Quick now. How many medals have Mississaugans won at the Olympics? How many at the Commonwealth Games? How many at the Pan-Am Games?
I'm willing to guess that there's only one man in Mississauga who could supply the answer to those questions without spending the next couple of weeks on the Internet and in the library.
That would be Mike Toth, the long-time sports editor of The Mississauga Times and The Mississauga News.
Toth has done every sports fan and history buff in this city a huge favour with the publication of a new book called Birth To Millennium: Mississauga's Sports Heritage.
It's a book that, quite frankly, only Mike could have done justice.
(Here's the point where I declare my bias. Mike was my first boss at The Times some 30...hm...hm..hmm years ago and he's been a friend ever since.)
"Those were the days and that was my time," said the allegedly-retired 67-year-old, referring to the period of 1974-2000 that formed the original frame for the book. "That's when I saw it all happen."
Toth always had the newsman's best habit of being in the right place at the right time. For instance, Mike and the official Olympic photographer were the only two standing at waters' edge at the finish in 1976 in Montreal when John Wood lost a gold medal in Olympic canoeing by 35-hundredths of a second. The picture Mike took forms the background for the striking wrap-around cover of his book, which was designed by Streetsville graphic artist and Ward 2 Peel District School Board Trustee Don Stephens.
Toth also made the rough ride across Lake Ontario when Debbie Roach conquered the Lake. "I'll never forget. She did the butterfly for the past 100 metres."
Roach went to a party to celebrate. Toth was too sick to do anything but moan.
What started out as a chronicle of the years Mike worked at the local papers thankfully turned into a lot more as the project unfolded over a dozen years. A heritage and arts buff (he's president of the Toronto Operetta Society), the Hungarian-born Toth discovered a treasure-trove of deep sporting roots when he started doing some research.
Who knew, for instance, that baseball, imported by a couple of New Yorkers, was thriving in Streetsville just 20 years after Abner Doubleday made up the rules.
"We played it before many of the American states," said Toth.
Baseball had a tough time beating out a sport which was being played in Streetsville as far back as the 1860s. That would, of course, be cricket, by jiminey. Among the enthusiasts were several stalwarts of the town, including postmaster Robert Graydon and Robert Barber, for whom Barbertown was named.
As well as providing a year-by-year chronology from 1974-2000 filled with photos from The News' files, the book reproduces the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame roster. You can guess who wrote the biographies for all of the members, with the exception of himself.
Toth has also created an "Off The Beaten Track" section that puts the spotlight on those who are the real heartbeat of sports in any community, the men and women who run the clubs, hold the fundraisers, coach, and keep it all together with baling wire and love. People like Alex Bard (gymnastics), Fran Rider (women's hockey) Sam Riddell (soccer), and Art Wood and Charlie Patterson whose work on the mouth guard and face mask literally changed the course of Canada's game.
There's also a section on the remarkable contribution of women to sport in Mississauga (and we don't just mean Silken Laumann.) It turns out the Ladies Bicycle Club in 1898 was the earliest examples of female clubs in the area.
This book is nothing if not comprehensive and it simply wouldn't have gotten done if Toth hadn't been willing to put thousands of hours of personal effort into it.
The author, who knows his family politics pretty well, also wants to make sure that the copy editor gets due credit.
"She cut me down to size quite often," says Mike.
That's what wives are for. Edna Toth, former Mississauga Library communications person and a lifelong learner who's still at UTM raising hell like any university student in her 70s should be, edited the book, apparently without substantial damage to the marriage.
The book sells for $43. The first printing is a fundraiser for The Mississauga News Santa Claus Fund.
You can get an autographed copy next Tuesday at the launch at the Mississauga Sports Week kickoff at the Delta Meadowvale at 7:30 a.m. Toth will also be signing for Heritage Mississauga's offices at The Grange's Olympic exhibit 7-9 p.m. Feb. 23, from 6:30-7:15 p.m. before the IceDogs Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame game Feb. 24, and all day Saturday Feb. 25 in the centre court at Square One, as part of the Sports Camp and Leisure Show.
By the way, there were seven Mississaugans who picked up medals before 1974, going back to the first, Hugh Plaxton, who got gold in hockey in 1928 in St. Moritz. Since 1974, we've won eight gold, nine silver and seven bronze.
Our haul in the Commonwealth Games: 26 gold, 13 silver and nine bronze. In the Pan Ams, it's 35 gold, 18 silver and 12 bronze.