Extra Information From Quiz Committee:
Wendy had himself been an outstanding athlete in track and football while attending Loyola College in Montreal. At WCI, Wendy coached Woodstock
Collegiate’s ‘Red Devils’ (rugby) football team. That year, 1929, the Red Devils won the Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association (WOSSA) Junior
championship, winning a total of 408 points for only 6 scored against them. With Wendy as coach, the Red Devils also won the championship in 1930 and
1931.
In 1930, Wendy also began coaching a football team then sponsored by the Oxford Rifles. The Oxford Rifles dropped their sponsorship in 1931, but
Wendy plus a number of local businessmen took over the club and renamed it the Woodstock Grads, since most players had played for WCI. That year, 1931,
was considered the finest in the City’s football history. In addition to the Red Devils’ again winning the WOSSA championship, the Grads were doing well
in the Ontario Rugby Football championship, winning their games against London, St. Thomas and Kitchener. Then they beat Sarnia Wanderers (11-1 and
8-2) and Toronto Argonauts (32-6 and 14-5) in the Ontario playdowns, finally winning the Ontario championship by beating St. Catherines 27-9, in a
sudden-death game at Hamilton.
Members of Woodstock City Council journeyed with the Grads and L.A. Wendling to Molson Stadium, Montreal, for the final game of the 1931 Eastern Canada
championship. After a terrific game, the Grads beat the Winged Wheelers, 21-9. Meanwhile, the Moose Jaw Maroons had won the Western Canada
championship.
The last match, to determine the Canadian Junior Football champions, was set for December 10, 1931, in the Woodstock fairgrounds. The day before, it had
snowed and the ground was a frozen expanse of ice. December 10 was a warm day and by the time the match began, watched by a crowd of 5000, the
gridiron had become a sea of mud. The Grads and Maroons were well matched, and neither of these crack teams held any advantage for long. Near the end
the score was 13-13. With less than a minute of play, the Grads won a point, thanks to a punt to the deadline by Clayton “Curly” Krug. The Woodstock
Grads were now the 1931 Canadian Junior Champions.
Our historian, Ed Bennett, played for the Grads, in centre, all that season. He remembers his brother George, a guard, and his other team mates as being
great players. ‘I was not alone!’ he says.
Woodstock was an active place for sports during the 1900s, but no city team won any Ontario or Canadian championships until the 1930s. Things began to
change in 1929, when a new teacher and coach came to Woodstock Collegiate from Penetang, L.A. “Wendy” Wendling.
Sources:
- George Hayes, ‘Woodstock Had Fine Teams,’- Sentinel-Review, Homecoming Edition, July 1977 (Woodstock Public Library history microfilm);
- George Hayes, ‘Football hot bed’, S-R Fri. Oct. 21, 1977 (W.P.L history microfilm);
- Doug M. Symons, 'The Village That Straddled A Swamp' (Oxford Historical Society);
- Ed Bennett, local historian