The eighty-first installment of Legends of the Game is from the “Legends of our Game” magazine from 1993, put together by the Committee of OLA Jr. “A” governors.
This article is on Brian Bellows.
Brian had a short but impressive lacrosse career. Don Baker, a respected lacrosse player and minor coach, was quoted in 1976 as saying, “Brian Bellows is the best minor lacrosse player I have ever seen.”
Brian was captain and leading scorer of two Canadian Championship teams. In 1976 he was on the Peewee team which won the Nationals in St. Catharines and in 1978 the Bantam team which won the Nationals in Thompson, Manitoba. The Peewee team lost only one game, while the bantams played 50 games and went undefeated in a perfect season. Brian was a tremendous leader, dedicated to improving himself and the team.
Like so many of our games great players, Brian also was a two sport star and this caused his lacrosse career to be cut short. To this day he still says that if he could have made a living playing lacrosse he would still be playing.
Brian has a trophy in St. Catharines named after him for minor lacrosse and has done promotional work to benefit lacrosse. He was also the first NHL player to lend his name to the World Field Lacrosse Championships in Toronto.
Brian’s hockey career has been no less spectacular. He has used many of his earlier athletic skills to have a long and productive National Hockey League career. Truly a Legend of the Game.
*Of note…
Brian was drafted 2nd overall in the 1982 NHL draft. His career lasted from 1982-1999 playing for five NHL teams, amassing 485 Goals, and 537 assists in 1188 games.
Gary Groob has been involved with Lacrosse for the majority of his life, whether playing, coaching, or covering the sport for the media.
An avid fan, with a real drive about helping to “grow the game”, Gary became part of podcasts about the game in 2010. Through the podcasts, Mr. Groob was given an opportunity to write about lacrosse, and the rest as they say, is history.
Through many miles (flying and driving) Gary has made inroads with the National Lacrosse League, Major Series Lacrosse League, the Ontario Lacrosse Association, as well as the Arena Lacrosse League, covering the leagues, their teams, and players, working for, and in concert with all of them.
In the year 2020, Mr. Groob was made the media person for the Arena Lacrosse League, voted onto the board of directors of the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club, as well as being made administrator of the Lacrosse page “Global Lacrosse” with a membership of 9000 members in over 90 Countries. Gary was also made an administrator of Lacrosse History Past Present and Future in 2022.
Mr. Groob co-hosts a weekly Lacrosse show on Spanglish Sports World, and ZingoTV channel 250, as well as writes a weekly lacrosse column for La Portada Canada News (both in print, and online).
Gary also hosts a Lacrosse talk show and podcast for The Edge of Philly Sports Network, seen live Sunday nights at 9pm (ET), and archived on the Edge of Philly YouTube page, as well as Spotify.
Mr. Groob’s other sports interests include Hockey, Football, Boxing, Wrestling, and Baseball, competing competitively in Boxing and Wrestling for many years.
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