From the beginning physical education and competitive sports have been an integral part of secondary education in Dryden.

The 1939 Athletic club organized activities in softball, horseshoes, volleyball, badminton and rugby. During the winter months, mat work and tumbling exercises were popular.

As early as 1939, the Dryden High badminton team traveled to Sioux Lookout to play a tournament against the Sioux Lookout Continuation school. Dryden hosted a return tournament a few weeks later. Each club won its home games.

One present day misconception is that European rugby was played in Dryden before North American football. In reality, it was North American football that was played, it was just called rugby.

Up to 1947 the students played touch rugby. Games were organized and played with teams formed from within the school.There were NO games organized against other schools. During the 1947-48 school year, full tackle rugby was introduced. Full tackling, hard line work with no equipment was the description used by the Argosy to describe this sport. Some common team names during this era were The Silver Six, The Bearcats and The Wolverines.

Other popular sports played during this time were curling, basketball, and volleyball.The boys did not play volleyball, and the girls did not play basketball.

The first recorded competition between Dryden and Kenora was a girls' volleyball game on Friday Novemeber 24th, 1947. Dryden sent two teams of twenty five girls to Kenora, a junior team and a senior team. The girls were accompanied by a group of Dryden cheerleaders. Dryden lost both matches, with a score of 13-53 (Seniors) and 21-49 (Juniors).

The first recorded competition between the Dryden and Kenora boys was a basketball game between the Dryden "All Stars" and the Kenora "Grads" on March 19, 1949. The boys won the game 52-42. The Dryden squad played a return match in Kenora on April 9, 1949 only to lose to the Kenora team in a score of 31-25.

Track and field was also very popular at the time. The track sports were popular because little equipment was needed. In 1948 a track meet was organized between Dryden and Sioux Lookout. Dryden won that meet easily. Javelin and high jump were the most popular events.

In 1949, Dryden was admitted to a track and field league composed of Kenora, Fort Francis and Rainy River. Don Austin was trying to organize a meet between these teams, but the spring of 1949 was very rainy and the field was flooded in Kenora. So Harry McMaster hastily organized the meet in Dryden. The games were played in the field that is now occupied by the fair grounds. Though the competition was tough, Dryden did win the event.

In 1950, the next track and field meet was held in Rainy River The results were closer, but again Dryden proved to be victorious.

The 1948-49 school year also saw a curling team do very well. The DHS rink, composed of Omar Cook, Ray Cook, Duncan Mawby and Jim Cox competed in the Eaton event held in Port Arthur, and won four straight games. The team also competed in the Bryer event, which involved teams from Fort William, Port Arthur and Atikokan. Winning two games and losing only one game, entitled the Dryden team to become the Northwestern Ontario champions, and earned them the right to participate in the Dominion (all Canada) tournament held in Edmonton in February 1949.

One cold morning, the four teenagers, chaperoned by Mr. Gordon Wood, boarded an early morning train to travel to Edmonton. After the first round robin tournament, it was a three way tie between Dryden, Saskatchewan and Alberta. All three rinks were victorious in all their games. In the second tournament, Dryden lost to the North West Territories and ended up placing second in a tie with Manitoba. Nevertheless, the Dryden team had the satisfaction of being the only team that year to have defeated the Saskatchewan champions. Mr. Wood was present for every game to enthusiastically support the Dryden teens. In fact, Mr. Wood gained a reputation at that tournament as being one of the most boisterous supporters of any team.

Omar Cook remembers the tournament as exhausting. Due to the numerous games that had to be played each day, Omar commented that his arms and hands tired greatly and he was relieved when it was all over.

Upon the team's return to Dryden, the community gave the four teenagers a royal welcome. They were awarded gold watches from the town and white curling sweaters from the Dryden Paper mill.


Click here to learn more about DHS's curling accomplishments

By the mid 1950s football games between Dryden and Kenora were a regular event. It is of interest to note that many of the early games ended with scores of 60-0 in favour of the Kenora teams. Though the scores were lopsided in Kenora's favour, it was not because of better training or more skilled players. Rather Kenora did not have in place any academic eligibility requirements. Anyone of any age could play on the Kenora teams whereas the Dryden team required students to be enrolled at school in order to play on the football team. When Kenora put into effect a similar rule, the final scores between the two teams were more balanced.