Team Alumni

Turnout for both basketball games was almost as good as planned with 7 alumni (Bruce Wilson, Roger Nandlal, Rob Mauchel, Grant Lawrence, Vilhelm Boggild, Scott Dickie, and John Johnson) playing both games, an additional 5 alumni (Stan Turner, Debbie Power, Cheryl Power, Andy Mullins, and towards the end, Steve Jackson) playing the first game, and an additional 4 other alumni (Paula Boggild, Jeff Wilson, plus a couple of unexpected additional players - see later) playing the second.
 
Originally, the first game was intended to be against a mix of current Bell junior boys and girls, with the second against current Bell senior boys, but in the end it seemed like pretty much the entire gang of students eagerly played both games!
 
Due to the borderline status of which side they rightfully belonged on, a couple of unexpected (and very talented) additional players, who had just graduated and now went to University of Ottawa (Mustafa Noor Saleh and Mohamed Darwiche), generously split the difference, playing on the student side in the first game and the alumni side in the second (resulting, as Stan Turner pointed out, in the second alumni team spanning four decades in age!)
 
As it turned out, the talent of these two side splitting players was key to turning the tide in the outcome of both games - the current Bell students winning the first game with a score of approximately 55-41 and the alumni winning the second with a score of approximately 54-43. (Unfortunately, the score keepers didn't record the final scores of either game on paper and none of us remember for sure.) But even despite these tide turners on the student side in the first game, the creeky joints of the alumni were definitely getting greased as the final quarter wound down and we might very well have managed to catch up to the students had that first game gone on much longer! With the high carry over of common players from one game to the next, the alumni definitely fully "gelled" and were in sync for the second game, as they exhibited fast breaks, passing, drives, and shooting that clearly got winning results!
 
And as Roger said, win or lose, we were the best looking team on the floor!
 
Thanks to all of you for making these games so much fun to play for everyone, from so many decades of Bell teams!
 
Thanks also to Rob's spouse, Dagmar, for providing period music (Earth, Wind and Fire) for us all to nostalgically warm up to, and to Grant's spouse, Sue, for thinking to capture some of the action on video. Standby for the link to be posted here when its been uploaded to YourTube!
 
Cheers,
 
Rob, Grant, Stan, Roger and John

Photo by Cathy Edwards

It was great to see all those that challenged their aging bodies with an appearance against the current school athletes.  The shift in strategy and play was apparent from the start.

The old school play a narrower court, while the current students come in wide from the sidelines to set up for a smash.  It was a good test of agility as current students found out that 'old' people do not lose it as fast as one might think.

The highlights of the game were the spike serve by recent graduates, that just need a little work on the timing, while the best serve of the game came from Steve Kasouf who blistered one over the net 'old style'.

I think if the alumni were given about 4 more days to refine their moves, they would likely be .....too sore to move....so that wouldn't yield any different outcome.

All in all a fun time and thanks to all the students that took the time to come out and have some fun with those athletes of days gone by.
 
Stan Turner
'73

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The Rugby Team (click image for a large picture) Photo courtesy of Jennifer Ruff

Rugby Match Summary:

The Bell H.S. 50^th Anniversary rugby match, which featured 5 decades (yes 5!) of Bell players, was fantastic start to finish including the pre-game walk-on and post-game ceremony. The Bell Alumni XV won 22-10 versus the University of Ottawa Gee-Gee’s in a wide open and competitive match played in very good spirit.   The Bell side scored two tries to take an early 10-0 lead and the Gee-Gee’s managed only a 3 point penalty after 40 minutes of play.  Halftime score: Bell 10 vs U of O 3.  In the second half with a Rainbow and wind at our backs,  Bell continued to confidently move the ball around and added another try before being forced to put on a strong defensive display as U of O had a rare sustained attack at our line.  The Brown & Gold pride proved to be in full effect disallowing a valiant attempt by U of O to cross our line, but eventually conceding only a penalty try.  Score Bell 15 v UoO 10. It wasn’t long however before the Bell side replied with a well moved backline attack scoring a late game try in the corner to increase the spread.  The touchline conversion which will be forever known as “The Kick” sailed through the uprights to put the nail in the coffin just minutes before the final whistle. Final score Bell 22 vs UoO 10.

Cheers!

Joe Nesrallah and Chris Stewart.

PS.. On behalf of all the Alumni rugby participants and spectators, I want to thank you all for your hard work in putting together this entire 50^th Anniversary event. We all had a great time!

click image for a large picture Photo courtesy of Jennifer Ruff

Now, of the game itself, what shall we say? Rugby is a poor spectator sport; watching, you can't see inside a scrum, ruck or maul; can't feel a tackle; can't feel your back being raked by opposition cleats. Part of the game that makes it great to play is invisible to the spectator. So let us say this: the game was a good one, lots of good ball handling (really quite good actually!), tackling, kicking, and running. The fit-looking Ottawa U boys were over-matched by the Bell Alumni right from the very start. Surprise!

A famous win! Followed by appropriately famous celebrations. Indeed, since an OB can still drink beer and sing a song and buy a round, that part of the game is all the more dear to him.

So: Well done, Bell! And well done to you, Joe! Great job putting it together.
...Got to run to band practice now!

Ken Kingsbury