Lionel Conacher
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Lionel Pretoria Conacher (May 24, 1900 – May 26, 1954), nicknamed The Big Train, was Canada's top all-around athlete in the 1920s, excelling in Canadian football, ice hockey, lacrosse, baseball, boxing and wrestling. He later became a politician and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the Canadian House of Commons.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Conacher played for the Toronto Argonauts, and was part of the 1921 Grey Cup winning team. From 1925 to 1937, he played in the National Hockey League with the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Americans, Chicago Blackhawks, and Montreal Maroons.
Conacher was a Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for the Toronto riding of Bracondale, from October 6, 1937 until June 30, 1943. He was elected in 1949 as a Liberal Member of Parliament in the Toronto riding of Trinity and re-elected in 1953.
On May 26, 1954, Conacher was playing softball when he suddenly suffered a heart attack and died. He was named Canada's Greatest Male Athlete of the Half-Century (1950). He is a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame (1955), the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (1955), the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame (1966), and Hockey Hall of Fame (1994). The award for the Canadian Press Canadian male athlete of the year is called the Lionel Conacher Award.
His son, Brian Conacher, played for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the National Hockey League winning the Stanley Cup in 1967.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Argonauts Hall of Famers
- Professional Football Researchers Association article
- Find-A-Grave profile for Lionel Conacher
- Lionel Conacher at Legends of Hockey
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Categories: 1900 births | 1954 deaths | Toronto Argonauts players | Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL) players | Grey Cup champions | Canadian ice hockey players | Chicago Blackhawks players | Hockey Hall of Fame | Canada's Sports Hall of Fame | Liberal Party of Canada MPs | Liberal Party of Ontario MPPs | Members of the Canadian House of Commons from Ontario | New York Americans players | Historical Ontario MPPs | Ontario sportspeople | People from Toronto | Stanley Cup champions | Canadians of German descent | Canadian players of Canadian football | Canadian Football Hall of Fame | Canadian Football League punters | Canadian Football League running backs | Canadian lacrosse players | Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame | Memorial Cup winners | Canadian football stubs
