Rick Watts, the founder of Winnipeg’s Nicolett Inn senior men’s basketball team, will admit he sometimes sells himself and his old teammates short.

“What stands out the most for me is that no matter who we played, whether it was teams with NCAA Division 1 All-Americans, Canadian Olympic team guys or our own university All-Canadians, we beat them,” Watts recalled, defiantly. “We were just a bunch of guys from Winnipeg and when Ontario would bring its all-stars or B.C. would load up with all those former Olympians, we’d still beat them. Nobody could believe it, but whenever we had our team together, nobody could touch us.”

Watts is far too modest. Fact is, from 1974, when most of the Innkeepers were at the University of Manitoba, until the team played in its last championship game in 1983, there was no group of basketball players in the nation that were in Nicolett’s class. They may have been slightly smaller than their Ontario, Nova Scotia, Quebec and B.C. counterparts, but they were every bit as skilled and they came to the dance with more heart and determination than anyone else in the country.

And that’s why they won national senior championships in 1979, 1980 and 1982 and reached the national final in both 1981 and 1983.

Manitoba has long been blessed with great senior men’s basketball teams. From the Toilers, to Paulins, to St. Andrews, our province has played the game well for generations. In fact, Winnipeg has sent some marvellous teams to the national stage. However, the best of the bunch just might have been that Nicolett Inn squad between 1979 and 1983.

The team was founded by Watts, his father, Ralph, and basketball supporter Frank Clark in the fall of 1976, joining St. Andrews in the old Winnipeg Super League. Clark brought Nicolett Inn owner John Antoniuk to the table and “Mr. Antoniuk” jumped at the chance to sponsor the team.

And what a team it was. With Watts, centre Darryl Rumsey, and guards Martin Riley and Greg Daniels, this was the grown up version of the team that had led the University of Manitoba Bisons to the 1976 CIAU national championship.

Coached by “The Legend,” Jimmy Bulloch, the Innkeepers eventually unseated St. Andrews as provincial champs and went on to win three national titles in five years. Had it not been for injuries to Watts and Riley in 1981 and a depleted roster in ’83, Nicolett might have won five straight. This was, after all, the only Canadian team to ever beat the highly-regarded U.S. Christian travelling team, Athletes in Action, between 1975 and 1985.

“When Darryl, Martin, Greg and I played together, we went to every national championship game from 1975-1982,” Watts said. “When guys were hurt or couldn’t play, we might not have won, but when the four of us were on the court together, nobody could beat us. We weren’t bad for a bunch of guys from Winnipeg.”

1979-80-82 (3 championships)
Terry Burns, Greg Daniels, Don Maskiw, Martin Riley, Brian Rumsey, Darryl Rumsey, Grant Watson, Rick Watts, John Loewen (Coach), Morris Glimcher, John Antoniuk (Manager and President), Mike Antoniuk (Ball Boy)

1979 Roster (1 championship)
Kevin Block, Randy Kusano, Cam McGinnis, Ray McKall, *Jim Bulloch (Coach), Andy Morris (Trainer)

1980 Roster (1 championship)
Kevin Kelleher, Jan Kreutzer, Henri (Hank) Lemoine, Ed Tawkin, John Hayward (Trainer)

1982 Roster (1 championship)
Phil Brake, Ben Szymkov, Brian Twomey

*deceased