Who Wears Short Shorts? A Look Back at Basketball in 1959

February 11, 2025

The Hearst High School boys bask­et­ball team, the Green Devils, wears short shorts. Coached by Sir Bob Labrosse, the Green Devils faced a tough oppon­ent in the Hearst High School Gym on Friday night, April 17, 1959. The team from Smooth Rock Falls, led by the accurate shooting of Harry Dubas with 23 points, were defeated by a score of 38-37 by our home­town Devils. Only three other Rockers managed to swish the twine, Rocky Langlois with 9, Andre Hurtubise with 4 and Donald Davidson scoring a singleton.

All nine of the Devils contributed to the victory with Minu Joanis leading the way with 11, Bill Bies close behind with 8, Roger Comeau, Yvon “Bird Dog” Brochu, and Johnny Gagnon counting 4 each. Bob Wilson, Barney Larose and Moose Deslauriers each contributed a single basket while Ray Wilson only had one point but that was the winning difference.

Earlier that day the Hearst girls fell to the Smooth Rockers by a score of 17 to 14. Hearst was led by Clemence Ruel with 8 while Dorothy Girard scored 4 and Anita Crane 2. The visitors were led by Teddy Parise with 7, Pat Davidson with 6 and Helene Gagne rounding out the scoring with 4.

The Hearst High School gym had a low ceiling that was advantageous to our boys as visiting players had to adjust their long shots and breakout passes. Those short shorts also caused problems in the modesty department according to Bill Bies who once got a technical foul for running off the court and up the stairs out of sight of the crowd to adjust his equipment.

The Hearst Hi Green Devils had a tune-up match the night before defeating the Seminary boys in their own Gym 43 to 21.

Ronald Genier captained the Seminary boys, who were coached by Father Marc St. Laurent. Captain of the Hearst team was Yvon Brochu, and the coach was Bob Labrosse.

The 1959 HHS Green Devils. Pictured, left to right, Back Row: Yvon Brochu, Jean Deslauriers, John Gagnon, Bill Bies, Roger Comeau.
Front Row: Coach Bob Labrosse, Barney Larose, Emanuel Joanis, Bob Wilson, Ray Wilson. John Gagnon and Emanuel Joanis were ringers from town who helped bolster the high school team.

As of 2025, Barney and Yvon have passed away, Emanuel, Roger and Ray are still in Hearst, Jean Deslauriers, John Gagnon and Bob Labrosse are in Ottawa, Bill in Orillia and Bob Wilson up near Sudbury.

Scores were reported in the April 25th, 1959 issue of the Hearst newspaper, The Northern Citizen.

Short shorts were standard uniforms until the late 1980’s when Michael Jordan asked the manufacturer to make them longer. Hip Hop culture of the time also influenced the trend to longer, baggier gym wear. Today’s teams have highly trained staff and special energy drinks. In 1959 the boys got the Latin teacher to coach and a bowl of oranges cut in quarters for energy.

Hearst High School Senior Girls 1959: Back Row: Coach Bob Labrosse, Kitty Shalla, Dorothy Girard, Colette Trudel, Jean Martin, Aline Lapointe, Pierrette Trudel and Maggie Tim­mer­mans.
Front Row: Mary Horchak, Margot Chisholm, Clemence Ruel and Anita Crane. Aline Lapointe did not attend Hearst High School but did play on the team.

Sadly, as of 2025, Kitty, Dorothy, Aline, Pierrette, Mary, Margot and Clemence have all passed away. Jean and Maggie still live in Hearst, Collete lives near Ottawa and Anita is in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Toini Jansson Joanis provided a picture of a Hearst High Alumni ladies team from 1957.
Back Row: Mai Rasinpera, Dolly Duguay and Peggy Wade.
Front Row: Francoise Richard, Carmen Boulanger, Toini Jansson.

The out-of-town bus trips to Kap­us­ka­sing, Smooth Rock Falls and Coch­rane were high­lights of the year. Some of the kids on this 1959 bus trip are Simeon Callewaert, Armand Payeur, Mario Barrette, Gaston Jacques, Ernie Bies, Brian Egan, Ray Wilson, Mary Bird, Bob Wilson, Dorothy Rose­vear with Mr. Lafon­taine in the foreground.

On another bus trip, I was sitting in the back row against the window and leading a singalong of "you can't get to Heaven" when I sang "in Labrosse's car." He interjected saying his friends call him Bob and his students call him Sir. Without missing a beat, I sang. "You can't get to Heaven in Sir Bob's car". The name stuck.

I can see Lorraine Proulx, Lorraine Kurki, Ernie Bies at the back, Armand Payeur, Mary Horchak, Gerald Bolduc, Anita Miller, Greg Trowsse, Ray Morissette, Lise Veilleux and Lise Carrier in this picture.

Still another bus trip picture (see below) features George Veilleux, Dorothy Rosevear, Gaston Jacques, Andre Payeur, Jean Deslauriers, George Bosnick, Gerald Leclerc, Lola Bouchard, Cecile Campeau, Wayne Lahtinen.

Walter Sutherland holding the flag outside the rally bus heading for a showdown in Cochrane.

Banners on the bus were made by Walter, Gerald Leclerc and Simeon Callewaert. There was always a healthy rivalry between the northern Ontario towns.

People never forget their time in Hearst.