Niagara Falls needs help identifying players from 1936 championship basketball team

Niagara Falls wants to induct the 1935-1936 Niagara Falls Anglicans Women’s Basketball Team onto their Sport Wall of Fame in January but have run into a bit of a jam under the net.

The city isn’t sure of who the players are in the old picture so that they can be correctly identified. Also, the city is eager to invite any living members of the women involved to the ceremony.

There isn’t a lot of information about the team but there is some.

The Anglican Women won the Ontario Intermediate Church Championship with a final score of 27-26 over the Toronto Silverthorns in April 1936. According to the local sportswriter, the title game was “one of the most exciting contents ever played in Niagara Falls.”

Some of the women are identified through their full name, others just by a last name. What was reported: “Forward Vida Russ and Guard Edith Dunk led the winning team with 9 and 4 points, respectively. Other team members were Forward McKay with 4 points, Centre Preston with 2 points, Guard Chambers with 6 points,  Subs Upton with 2 points, and Mann, Grant, and Bruce. The Head Coach was Bert Jennings, and the Manager was Louis Carter.”

Based on their ages in the photo – in their early 20s – it’s safe to assume they would have had children in the 1940s and grandchildren in the 1970s. Some artifacts about the team are below.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Beth Angle, Niagara Falls Manager of Recreation & Programs at [email protected].

The championship team, up top, a sports report lower left and a championship badge, lower right.