By ARLIE KELLER - Toronto Star - 3/5/1974
The Toronto Tomahawks will open their home season at Maple Leaf Gardens Tuesday, May 22. “Tomahawks” is the name given this city’s entry in the new professional National Lacrosse League which also has teams in Montreal, Largo, Md., between Washington and Baltimore, Philadelphia, Rochester and Syracuse.
Tomahawks are owned by Bruce Norris, chairman of the board of governors of the National Hockey League and owner of the Detroit Red Wings hockey club.
The Toronto entry, which will play 20 home games at Maple Leaf Gardens, has signed lacrosse veteran Jim Bishop, executive vice-president of the Wings, as general manager and coach. Bob Hanna, coach of Toronto Shooting Stars in the Ontario Lacrosse Association Senior League last season, is the assistant coach.
RED HOT? The Tomahawks will wear red pants and a red sweater with a V-shaped white streak from the shoulders. Team symbol is an Indian holding a tomahawk on a background of the letter T and a sun.
President of the NLL is G. T. Spence Lyons, a Toronto lawyer who was the vice-president of the old National Lacrosse Association, a pro loop that lasted one year, 1968. Norris said he put a club in Toronto, rather than Detroit, for a number of reasons. “First, because there would be little or no exposure of the sport in Detroit where the sport is not popular.
Second, we wanted two Canadian teams in the league. Lacrosse is extremely popular in Ontario and Toronto,” he said. The NLA never was a success with the fans, but Bishop is confident the NLL will be.
TALENT POOL: “Lacrosse is an exciting sport,” he stated. “We have the right people and the financial backing necessary to be successful. We will create a new image for lacrosse with new faces and promotion.”
“There are 250,000 players in the 10 provinces,” said Bishop. “Field lacrosse is also played in 150 U.S. colleges, graduating 1,400 seniors a year. We expect 30 per cent of the players in the NLL to come from U.S. colleges.”
He added that 20 per cent of the players are expected to come from British Columbia and 30 to 40 per cent from Ontario. Bishop said the contracts of 300 players have been bought by the league and that draft for these players will be held later this month.
All NLL games will be played on wooden floors, rather than cement. “There’ll be no trouble adapting,” said Bishop. “And U.S. college players will have little trouble moving to the indoor game.”
Bishop refused to reveal the salaries players would get, but said “they will be comparable with what Canadian players in the Canadian Football League are paid.”
Bishop realizes there are problems facing the pro league. “In Toronto, I think the main problem is convincing people the league and the Tomahawks are for real. We are starting from a positive base, with solid backing and experienced people running the team and the league. We intend to be a success,” he said.
Bishop, 45, coached Oshawa Green Gaels to the Canadian junior championship for seven consecutive years, from 1963-69. He also coached Detroit to the NLA title in 1968 and coached Windsor Warlocks to Senior B crowns in 1970 and 1971.
It was also revealed yesterday that CHCH (Channel 11) will televise 20 Tomahawk games with Norm Marshall doing the play-by-play. Ticket prices for the Toronto games will be $3, $4 and $5. Season tickets are available, along with group rates.
