ice palace for visitors
In 1921 at the Calgary Stampede someone trucked in snow and built a 7 foot snow jump on top of the grandstand
In 1926 more people were skiing on Mt. Norquay in Banff
1928 – Sunshine mountain in Banff has ski guests and in 1941 gets a rope tow
1930 – People are skiing at Lake Louise
1945 – Mt. Norquay in Banff gets a permanent ski lift
1949 – In Calgary a ski hill is built on Shaganappi and it has T bar lift
1960 – Sunshine Mountain in Banff now has several ski lifts, a hotel and day lodge
1960- Canadian Anne Heggtveit wins gold at Olympics
1962 – At Sunshine the T bar can handle 1200 people per hour
1968- Canadian Nancy Greene wins gold at Olympics
After we became adult there were more developments.
1978 – A gondola is under construction on Sunshine Mountain in Banff (we are 29)
1988 – Calgary hosts the Winter Olympics with many ski events. 57 countries compete in speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and in ski jumping. Calgary renovated Paskapo Ski Hill to be Winsport Canada Olympic Park with ski hills, jumps and a bobsled run (my cohort is now not only adult but many of us are parents. We are 39)
One of life’s ironies and there are many, is that my parents did not ski but my grandfather from Norway likely did. I did not ski and neither did my husband. But of our kids, two became avid skiers and wherever they live – Ontario or Alberta, regularly go to ski hills on winter weekends. They have taught their own kids to ski and some from toddler age even. It is as if they consider it a life skill. Some of the grandkids even went on to earn money as ski instructors. That is one area then where my cohort has no experience at all about this aspect of life, but can in my case sit in a ski lodge and kind of marvel at it . I hear that seniors can ski and many do, so much so that ski hills have raised the low price discount age qualifier. But I also have heard and fully believe that you can ski well at 80 if you started when you were 20 but it is not wise to start at 80.
Roller skating, roller blading and inline skating
Every generation creates its novel mode of getting around on wheels. When I was growing up we had roller skates, the first ones metal strips with attached wheels under and you strapped your shoes into them. Later versions were a full boot with wheels attached and for a time rollerskating was a very popular sport.
In the 1700s John Merlin in Europe put metal wheels on shoes.
1819- A three wheeled roller skate was made in France
1860s – some designs called for wheels in a straight line only, to mimic the single blade of an ice skate.
1863 – A four wheel version is made in the US in two pairs. Now the axles can pivot so skaters can lean and turn
1876 – In England ball bearings reduce friction and wheels can spin freely. A toe stop is invented.
1900s – Skates are sold as metal frames with wheels and you strap them onto your shoes
1930s – there were people who hand crafted a wooden box base and put wheels on it, often of clay or hard metal. Sometimes the box was also set upright as rudimentary handlebars
1964 – (we were 15) Lloyd’s Roller Rink opened in Erlton. People could skate to disco music and with disco lighting . Teens often would celebrate birthdays there and it was a great place to go for a date. (it closed in 2018)
1970s – Rollerland opened in Forest Lawn. (we were 21)
1970s – the technology improves with urethane wheels.
1978 – skateboards got a coffin shaped base to streamline them
1980s – inline skating becomes very popular (we were in our 30s and not usually taking part)
1990s – some of our kids were now doing tricks like ollies and going down stairs , along ledges or on handrails.
I recall in about 2010 teaching at an elementary school which was doing something adorable. It had its grade 6 students guide its grade 2 students in the gym to teach them to rollerskate.
Rollerskating was not a dead fad at all.
Billiards and pool
Cue sports like billiards, pool, snooker were available in early Calgary but in subtle, hidden ways. British pioneers had liked playing billiards and a person can see how many Brits did arrive by even the street naming system in Hillhurst- Buckingham, Kensington, Oxford, Gladstone, Imperial, Victoria. But it was a men’s game and the billiard venues set up were associated with private men’s clubs and barber shops.
1885 – Castle Mountain billiard hall at 2 street SE
1900 – Many saloons also had a billiard table . Some hotels put in a pool table for guests
1907 – Hub Cigar Stand had billiard rooms
1910 – Baron’s Snooker Hall – had one table and eventually four
1910 – Royal Billiards on 2 street with two tables downtown
1919 – Leonard’s established by Leonard Funk
1930 – York Hotel pool and snooker tables
When our cohort came along in the 50s, it was mostly men attended, in smoke-filled rooms. There were some pool tables at professional clubs. But in the 60s some venues opened to families and the public- and to women.
1963 -Leather Pocket originally B & G, located eventually to Edmonton Trail NE
Wrestling and boxing
These sports also were mainly for men. Often boys got training at gyms
1908 – There were boxing matches at the Pantages Theatre and at Sherman’s Auditorium
1943 – Boxer Jake LaMotta fights Sugar Ray Robinson, the ‘Prince of Harlem’
1948 – Stu Hart begins Klondike wrestling club in Edmonton
1950 – The Stampede hosts boxing 140 matches at Victoria Park and the Corral.
1951 – Stu Hart moves his wrestling club to Calgary and sets up at the Stampede Grounds, Victoria Park 1965 – Stu Hart wrestling club name changes Wildcat wrestling and in 1967 To Stampede Wrestling
1952 – Rocky Marciano wins heavyweight boxing championship
1955 – Sugar Ray Robinson wins world boxing championship
1956 – Floyd Patterson wins boxing championship at age 21
1962 – Sonny Liston wins world heavyweight boxing championship
1964 – Casius Clay wins world boxing championship
1964 – The World Wrestling Association is formed in Indiana
1966 – Canadian boxer George Chuvalo fights Muhammad Ali in Toronto
1971 – Joe Frasier fights Muhammad Ali
1974 – Muhammad Ali fights Geroge Foreman for the “Rumble in the Jungle’
beverleysmith-cnjyv 