This 1970s varsity jacket from Ingersoll, Ont., was found in an Australian thrift shop | CBC News (2025)

Michelle Both · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 19, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: April 19

It's a mystery Australian Joe Winkler set out to solve.

After pickingup a vintage varsity jacket that stood outto him at his localthrift store, known as an "op shop" down under,he wanted to know where it came from.

"We don't really have those sort of varsity style letterman jackets or whatever in Australia so much," Winkler said, who lives in Melbourne, Australia. "The price tag wasn't too steep. And so I bought it."

LISTEN: Australia man sets out to find original owner of second-hand jacket

The letterman's jacketis made of yellow leather andblue mohair, and features the embroidered name "Wally"on the chest, and the crest of a1970s-era broomball club from Ingersoll, Ont.

"I had no idea what country it was from or if it was even real," he said. "I'd never heard of broomball."

It turns out that Ingersollisn't too hard to find."There's only one Ingersoll in the world, basically. So,it narrowed it down pretty easily. I discovered that must have been fromthis town in Canada," he said.

Winkler took his search a step further and posted toa Facebook group for Ingersoll locals,a 16,000 km journey from where he bought the jacket.Once his post was approved, he went to sleep and, with the time difference, woke up to nearly 100 comments.

It didn't take long for "Wally's"family and friends to see the post and help solve the mystery that it once belonged to the lateWallace Clayton.

"From everything that people said, he seemed like a fantastic bloke," Winkler said. "It's just awesome to see."

'I was really shocked,' says Wally's son

For Brad Clayton,seeing his dad's jacket pop up on Facebookbrought back a flood of memories. "He was a good dad for sure," he said. Hisdaddied in January 2011.

"I was really shocked to tell you the truth," he said.He donated some of his dad's belongings to a Goodwill second-hand shopin Ingersoll after his dad died. The jacket was too small for him or he probably would have kept it, he said.

He remembers his dad playing broomball on Sunday mornings when he was young, and having some beers with other players after the game was over. Once Brad turned 15, he joined in the fun as a referee.

"It was a day for those guys to get out and enjoy themselves," he said."I thought I was important because I was refereeing these older guys and that was kind of cool."

'Enjoyed the friendship as much as the game'

It's something Allan Juett remembers, too.

The 79-year-old from Ingersoll played broomball with Wallace for years, includingin 1977 and 1978, on the same team as Wally. The broomball clubhad about 30 members.

"We would get new jackets probably every five or six years,and everybody bought their own, so we couldshowoffthat we belong to the club," Juett said."[We] made lots of friends and enjoyed the friendship as much as the game."

"[We] made lots of friends and enjoyed the friendship as much as the game."-Allan Juett, former Ingersoll broomball player

"Wally Clayton was a great guy," he added."He's gone now. Most of the guys fromthose years [are]."

Knowing the jacket ended up inAustralia and that someonetook the time to track down itshistoryis amazing,he said. "You wonder how something like that could happen."

LISTEN: Wallace Clayton's son "shocked" to see jacket resurfaceabroad

How it got to Australia is still a mystery, but there are some clues.

"I've got a couple of probable ideas here," saidScott Louch, chief operating officer with Goodwill Industries.Vintage varsity-style jackets are highly collectible, he said.

Scenario one: It was donated to Goodwill and sold in-store to someone visiting from Australia.

Scenario two: More likely, it was purchased in Goodwill by a reseller, listed on eBay, and sold to someone in Australia, he said.

Scenario three: Also a possibility it was sold by Goodwill online through their e-commerce division and sent overseas.

"Those would be the most probable ways it would make it to Australia,"Louchsaid. "We do ship all over the world every day, so it's certainly not uncommon."

For Brad, he thinks the whole thing is "terrific," knowing someone else can make use of it and wear it, a piece of his family history.

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