MANN CUPS SPRING EXCELSIORS' HISTORY
       By Ken Giles
       Sports Editor, Brampton Times and Conservator
       Thursday, Sept. 22, 1960

 A history of the Brampton Excelsiors has been printed in the Mann
Cup souvenir program. Realizing it would be of interest to our 
readers we publish it here.

  Lacrosse, Canada's National Game, is celebrating its 93rd birthday
this year, while in Brampton the Excelsior Lacrosse Club has been
operating for 89 years. Lacrosse in Brampton started just four years
after the first national association had been formed in the year of
Confederation 1867. Lacrosse inBrampton had its origin in the high 
school. George M. Lee, a teacher in Brampton at that time was the 
first president.

 The name 'Excelsior', proposed by Mrs. Lee and chosen by the club,
was taken from Longfellow's beautiful poem of that title, and as
you probably know, means 'more lofty, still higher, ever upwards.'

 Why has the Excelsior Lacrosse Club won success? How is it that
lacrosse is thriving in Brampton, when many are quick to say 
Canada's National Game is dying a slow death.

 Lacrosse is in the blood! For generation after generation, Brampton's
young men, sons succeeding fathers on championship teams, have 
followed the game. Days of victory have been followed by days of defeat,
and years of persevering effort and good sportsmanship have kept 
lacrosse alive.

 Brampton Excelsiors made their first bid for the coveted Mann Cup in
1914, but were not successful, losing to the Vancouver Athletics. It
was not until16 years later that the Brampton Excelsiors reached an
unprecedented goal which in 1930 they won the Mann Cup as senior
Canadian champions and Ontario Championships in the intermediate and
junior divisions.

FIRST MANN CUP
 Eddie Powers piloted the Excelsiors to their first Mann Cup defeating
New Westminster Salmonbellies at Varsity stadium. Twenty thousand
spectators watched the series.

 Members of Brampton's Mann Cup champions were George Sproule, Ollie Burton,
Stewart Beatty, Harold 'Mooney' Gibson, Bert Large, Gerald Kendall, George
Thompson, William O'Hearn, Albert Burry, De Forest Wilson, Ted Reeves, Cec
Stapleton, Norm Zimmer, Ernest Gowdy, Pete Ella, Elgin 'Oddie' Core, Claude
Jennings and Bert Powell. The Excelsiors successfully defended the crown in
1931.

 Brampton's second Mann Cup tgriumph came in 1942 when the Mimico-Brampton
Combines defeated New Westminster at Maple Leaf Gardens. They defeated the
Salmonbellies 10-9 in the final game. Playing with the champions were: Bert 
Large, Bill Arthurs, Jim Mulliss, George Masters, Bill Mulliss, Scoop Hayes,
Mickey McDonald, Gus Madsen, Ross Gimblett, Sandy Milne, Bill Isaacs, Arnold
'Onions' Smith, Ken Dixon, Scott McPhail, Fred Hatton, Gord McLean, Bill
Anthony, and Moe Thompson. Goalie Bert Large won the Mike Kelly award as the
outstanding player during the Mann Cup series. The Excelsiors returned to the
west coast in 1943, but lost to the Salmonbellies.

 NATIONAL SCALE
 Championship fever on a national scale was restored in 1952 when Carl Madgett,
current president of the OLA, coached the Excelsiors to their first Canadian
junior championship and the Minto Cup. Jack Bionda, winner of the Kelly award 
during the 1959 Mann Cup series, was first introced to the West as a member
of the Minto Cup squad.

 George Thompson, a member of both Ecxelsior Mann Cup contingents, guided the 
junior Excelsiors to a record setting three consecutive Canadian junior lacrosse
championships in '57, '58 and '59. He also coached the juniors to Eastern
Canadian title in 1956.

 This year the Excelsiors under coach Harvey Madgett were Eastern Canadian junior
finalists.

 Senior lacrosse returned to Brampton in 1957 after an absence of four years. The
squad began rebuilding with veterans from Minto Cup campaigns. The nucleus of 
Brampton's 1960 Excelsiors coached by Nick Ferri were former members of Minto Cup
teams.