Ken Hodge’s friends in the Yellow Jackets Motorcycle Club of Georgetown kept telling him he should race.
Hodge kept resisting, largely because he didn’t want to risk damaging his prized Norton motorcycle. Finally, he relented, figuring by the time the next race rolled around, his friends would have forgotten.
But then they told him about a race at an old air force base near Jarvis, Ont. in two weeks. Now there was no backing out.
“I had never even seen a road race before,” Hodge said.
His brother Don helped prepare his bike for the race and when the day arrived, the novice racer surprised everyone by taking the checkered flag.
It would become a common sight. By the end of the year, he’d won so many times on his way to the Ontario championship that he was presented with his pro racing licence, skipping the senior level, which usually came between amateur and pro.
Hodge Racing would continue its successful ways over the next three seasons, but in 1969, Ken had to choose between a ride with a U.S.-based team or an apprenticeship with Georgetown Hydro. He chose the apprenticeship and worked for next 31 years as a lineman, line foreman and line supervisor.
But he never shook the racing bug.
In 1979, when a vintage class was created, the Hodge brothers reunited their team. Ken drove to victory in his first race back and won the class at the end of the year. It would issue in a dominating 25-year run of success that would highlight Hodge Brothers Racing's induction into the Halton Hills Sports Hall of Fame along with Kevin Burke, Ilio Marzo and Dave Mills.
In 1981, Ken was invited to race at the AMA Daytona Invitational Grand Prix. That same year he won the MAX Award, recognizing achievement in vintage road racing.
Ken said he and his brother made a perfect team and his brother’s work on the bike gave him confidence when he was riding.
“When I’d fire that bike, he’d give me a nod,” he said. “I never had to think, did he do this? Did he tighten that? That makes all the difference in the world.”
There would be two more MAX Awards in 1985 and 1989 and a Rider of the Year Award in 1988. Hodge Racing captured at least one class title every year from 1979 to 1990.
Ken’s son David would join the team in 1990.
“I built him a bike when he was 15, but I told him, ‘If you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it,’” Ken said. “It’s dangerous and you can get hurt badly.”
There was no need to worry. David won the open vintage class in his first year and was named the top amateur teenage road racer in the country.
The Halton Hills Sports Hall of Fame induction will take place June 6.
KEVIN BURKE
Kevin Burke was the driving force behind the creation of the Georgetown Eagles.
A house league coach, who previously pitched and played outfield in the Intercounty Baseball League, Burke saw players with the ability to play at a higher level. For three years, he organized extra practices and developed players while working toward a Georgetown entry in the Halton County rep league.
Needing a lighted diamond, he led a fundraising campaign to have light standards installed at the Fairgrounds.
“It is my hope that this will be the foundation for good baseball in the future, where the boys coming up can look forward to playing competitive ball,” he told the Georgetown Independent in 1982.
That first Georgetown Eagles team would reach the Ontario Baseball Association final, where they were edged in the bottom of the ninth by St. Catharines for the provincial title.
“Kevin Burke’s love for baseball and desire to share the game with others was a lifelong passions,” said Mike Friskney, a former Eagles captain. “Without his commitment, baseball in Georgetown wouldn’t be what it is today.”
Burke continued to coach for 10 more years, helping players develop their skills.
The hardball diamond at the Georgetown Fairgrounds is now named in his honour and awards are named for him for the Georgetown Eagles and Harrison Public School.
ILIO MARZO
Ilio Marzo’s hockey career was just taking off when he was drafted into the Canadian army in 1942.
He first played junior hockey at the age of 14, against players as much as four years older than him, because it was the only league in town. Known for his blinding speed and ability to deliver clutch goals, Marzo led the Acton Tanners to the all-Ontario Intermediate B championship in 1939.
The following season he was signed by the Stratford Majors of the Michigan-Ontario Hockey League before moving on to the Eastern Hockey League’s Baltimore Orioles.
Playing for the EHL’s Johnstown Bluebirds in the 1941/42 season, Marzo scored 30 goals and had 62 points in 60 games. That caught the attention of the Hershey Bears of American Hockey League, the top minor-league.
The Bears, who had been to the league final the previous two years, signed Marzo to a C-form, guaranteeing him a spot on the team for the 1942/43 season.
Marzo would never play for Hershey, though. He was drafted to the Canadian army and stationed in British Columbia, where he played in the army league. After the war, he returned to Acton and played intermediate hockey, earning Ontario Hockey Association MVP honours in 1948.
DAVID MILLS
When injuries prevented Dave Mills from playing the game he loved, he found another way to stay involved.
In addition to coaching Acton Minor Ball and being part of the executive, he started umpiring. He assisted in starting a junior umpire program all while excelling behind the plate himself. He served as a zone umpire-in-chief for Softball Ontario before becoming provincial deputy umpire-in-chief. He held that position for eight years before becoming the fastpitch provincial umpire-in-chief from 2015-2017.
He worked his first of five Canadian championships in 2003, most recently umpiring at the senior men’s Canadian championship in 2018. He has also been the supervising umpire in chief at six Softball Canada championships between 2014-19.
Mills earned Level 5 certification, the highest level available in Canada. He has also worked as an instructor and Softball Canada junior development clinics for Level 1, 2 and 3.
Mills received a Softball Canada award for his contributions made to umpiring in Canada, as well Softball Ontario Awards for instruction and evaluation excellence and for dedication to the Softball Ontario program.
He continues to umpire college, university, local and provincial events.
