Austin (Dink) Carroll was born in Guelph in 1899.  He received his LL.B. from McGill University in 1923 but never practiced law. A star football player at McGill, he made this student interest in sport his life’s avocation. He became the traveling road secretary for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International Baseball League, worked … [Read More …]

To Hamiltonians, year after year, season after season, his voice was as familiar and as comfy as that favourite sweater in your closet that you hope will last a lifetime. Norm Marshall, who passed away two weeks before his 90th birthday on November 5, 2008, was a Southwestern Ontario legend known to generations for his … [Read More …]

Baseball figured prominently early in the career of Ottawa’s Terry Kielty who died in 2010 at 86. Terry was one of the most accomplished  ‘re-creators’ of baseball games on radio of his era. When travel was too expensive (a game just too far away) Terry would ‘broadcast’ the game from the CFRA studios in Ottawa. … [Read More …]

DOUG GILBERT by George Gross Doug GIlbert was one of the most knowledgeable and prolific sportswriters in Canada. His column in the Montreal Gazette and, later, in the Edmonton Sun, offered his readers an in-depth look at the world of sports. He became an expert on East German sports when that country, then still behind … [Read More …]

STEVE DOUGLAS by George Gross Steve Douglas was a television icon in sports broadcasting in the 1950s and 1960s who marched to his own drummer. It eventually cost him his job as the CBC’s television announcer and broadcaster of CFL games. If Foster Hewitt had his own inimitable way of opening a hockey broadcast with … [Read More …]

MYRTLE COOK MCGOWAN Record books illustrating past glories of Canadian Olympians will highlight the name of Myrtle Cook McGowan, raised in the Beaches area of Toronto, who captained the women’s 400-metre sprint relay team that won the gold medal at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, Holland. Myrtle Cook moved to Montreal and became a … [Read More …]

Rick Fraser by Tim Wharnsby Rick Fraser wrote about boxing, golf and hockey. But his labour of love was life itself. He was the life of the party, whether it was in the newsroom, a pressroom or a piano lounge. In more than 40 years of journalism, Fraser covered athletes and characters in the sporting … [Read More …]

DAN KELLY by Don Goodwin Dan Kelly was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame on October 3, 1989, just eight months after he died of cancer at 52. Dan had established his broadcasting bona fides in Canada, coming into his own as Ottawa’s outstanding sportscaster and football broadcaster as well as illustrating a natural … [Read More …]