Lionel Conacher 1900-1954

Lionel Conacher Park

Lionel Pretoria Conacher (1900-1954)

There are three plaques about this gentleman.
All can be seen on this page.

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted March, 2004

This Ontario Heritage Trust plaque can be found at the southwest corner of Davenport Road and Yonge Street. [It is reported that this plaque is missing from this location.] Here's the text:

Plaque coordinates: 43.672722 -79.388001

Reputedly the greatest all-round athlete Canada has ever produced, Conacher was born near here. As a child he was seized by the desire to excel in sports and, taking up football, lacrosse, wrestling, hockey and baseball, he developed remarkable endurance and superb physical skills. In 1920 Conacher won the Canadian light-heavyweight boxing championship and the following year he led the Toronto Argonauts to a Grey Cup victory. "The Big Train" then devoted himself to professional hockey. A defenseman for National Hockey League teams in Pittsburgh, New York, Montreal and Chicago, he gained a reputation as an aggressive player and a brilliant tactician. In 1937 Conacher retired from professional sports. Thirteen years later he was named the outstanding Canadian male athlete of the half-century.

Photos by Alan L Brown - Posted June, 2006

In this park on the southwest corner of Birch and Gange Avenues is this 1967 City of Toronto plaque. Here's the text:

Plaque coordinates: 43.680788 -79.393870

Lionel Pretoria Conacher, know affectionately as "The Big Train", was born in Toronto on May 24, 1900 and received his early education in this area. He was a truly remarkable athlete, excelling in football, baseball, hockey and lacrosse and was outstanding in boxing, swimming, track and field, rowing and, in fact, in any sport in which he participated. He was proclaimed by press polls as Canada's "greatest all-round athlete" and "greatest football player" for the first fifty years of the twentieth century.

Following his athletic career he entered the political field, serving first in the Ontario Legislature and later in the Dominion Government. It was while participating in a benefit baseball game on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 26, 1954, that this amazing athlete met his untimely death.

In recognition of his major contribution to the citizens of Canada and this City in both public service and athletics, the Council of the Corporation of the City of Toronto on October 25, 1967, dedicated this park to the memory of the late Lionel Conacher.

Photos by Alan L Brown - Posted June, 2006

Also in this park on the southwest corner of Birch and Gange Avenues is this plaque erected by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. Here's the text:

Plaque coordinates: 43.680788 -79.393870

Lionel Conacher, the 'Big Train', was voted Canada's All-Round Male Athlete of the Half-Century in 1950. He excelled at six professional sports. Particularly gifted in football and lacrosse, he was a key participant in many championships including the 1921 Grey Cup. Between 1925 and 1937 Conacher concentrated on a career in the National Hockey League during which he pioneered many modern defensive techniques and was a member of two different Stanley Cup-winning teams. On his retirement from sports in 1937 Conacher was elected to the Ontario Legislature and in 1949 to the House of Commons.

Related Toronto plaque
The First Grey Cup Game

More
Sports

Here are the visitors' comments for this page.

Posted May 14, 2008
Lionel Conacher was an amazing person. I find it amazing how one man could excell in so many sports. He is truly Canada's greatest athlete.

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