by  Ruby Smith, Heritage Arts, May 26, 2022, VOL. 3 ISSUE 20

Mazie (Marlene) Davies was born and raised in Welland. She moved to Fort Erie in 1969 to teach at Fort Erie Elementary School as the girls’ physical education instructor. Fort Erie had two senior elementary schools at the time with enrolled grade seven and eight students only. Elementary teachers were specialists in their field and held more MA’s than the high-school teachers. Elementary students got a solid education.

In the early 2000s, Mazie and I stood in the centre of the foyer at the Fort Erie Leisureplex and imagined the entire area as a SPORTS MUSEUM. The store, a place to highlight sports artifacts and memorabilia, the walls along the lower and upper deck lined with shadowboxes containing NHL and CFL jerseys – Fort Erie had at least twenty-one NHL hockey players at one time. Fort Erie is a highly significant SPORTS TOWN. We thought the Minor Hockey League Wall of Fame should be moved from the change room to the foyer, as the plaques were getting damaged. We designed a tall, narrow wall that would run from the foot of the stairs to the double exit doors. The wall would be six (6) feet, eleven (11) inches wide and eight (8) feet high, constructed of metal piping with open grid metal walls that would echo the upper deck railing. It would hold many inductee plaques on both sides and be located in a warm environment.

When the Kinsmen took over the SPORTS WALL OF FAME, we made a prototype on our wall and along with a proposal to utilize the store as a sports museum in the Leisureplex foyer as a space to house SPORTS artifacts and memorabilia, we made a presentation to the Kinsmen. Neither proposal was thought to be feasible at the time.

Minor Hockey Association initiated the first Sports Wall of Fame at the Douglas Street arena in 1980. Mike McMahon was the first inductee, Pierre Pilote their second in 1981. They maintained the wall until 1999 with Vince Montironi being their last inductee.

Mazie Davies was inducted to the Minor Hockey Sports Wall of Fame in 1989 for volleyball/ soccer / builder of Special Olympics along with Roy Boles – baseball / hockey and Hap Hanna, hockey / builder. Mazie and Roy are both honoured on the Welland Sports Wall of Fame.

The Kinsmen took over the wall in 1995 and the sports wall was moved from the change room to the wall in the Kinsmen Arena.

Mazie was also involved in discussions with us as to where to locate a Fort Erie skateboard park. We liked the Sugar Bowl site, but the area chosen in the Town Hall complex is more centrally located. Two of Heritage Arts members are honoured to have their names listed on the plaque located in the Skateboard Park, Cameron Tisone, and Ruby Smith.

Mazie coached Special Olympics from 1979 to 2003. Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded the Special Olympics movement, with the very first event held in 1968 on Soldier Field in Chicago. But the competition was in fact inspired by discoveries made by Dr. Hayden, a Canadian researcher. He challenged the prevailing mindset that claimed that it was the disability that prevented children from participating in play. Through the scientific method, Dr. Hayden proved that it was due simply to a lack of opportunity to participate in play. Mazie, an athlete herself, a trained teacher and coach in physical education and special education was a pioneer who became involved with Special Olympics early on. When asked why she became involved, she replied “BECAUSE I SEE THEM AS ATHLETES WHO CAN’T READ OR WRITE AS WELL AS ME”

Dedication and commitment to coaching this new area of sport competition took a huge amount of responsibility, stamina, expertise, time, and money. Practices were usually held on weekends, after work, and sometimes before work. When involved with skating competitions, Mazie would pick up team members early in order to get to the 6:30 am allotted ice time and then be off to school for her 9:00 a.m. regular class lessons. Fort Erie athletes brought many medals and trophies home to Fort Erie from the Games they participated in at the Regional, Provincial, National, and international level.

Accomplishments

• 1969 Welland coached a group of children in track and field (walking race, 50-yard dash, standing long-jump and softball throw) who attended the first Special Olympics Games. These games continue to this day for the children
• 1976 Fort Erie, volunteer of recreational activities for the Peace Bridge Association ARC Industries (present day Community Living), with ladies’ exercise class, bowling, and swimming
• 1979 Fort Erie began coaching ARC Industries track and field events and took a group of athletes from Fort Erie to participate in the FIRST Provincial Special Olympics Games in which adults were included.
• 1980, Fort Erie, began coaching ARC Industries floor hockey team
• 1981 Ottawa, coached athletes from Fort Erie (track and field) in the Special Olympics National Games
• 1983, coached Bob Hart (track and field) who was attending the World Games and started a soccer program for Fort Erie athletes
• 1989, started an indoor soccer program for Fort Erie athletes
• 1991, started the speed skating program for Fort Erie athletes
• 2000, started softball program for Fort Erie athletes

Coaching Experience

• Regional Coach at Provincial Games: 1) Track and Field 1979, 1982, 1984; 2) Floor Hockey 1984, 1988, 1994; 3) Soccer 1987, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999 and 4) Speed Skating 1990, 1991
• Ontario Coach at National Games: 1) Track and Field 1981; 2) Floor Hockey 1985, 1995; 3) Speed Skating 1992; 4) Soccer 1990. 1996, 2002
• Team Canada Coach (World Games): 1) Track and Field 1983 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana U.S.A; 2) Floor Hockey 1997, Toronto Canada; 3) Soccer 1991 St. Paul Minnesota U.S.A. and 2003 Dublin Ireland
• World Games: 1993 Speed Skating, Austria supporter for an athlete from Fort Erie
• World Games: 1995 Team Canada Manager
• Provincial (Ontario) Games: Indoor Soccer 1994 to 1999

Builder

• Instrumental in the development of Special Olympics locally (Fort Erie), regionally (Niagara) and provincially (Ontario)
• Coordinator for Niagara (Provincial Region 3) 1980 to 1987
• Member for four years on the Provincial Program Planning Team
• Provincial OSTAT Chairperson for three years
• Member of the World Games Canada in 1997 planning committee

Because Mazie is sports minded and taught physical education in Fort Erie from 1969 to 1993, she has kept up a keen interest in Fort Erie SPORTS and especially with Heritage Arts sports work. Before acquiring space in the Leisureplex to house Fort Erie sport artifacts and memorabilia, Heritage Arts focused on three sports related aspects. We acquired yearly a six-foot hand painted image of an athlete present on the Kinsmen Sports Wall of Fame. We presented a $500 award to a Fort Erie student who excelled in sports, and for several years we made a contribution to the Meteors hockey team. We proudly saw “Heritage Arts” on the back of Meteor # 26 during games.

Our fundraising initially took place at the Fort Erie Racetrack in the Prince of Wales dining room where we held a yearly event. For the past many years, Ed Chadwick and Larry Gibson have supported our sports work.

We acquired permission to hang our Hero Boards on the west wall of the Kinsmen Arena from Doug Martin and Council when he was mayor.

Our first hero board image was of Charmaine Reid, who was Mazie’s student for two years and who was an Olympic badminton champion in 2006. On our Hero Walk wall, we have sixteen (16) images and two to be mounted. Several hero boards were donated by artists, but the rest cost a thousand dollars each. The reason we do not have photos enlarged instead is because of the visual impact on seeing a hand-painted image of a sports hero.

In 2016, we honoured Mazie with her own hero board because of her huge commitment to Special Olympics. The unveiling took place at the beautiful Fort Erie Golf Club after a wonderful day of golf, dinner, and speeches.

In 2019, Mazie nominated her friend, John Paul Gagnon, a world gold-medal champion dragon boat paddler, to be placed on the Kinsmen Wall of Fame. Her nomination was accepted.

When she heard that we had plans to place Bob Lichtenberger, a pioneer paralympic champion on our hero wall, she approved and made a donation toward that effort. She also intends to nominate Chuck Nealing to the Sports Wall of Fame. Chuck is a paraplegic athlete from Crystal Beach who in 2008 along with three other paraplegics hand-pedaled their bikes towing their wheelchairs across Canada from the Pacific to the Atlantic in order to raise money for spinal cord research and awareness. The three month long “Wheel to Walk” marathon began in Victoria B.C. and crossed the finish line in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

We honour and thank Mazie, a Heritage Arts member at large, for her support and devotion to Fort Erie sports.