TORONTO'S 80TH BIRTHDAY
The sporting life
Edward “Ned” Hanlan
1855-1908
Rowing across the harbour from Toronto Islands to attend George Street Public School on the mainland was good training for the Toronto native, the world sculling champion five years in a row from 1880 to 1884. Over the course of his rowing career, he won 150 major sculling events and lost only six of the 300 races he competed in at home and abroad. When the diminutive Hanlan, who later became a city alderman, died of pneumonia at the age of 52, more than 10,000 Torontonians paid respects at the church where his body lay in state.
Conn Smythe
1895-1980
The Toronto native — who served in both world wars — is a legend in Maple Leafs history as the principal owner from 1927 to 1961, during which the team won eight Stanley Cups. Shortly after he became managing director, Smythe spearheaded the construction of Maple Leaf Gardens, which opened in 1931 and served as the team’s home until 1999. A successful businessman, Smythe was also a philanthropist who supported charities such as the Ontario Society for Crippled Children.
Fanny “Bobby” Rosenfeld
1904-1969
The Ukrainian-born Rosenfeld, who came with her family to Toronto as an infant, was a passionate athlete throughout her life in summer and winter sports, winning a silver for the 100-metre dash — for which she shared a world record — and a gold in the 400-metre relay at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. Named Canada’s best female athlete of the first half century, the annual award for best female athlete still bears her name.
Paul Beeston
born 1948
The first guy to be hired by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1976, he rose through the ranks to serve as the team’s president and CEO from 1989 to 1997. He served the next five years as president and chief operating officer. He returned as the Jays’ president and CEO in 2008 and continues to be the team’s most highly regarded executive since its inception.
Lionel Conacher
1900-1954
Known to his fans as “Big Train,” the Toronto native was an all-round athlete — a member of the Grey Cup-winning Toronto Argonauts in 1921, a two-time winner of the Stanley Cup in the 1930s (with the Chicago Blackhawks and the Montreal Maroons), plus championship victories in baseball, lacrosse, boxing and wrestling. It is small wonder that in 1950, Conacher was voted Canada’s greatest male athlete of the half-century.
Syl Apps
1915-1998
Captain of the Maple Leafs from 1936 to 1948, Apps was an Olympiclevel pole vaulter who came to the attention of legendary team owner Conn Smythe for his prowess at football. Apps won the Calder Trophy for best rookie player and the Lady Byng Trophy in 1942 after going the entire season without recording a penalty. In 1943, Apps left the team to join the Canadian Army. He returned after the war to lead the team to the Stanley Cup in 1947 and 1948.
Darryl Sittler
born 1950
One of the best-loved Maple Leafs players, Sittler holds the National Hockey League record for the most points scored in one game — 10 — in a February 1976 match against the Boston Bruins. He joined the team in 1970 and was made captain in 1975. In his first season, he became the first Leaf to reach 100 points in a season. In the inaugural Canada Cup tournament in 1976, Sittler scored the overtime goal that led Canada to victory over Czechoslovakia. Sittler was traded in 1982 but continues to be a goodwill ambassador for the team.
Foster Hewitt
1902-1985
The lifelong Torontonian was the voice of NHL hockey, first on radio and then television, for 40 years. Briefly a reporter at the Toronto Star, where his father was sports editor, Hewitt’s first radio broadcast was in 1923. Hewitt was there in the broadcasting gondola in 1931 when Maple Leaf Gardens opened. His distinctive play-by-play commentary — featuring his most famous phrase, “he shoots, he scores” — was familiar to generations of hockey fans.
Johnny Bower
born 1924
Among the most beloved players in Maple Leaf history, the Prince Albert, Sask., native was drafted after 14 years in the minors in 1958, a year in which the Leafs finished in last place. He was 34 when he started his 12 seasons as goalie, the oldest goalie in league history. He led the team to four Stanley Cups, from 1962 to 1964 and again in 1967 (alongside goalie legend Terry Sawchuk), the last time the Leafs won the NHL championship. Bower continued as team scout and goalie coach after he retired and, during the 1979-’80 season, the injury-plagued Leafs nearly put him back on ice as backup goalie at age 56.
Joe Carter
born 1960
The Toronto Blue Jays brought back-to-back World Series championships to the city in 1992 and 1993 and most sports fans would agree that the team’s unofficial captain, Joltin’ Joe Carter, was the key. In the 1993 series against the Philadelphia Phillies, Carter hit a three-run walk-off home run to clinch the series. Carter, who was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003, holds an annual a charity golf tournament, the Joe Carter Classic, that has raised more than $250,000 for the Children’s Aid Society.
King Clancy
1903-1986
His career in the NHL as player, coach and referee lasted 65 years, much of it with his beloved Maple Leafs. After winning two Stanley Cups with his hometown Ottawa Senators in 1923 and 1927, the defenceman joined the Leafs in 1930 and the team won the Stanley Cup two seasons later. He retired partway through the 1936-’37 season as the top-scoring defenceman in NHL history. After a 17-year sojourn, much of it as a referee, Clancy rejoined the Leafs in 1953 for a threeyear stint as coach. Elevated to assistant general manager, the team won three Stanley Cups in 1962, 1964 and 1967. He remained a member of the team’s front office for the rest of his life.
Marilyn Bell
born 1937
The Toronto native started taking swimming lessons just before her 10th birthday. On Sept. 9, 1954, at 16, she became the first person to swim the width of Lake Ontario, battling strong winds, high waves and lampreys, to cover the 52 kilometres (32 miles) from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Toronto in just under 21 hours. Bell became the youngest person to swim the English Channel in 1955. Following her crossing of B.C.’s Juan de Fuca Strait a year later, Bell retired from long-distance swimming.
Angela James
born 1964
She’s been called “the first superstar of women’s hockey” by the International Ice Hockey Federation and is one of the first two women inducted into the Toronto-based Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010. The Toronto native played at the top level of international women’s hockey from 1980 to 2000 and led her team to four world championships. An accredited referee since 1980, James has also focused on mentoring and coaching of young women in the game, both at Seneca College and through her own school.
Harold Ballard
1903-1990
The long-time owner of the Maple Leafs and Maple Leaf Gardens was a man that Torontonians loved to loathe. He joined the Leafs in 1940, moved to senior management in 1957, became a part-owner in 1961 and majority owner in 1972 until his death at 86. The cantankerous Ballard courted controversy throughout his years as team owner, including serving a short prison term for fraud. Long-suffering fans will never forgive or forget the fact that the team never won a Stanley Cup during Ballard’s stewardship.
Cito Gaston
born 1944
In his role with the Blue Jays, the Texas native became the first black manager in Major League Baseball to win a World Series in 1992, followed by a second title in 1993. During his tenure, from 1989 to 1997, the soft-spoken manager led the team to four American League East division titles and two American League pennants in addition to the back-to-back World Series victories. His return to the Jays from 2008 to 2010 was less successful, though the team had two out of three seasons over .500.
Michael “Pinball” Clemons
born 1965
Short in stature, long on talent and charisma, the Florida native played 12 years with the Toronto Argonauts, winning three Grey Cups. He has twice been head coach and, in 2004, became the first black head coach in Canadian Football League history to lead a Grey Cup-winning team. He’s also served as the team’s president and chief executive officer. His popularity with fans led the team to retire his No. 31 jersey in 2008. Post-Argonauts, Clemons, an inspiring motivational speaker, founded the Michael “Pinball” Clemons Foundation in 2007 to help disadvantaged youth.