(Photo: some members of our Golf Pool look on as the defending champion hands the trophy over to the new one - an annual tradition)

 

 

One of my uncles, Ken Totzke, passed away recently.

 

He gave me my first job - working at his Kwiki Minit Market variety store on King Street in Waterloo.

 

It was across the street from the KFC where Ethel's Lounge stands today. More importantly, it was close to the Harmony Lunch where I could snag one of their legendary burgers if circumstances allowed.

 

I started at two dollars an hour and was pretty thrilled when I got my first raise to $2.05.

 

Among other things, Uncle Ken was a big sports fan and no sport interested him more than golf. He played often with my Aunt Nancy and at various times was a member at Beaverdale Golf Club in Cambridge and Dundee Country Club in New Dundee.

 

He was also - along with my brother Dan, my late Uncle Richard and myself - one of four founding fathers of our annual Totzke family golf tournament.

 

I'm not sure why but back in the day, my brother and I thought we could take on our two uncles in golf despite these glaring facts: they were better; they were more experienced and more knowledgeable about the game; they played more regularly; and…did I mention they were better?

 

No matter how many strokes they gave us, no matter what course we chose for some assumed advantage and no matter which format we used (we switched from stroke play to match play over time), we lost more often than we won. And sometimes it wasn't pretty.

 

Who knows why but one particular year, we foolishly agreed to a side bet of sorts whereby the losers would make a presentation to the winners in front of the extended family at our annual summer gathering.

 

To no one's surprise, we had to do the presenting so we grabbed a pair of cheap toy trophies from the Kwiki store that stood all of two inches high and in an effort to camouflage our wounded pride, made a good-natured mockery of the "formal" presentation.

 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the Totzke Trophy for golf was born.

 

Over the years, the tiny trophies were replaced by one larger one and the field was expanded to other family members.

 

The number of participants each year vary (I believe as many as 15 different relatives have taken part over time including my sons and late father) but the tradition continues.

 

This summer was our 38th year.

 

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I often wonder how certain traditions get started.

 

As a high school student in the seventies, I went to a lot of Waterloo Warriors mens basketball games and at the beginning of their home games, it was traditional to stand up and clap in unison until they scored their first basket.

 

In those days, the stands were full, the team was nationally ranked and the Warriors pep band played loudly and proudly until that first hometown hoop made its mark. Foul shots didn't count - had to be a field goal.

 

It was fun. It was unique to U of W. And no matter how long that first basket took, the fans faithfully kept it going. One of those years, they kept it going all the way to early spring and a national championship on their home court.

 

I don't know how the standing hand clap got started at Waterloo and I don't know how or when it ended.

 

I just know that it was pretty cool while it lasted.

 

Every bit as cool and then some, is the annual Teddy Bear toss at a Kitchener Rangers home game.

 

On a designated night in December, fans bring a new or gently used teddy bear (or other stuffed animal) and throw it on to the ice after the Rangers score their first goal. Many fans bring more than just one.

 

The toys are then donated to a local charity. In 2018, a total of 10,630 teddy bears hit the ice - a new record.

 

In fact, there were so many that after distributing them to local organizations such as the Lions Club of Kitchener, the House of Friendship, Salvation Army K-W, Samaritan's Purse, Kidsability and Possibilities International, the Rangers had to put out a plea for other charitable groups to come to the Auditorium to pick up some bears before the holiday season got underway.

 

I sheepishly admit that I've never been to a Rangers game on Teddy Bear Toss night but that will change this year.

 

On December 10, 2019 this fabulous tradition will celebrate its 25th year and I will be in attendance loaded for bear.

 

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Whether they're practiced locally or in some intimate way or celebrated and ballyhooed on an international scale, traditions abound.

 

As a basketball official who's inside of high schools quite often, I still see male athletes wearing ties on game day, something we did at Eastwood Collegiate a million years ago. My buddy Mick Kozlowski and I put our own personal spin on it and starting wearing bow ties on sports days - the clip-on kind of course.

 

It was a fun thing to do and some teammates joined in but the anticipated female attention we hoped would come with, never materialized.

 

As football coaches at SJAM, we always had breakfast together on game days at Jack's Restaurant nearby. I'm not sure it helped win any more games but it helped bond us junior and senior coaches together a bit more and I'm always up for bacon and eggs anyway.

 

On the big stage, no professional event has more traditions attached to it than The Masters golf tournament. Even the television network that carries it, CBS, uses the tag line: "A tradition like no other…The Masters."

 

The Green Jacket. The par 3 contest on Wednesday. The Champion's dinner. Butler Cabin. The opening tee shots that have been passed on from Gene Sarazen and Byron Nelson to Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and until recently, the late great Arnold Palmer.

 

All great stuff.

 

I love that hockey does a 3-star selection and that the captain wears a "C".

 

I love the wearing of all-whites and the downing of strawberries and cream at Wimbledon.

 

I love baseball's everyday-without-fail ceremonial opening pitch and its seventh inning stretch. The singing of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" at Wrigley and "Sweet Caroline" at Fenway Park. The umpire calling out "play ball" to get things underway. And the eerie silence that surrounds a pitcher as he works on a no-hitter.

 

There's an understated comfort in knowing that hot dogs will always be available and the game will never end in a tie as you root, root, root for the home team.

 

If these traditions were to end, it really would be a shame.

 

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Traditions have the power to motivate participants, engage spectators and generally bring people closer together.

 

They're a nod to the past that connects to the present.

 

I'd hazard a guess that as you read this piece, many of you thought about some of your own sporting traditions: an annual road trip; the family croquet grudge match in the backyard; tickets for the home opener of your favourite team; a spirited game of hearts at the cottage.

 

You may have even thought of ones having nothing at all to do with sports or competition.

 

Like Grandma's butter tarts at the family picnic, going for a group walk on a colourful Thanksgiving day, reading a certain special book on Christmas Eve or picking out new clothes for the first day of school.

 

Our family golf tradition started with two little trinkets from my Uncle Ken's store and a silly grudge match.

 

Now we're closing in on four decades of wonderful memories.