Hugh Townsend, Author at The Pictou Advocate

In cold arenas with Gerry Regan

December 4, 2019December 3, 2019 Hugh Townsend

The Gerald A. Regan who I knew best — and remember fondly — wasn’t the Member of Parliament for Halifax, the premier of Nova Scotia, or the man who faced court charges in later years. He was, instead, the radio sportscaster, the sports promoter and, above all, the “bird-dog” scout for the Boston Bruins. It...

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Next question: Will Keefe last long?

November 27, 2019November 27, 2019 Hugh Townsend

When you’ve written thousands of columns like I have through the years, there’s a scenario that’s bound to occur once in a while. Someone asks, innocently, if I ever run out of subjects to discuss. Yes, I do. I faced that situation in just the last few days. It was the evening before my deadline...

Cherry gave me just five seconds

November 20, 2019November 19, 2019 Hugh Townsend

During my 65 years in the newspaper business, I talked face-to-face with Donald S. Cherry only once. That was more than enough. It was a November evening in 1972, about an hour before an American Hockey League game at the Halifax Forum between the Nova Scotia Voyageurs and Rochester Americans. I had been appointed sports...

A lot of reasons to admire Gloria

November 13, 2019November 13, 2019 Hugh Townsend

One of the most gratifying things you get from a lifetime in sports journalism is spending time with incredible people you meet, interview and write about. There’s no life like it. New Glasgow native Gloria Borden was one of those. I’ve admired her life and career achievements for more than six decades – since back...

They played hard and they had fun

November 6, 2019November 5, 2019 Hugh Townsend

Age has diminished my driving. For years and years, sports trips put a monthly average of 3,000 kilometres on my cars. Since leasing my latest Camry in 2015, the figure has dropped to just under 700 a month. Yet during the weekend before Halloween, I added 660 — two round-trips between Dartmouth and New Glasgow....

A new elevation for local curling

October 30, 2019October 30, 2019 Hugh Townsend

When The Chronicle Herald assigned me to open a Pictou County bureau in New Glasgow 60 years ago, my primary mandate was to cover everything newsworthy in the region. That meant reporting political happenings, police and fire stories, accidents of many types, murders and other crimes, local and Supreme Court trials, car orders for the...

It was a privilege to have known him

October 23, 2019October 22, 2019 Hugh Townsend

There’s one heck of a void down in Antigonish. A hockey star, rugby player, baseball talent, hall of fame inductee, compassionate physical education teacher, coach, referee and community worker recently left the playing grounds in the cathedral town for the last time. Geno Scattolon’s death at age 91 brought the curtain down on a highly-respected...

Too bad it’s not all three of them

October 16, 2019October 15, 2019 Hugh Townsend

From the very beginning — some 37 years ago now — there were three of them. Always three. They were born in New Glasgow, within eight months of one another, during what was the 1977-78 hockey season. Even before starting school, they were ready for minor hockey. New Glasgow Stadium would become their second home....

Special recognition for special people

October 9, 2019October 8, 2019 Hugh Townsend

I’m allowing my thoughts to meander a bit before I address a special group of people in Pictou County. First stop in my remindful excursion is Pictou Landing. That’s because it used to be my favourite place in the whole world during the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. That’s where I spent the first 30 summers...

Mark Babineau easy to admire, respect

October 2, 2019October 1, 2019 Hugh Townsend

Each time I reach a career milestone or anniversary — they seem to come much quicker the older you are — I fear readers will get tired of reading about them. Yet, for some time now, I was planning to focus this week’s column on the fact it was 65 years ago this week that...

Author: Hugh Townsend