[URBAN NOTE] "The Indianapolis-Scarborough Peace Games"

[rfmcdonald]

Torontoist's Chris Bateman describes an odd series of international sports, bringing together athletes from Scarborough and Indianapolis in a cross-border competition for more than forty years.

This is a cute idea, even if the genesis leaves me scratching my head. (Why Scarborough? Why Indianapolis? This does not seem like a natural, or at least inevitable, relationship. Chance goes in interesting directions.)

Despite their geographic and cultural differences, starting in 1973 close to 1,000 athletes from the borough of Scarborough and the U.S. city of Indianapolis participated in a recurring amateur sporting event in the name of friendship and goodwill.

The Scarborough-Indianapolis Peace Games—named in honour of the peace treaty that led to the end of the Vietnam War—were initiated by Gene McFadden, an Indianapolis urban planner and community development specialist, in October 1972.

McFadden was interested in finding a Canadian counterpart willing to compete in a multi-sport event similar to the Olympics, so he contacted George Churchill in Brantford, Ontario.

Churchill had helped organize a similar event between Brantford and Berrien County, Michigan, and, at McFadden’s request, he sent letters to several Canadian cities he thought would be interested in participating.

Scarborough Director of Recreation Jack Keay was first to respond, and he was keen.