Enjoy another edition of Developing Athletes: St. Catharines Youngsters on Film, a companion blog series to our exhibition of the same name on display in the Lockview Lounge at the St. Catharines Museum, June 2026-July 2028.

First United Church Junior Girls Basketball, 1938

The St. Catharines and District Church Basketball Association was an incredibly popular organization of junior and senior boys’ and girls’ basketball teams representing churches across the city. The association was the culmination of church basketball competition beginning in the early 1920s with teams playing at the old Queen Street YMCA until many churches added gyms to their church hall complexes.  

This creative team photo shows members of the First United Church Junior Girls Basketball Team in 1938 which won their division title that year. Pictured (left to right) are M. Rudge, W. Rudge, M. Bowers, M. Emmett, B. Neil, N. Elliott, B. Armstrong, J. Beard, President Charles Day, and Coach Lawrence Eberhardt. 

Adrian Petry is a public historian, Visitor Services Coordinator, and curator of the Developing Athletes exhibition.