Lionel Conacher

Athlete

• Born: May 24, 1900
• Birthplace: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Died: May 26, 1954
• Place of death: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Sport: Ice hockey

Early Life

Born on Queen Victoria’s eighty-first birthday, Lionel Pretoria Conacher later became Canadian sports royalty. Lionel’s working-class parents were not in any way athletic; however, the story was different with Lionel and his eight siblings. His brother Charlie played in the National Hockey League (NHL) and was elected to the hall of fame, while another brother, Roy, also played professional hockey, leading the NHL one year in scoring. To the Conacher children, sport seemed one route to a better life.

The Road to Excellence

In his early years, Lionel’s favorite game was road hockey, a game he frequently played with his brothers and sisters. In 1913, his sporting world expanded when he joined some neighborhood boys in a game of football. Lionel’s problem soon became that he could not decide what sport to pursue. He added baseball and lacrosse to his sports, then began wrestling, winning the provincial championship of Ontario, and boxing, where he became light-heavyweight champion of Canada in 1920. Football, however, became his main sport as he led his team to the championship of Toronto in 1914. He continued to pursue that game into the 1920’s, excelling to the point that he led his Toronto Argonauts in capturing the Grey Cup, the national football championship of Canada. Hockey had also become one of his athletic pursuits, although it was not his best game.

The Emerging Champion

By 1920, Lionel was unquestionably the best athlete in Toronto, having won both individual and team championships in a variety of sports. “Big Train,” as Lionel became known, needed a way to earn a paycheck, a fact that determined the athletic path Lionel followed. In an age where amateur athleticism was an ideal, few sports afforded Lionel the opportunity to make a living. One that did was hockey, as the National Hockey League (NHL) had become a professional league. Becoming professional, however, eliminated an athlete’s opportunities to play other sports as an amateur. Initially, Lionel attempted to avoid this fate. He turned down offers to join Toronto’s NHL team and continued to excel in football. He also went to work for a bank and then opened a clothing store.

Hockey continued to beckon, however, and eventually Lionel, who had married and was reaching his athletic peak, changed course. In 1923, he joined the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets, an amateur hockey team on the brink of entering the NHL. In November, 1925, Lionel signed a contract with the new Pittsburgh NHL franchise. Lionel starred for his team, and his fame, based on his skill in the positions of defenseman and winger, grew. The quality of the Pittsburgh management did not match that of the star player and in December, 1926, Lionel was traded to the New York Americans.

After years of rave reviews in his new home, Lionel’s game began to slip, in part because of excessive alcohol consumption. In 1930, he was traded to the Montreal Maroons from which, because of continued poor play, he was released. At the age of thirty, his hockey career appeared over. However, inspired by the birth of a daughter and a battle with pneumonia, Lionel rallied to overcome his drinking problem and restore his hockey career. Montreal took another chance on him, re-signing him for the 1931-1932 season. A year later, he made the NHL all-star team, and his career flourished for several more years.

Continuing the Story

By the late 1930’s Lionel’s hockey career had reached its conclusion. In 1937, after the NHL playoffs ended, he announced his retirement. His last game was on April 23 and, at the age of thirty-seven, his hockey career was over. Never one to stand still, he quickly entered a new arena, politics, and was elected later that year to the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario.

In 1939, with the outbreak of World War II, Lionel volunteered his time to the war effort, serving as an honorary member of the Royal Canadian Air Force and helping to raise funds on behalf of his country. He reestablished his political career after the war and was elected to the federal parliament in Ottawa in 1949. In that city, Lionel died suddenly of a heart attack on May 26, 1954. Fittingly, the great Canadian athlete died in the midst of a softball game, just after he had slugged a triple.

Summary

Lionel Conacher was, first and foremost, a great athlete. While best known for his hockey career, he also excelled at several other sports, especially football and lacrosse. He was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1963, the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1966, and the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1994.

Bibliography

Carroll, M. R., Andrew Podnieks, and Michael Harling. The Concise Encyclopedia of Hockey. Vancouver, B.C.: Greystone Books, 2001.

Coleman, Jim. Legends of Hockey: The Official Book of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Toronto: Penguin, 1996.