August 2025
Today, it’s an empty, overgrown field. However, just nine short years ago, this was the sports field for Barrie Central Collegiate, in Barrie, Ontario, as it had since 1951. Known as Red Storey Field, the sports field named after Canadian Sports Hall of Fame winner and Barrie native Alvin “Red” Storey.
Generations of Barrie Central Collegiate students and community teams engaged in sporting activities such as rugby, football, soccer and track and field activities on Red Storey Field. Like many things in our cities and towns, things change as time marches on.
Barrie Central closed in June 2016 and was demolished the following year. Red Storey Field was originally sold to HIP Developments as a part of the collegiate property, but was returned to the city two years later in a land swap deal.
The city maintained the field, a a granular track, a natural turf football field, until 2018 as a community sports field, but it sits abandoned as the city seeks viable re-development proposals for the former school land.
The goal posts were dismantled by a group of school alumni, staff and students, and cut up into souvenir pieces for them.
The Man Behind The Name
Roy Alvin “Red” Storey was born in Barrie on 5 March 1918 and during his life, would go on to a successful sporting career, playing football, hockey, lacrosse and baseball.
Storey attended Barrie Collegiate Institute, later known as Barrie Central Collegiate, where he was a star athlete. After graduation, Storey was worked in a rail yard, but later accepted an offer to play football with the Toronto Argonauts from 1936 to 1941, winning Grey Cup championships in 1937 and 1938.
It was during the 1938 Grey Cup game, playing against Winnipeg, that Storey scored three touchdowns in twelve minutes, all in the forth quarter, giving the Argos the victory. Offers from NFL teams the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears came in after the win, but Storey declined them, not wanting to leave Canada. He later retired due to a knee injury.
The multi-talented Storey also played lacrosse with the Orillia Terriers, then with the Hamilton Tigers in 1941, Lachine in 1942 and 1943 and the Montreal Canadiens lacrosse team in 1946. In hockey, Storey played for the River Vale Skeeters, of the Eastern Amateur Hockey League, in New Jersey, in 1941, and then with the International League Montreal Royals baseball team, late in the 1941-42 season. He also received an offer to play baseball with the Philadelphia of the American League.
Off the field, Storey also worked as a referee for football and lacrosse, starting in the mid-1940s. Storey also worked as a National Hockey League referee from 1950 until 1959. He resigned after officiating Game 6 of the Stanley Cup semi-final on 4 April 1959, between the Montreal Canadiens and the Chicago Black Hawks, a game which Montreal won, following criticism of two calls from NHL president Clarence Campbell. Campbell felt that they should have been called as penalties against the Canadiens. Following his retirement from the NHL, Storey remained active in oldtimers’ games and worked as a TV commentator.
Storey had numerous awards and honours bestowed on him over his lifetime. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1967, the Barrie Sports Hall of Fame in 1985, the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1986, and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.
Storey was also made a Member of the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian award, in 1991. He was also awarded the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal in 1992 and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002.
Alvin “Red” Storey died after a lengthy illness in Montreal on 15 March 2006, at the age of 88.
Sources: https://www.barrietoday.com/rooted/red-storey-field-goal-posts-coming-down-as-barrie-central-keepsakes-2686170, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Storey, Barrie Central developer working with city on what to keep, what to build (11 photos) – Barrie News, Barrie Central sold, field returns to city’s hands, History – Major Series Lacrosse, Montreal Royals – Wikipedia, River Vale Skeeters – Wikipedia.
