Lawrence "Bill" LeNeve
(1916 - 2007)

Lawrence "Bill" LeNeve participated in numerous team and individual sports in Sarnia during the 1930's and 1940's.  A gifted athlete, he set records and won championships in track and field, baseball, rugby and hockey.

In 1932, Bill set the Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical School's intermediate high jump record of five feet, three inches.  In football, he was a halfback with the Sarnia Crescents, who won the 1935 Junior City Rugby League Championship with an undefeated record of 10 - 0.

In hockey, Bill organized, coached and played for the Bearcats, a team that pulled off one of the most remarkable upsets in the history of Sarnia sports during the 1936-1937 Junior City Hockey League Championship series;  facing the heavily-favored Silverwood Dairies' team that had gone undefeated during the season, the Bearcats won the title in a stunning three-game sweep.

In the sport of baseball, Bill was a pitcher and outfielder with a number of teams in the Junior Ontario Baseball Association and the Michigan-Ontario League.  In Sarnia, Bill played for the Juniors, a team that captured a City League title in a grueling five-game series against the London Road Tigers  After his playing days ended, Bill became a coach for a teen league in Kitchener in the late 1940's.

In 1949, Bill and his family left Ontario and moved to Michigan, where Bill became an avid fisherman and golfer and continued collecting accolades.  When a fishing trip with photographer Joe LePage resulted in Bill catching one of the largest Muskies ever recorded in Lake St. Clair, Bill was featured on Michigan Outdoors, the long-running television program hosted by Mort Neff.  As a golfer, Bill's achievements included winning the scoring title in a 1966 league sponsored by the Chrysler Corporation.  He continued to play the latter sport well into his 80's.