The 1976-1977 Acadia men’s basketball team capped a landmark season by winning the school’s third CIAU (now CIS) national basketball championship. The 1970s were a time of some controversy in Canadian university sport, and especially in men’s basketball, with the rule that CIAU teams could only have three foreign-trained players on their rosters. Though unpopular with Atlantic conference schools that had for years relied heavily on U.S .- born and trained players, this rule has proven, in hindsight, to be a landmark in the development of university basketball in Nova Scotia Today, it is not unusual to see AUS teams with several, often a majority, Maritime-born and trained players on their rosters. The 1976-1977 Axemen had their three permitted Americans-Ed Shannon, from Worcester, MA; Alvin Jessamy, from Yonkers, NY; and freshman Doug Roberts from Rumford, ME. The rest of the roster was not only Canadian, but included eight Nova Scotians-an unprecedented number for that era-plus a ninth player, Bruce Hunt, who played high school ball at Horton. The list included Gordie West of Liverpool and Robert Upshaw of Lower Sackville, both of whom started most Axemen games that season, plus freshman Ted Upshaw of Windsor, a future all-Canadian, who was first off the bench.

Other valuable reserves included Tony Aker of Kentville, Al Oliver of Milton, Steve Johnson of Yarmouth, Eric Skinner of Amherst, John Archibald of Milford, Bruce Hunt of Wolfville, Norm Whynot of Mahone Bay and Bruce Toigo of Mississauga, ON, the lone non-Nova Scotian. The team was ably coached by the late Richard (Dick) Hunt, assisted by Peter Leighton, Don Crosby and John Townsend, and manager Liz Raaymakers. Playing arguably one of the toughest schedules in Canada that season, the Axemen finished with an impressive 25-5 record in conference and exhibition play. They won their own Acadia Invitational tournament, the Atlantic conference championship, and the CIAU national crown.

Following a four-game losing skid early in the season, the team won 23 of its final 24 games, including a string of 16 straight wins culminating in the national title. This included wins over St. F.X. and UPEI to capture the conference title, and victories over UPEI (88-70), Waterloo (65-53) and finally Lakehead 72-63 in the national final Game. One of the memorable moments for Acadia fans in the final was 5’9″ Gordie West driving the lane and drawing a fifth foul on Lakehead’s 7’1″ centre Jim Zoet.

Not only were the 1976-1977 Axemen one of the strongest teams of their era, they won a national title, and remain one of just three AUS schools to have done so-all more than once. Moreover, at a time when it was just beginning to be realized that Nova Scotians could indeed play basketball as well as anyone, the lion’s share of this team was born, and trained, here in Nova Scotia. The accomplishments of this Acadia team not only brought national attention to Nova Scotia, it helped pave the way for Nova Scotian-born and trained players to be taken more seriously by AUS coaches when doing their recruiting.

Team Members include: Tony Aker, John Archibald, Don Crosby (assistant coach), Bruce Hunt, Dick Hunt (coach), Alvin Jessamy, Stephen Johnson, Peter Justason (trainer), Peter Leighton (assistant coach), Al Oliver, Liz (Raaymakers) Popowich (manager), Doug Roberts, Ed Shannon (co-captain), Eric Skinner, John Thompson, Bruce Toigo, John Townsend (assistant coach), Robert Upshaw (co-captain), Ted Upshaw, Gordie West (co-captain), Norman Whynot.

Bio courtesy of John DeCoste