08-01 Water Polo

When you look back on your life, there are always experiences you never forget. And for me, playing Water Polo for the University of Toronto was one of them.
The photograph of our 1954-1955 team is a wonder to behold – so many great guys who all made their mark in this world. Paul Richards, second from the right at the front, was a childhood chum who brought me into the sport. And for two years we played on the Intermediate Team, moving to the Senior Team for our last two years. Most of these chaps were medical and engineering students. There are seven players on a team including the goaltender. That was the position I played.
It is a tough sport. You train for two months before engaging in regulation games. There were university leagues only in Ontario and Quebec. You have to be in great shape and able to tread water without using your hands. It is also a rough game. A lot of the nasty stuff is done underwater where it can’t be seen by the referee. We wore helmets and customized bathing suits, with the strength and consistency of concrete. Dirty play above water led to fouls. If it was a major foul, like dunking someone under water, the offender was thrown out of the pool. That is when a lot of the scoring took place.
Missing in the photo was Bibi Stipetic, the star of the team from Hungary, who taught all of us tactics and skills that even our coach was unaware of. I asked Bibi to give me his background in water polo back home in Hungary. He said that he played in a major league but could not make the Hungarian Olympic team. He said they were the best in the world, but he did swim for Hungary in the Olympics.
We graduated in 1956 and later that year, because of Bibi, I was emotionally pulled into an international story that involved the Hungarian Team playing at the Melbourne Olympics in December. It was only a month earlier that Russia had invaded Hungary, and the players on the Hungarian Team fled to Czechoslovakia to train. So when Hungary played Russia on December 6th, it became an international news story. Hungary beat Russia 4-0. They made a documentary and a feature movie tied to the account of that historic game.
Both Paul and I received our First Letter from the University of Toronto in 1956 as a recognition of excellence as members of the Varsity Blues team for two years.