In the late 1970’s the city of Saint John had two leagues. There was a local league run by Steve White and Butch Cogswell at UNBSJ plus two local senior (i.e. Intermediate ‘A’) teams that played in a provincial league based out of Fredericton.
The local teams consisted primarily of former high school players from the greater Saint John area and former College and University players no longer interested in playing senior. The two senior teams consisted of mostly ex-University players. The Harbour City Celtics were led by former National Team player and UNB standout, Rod Cox while the Saint John Mooseheads were led by Tom McGratten.
In 1984-1985 many of the senior players were losing interest in traveling around the province. Faced with declining numbers the Celtics and Mooseheads were forced to combine into a single team. That team operated under several names over the years, eventually becoming The Mayans. Two original members of that team were Paul Vaughan and Rod Cox.
With more senior players looking for a place to play locally, Steve White decided to establish a new men’s league that would be more competitive. This new league, which is the league that continues to operate today, was formerly known as the Moosehead Men’s Basketball League. The biggest changes with the new league was it only accepted team registrations and played its games at Saint John High School which was a major facility upgrade than the previous league.
This new league proved to be very popular with the best players in the Saint John area. Butch Cogswell entered his Saint John Atlantics team, which was a perennial provincial powerhouse team. The Mayans (operating as the Alpines at the time) also joined the league (they continued to play in Petiticodiac league as well) plus Troy Merry formed a third team consisting of players who had previously played in the Fredericton city league. Finally, the top players from the former NBCCSJ league formed a fourth team.
Over the years the league continued to grow in popularity expanding to as many as 10 teams during the late 1990’s. Even as the league expanded, the earlier years ultimately ended with the Mayans and the Atlantics battling in the championship game. Not only were these the two best teams in the city, they were two of the top three teams in the province along with Petiticodiac. On many occasion, the Mayans and the Atlantics faced each other in the city league championships and again during the Intermediate ‘A’ provincial finals.
In 1993 Paul Vaughan took over as president and Butch Cogswell filled the role of Vice President of the league when Steve White moved to Moncton for work. One significant change at this time was moving the league to Sunday nights instead of the traditional Tuesday/Thursday format. Moving to Sunday proved to be very popular, especially with players with young families and those who had to travel for work.
Throughout the 1990’s and 2000’s the influx of new players with College and University experience was tremendous. Players like Jason Darling, Joe Walker, Mike Tilley, Pete Richard, Greg Doyle, Steve LeBlanc, Reece Roche, Neil Armstrong, Sean Breen and Colin Ring were just a few of the big names that helped make the Saint John City League the most competitive league in the province.
In 2010, interest in the league has only grown. This website was created due to its popularity and players from all over the city to the outskirts of Hampton are doing what it takes to find a squad. The league is currently under leadership of Lance Betts and Butch Cogswell.
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