Summary By Decade
1900-1909 | 1910-1919
1900 - 1909
Golf was considered fashionable as well as croquet and tennis. Skiing was expensive and was mainly considered European. Basketball, invented nine years earlier was known only to university students. Tobogganing called for a club membership and most of the clubs had a waiting list. Montreal's Park Slide, where six chutes dropped you a half-mile in forty-five seconds. On summer Sundays the roads were dusty with thousands of cyclists and thousands more wheeled up and down on the paved streets of towns and cities. One in every 12 persons had a bicycle complete with coaster brakes and balloon tires. Couples honeymooned on bikes and bike races made front-page news.
1910 - 1919
By 1910 sports in Canada were changing. Leagues were formed, trophies were donated and rule books were written. Arenas and enclosed baseball stadiums were built and gambling at games became more popular. Boxing was popular with Johnny Coulon, from Toronto who was the Bantam Weight Champion from 1910 - 1914. Tommy Burns from Hanover, Ontario (Boston Tar Baby) was denied the Heavy Weight Championship because he was black. In 1913 the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada proclaimed that no coloured boxer would compete in Canadian championships.
Lacrosse was a major sport and was very popular in Quebec where it was originally learned by the Caughnawaga Indians. It was also popular in Ontario, Manitoba, the Maritimes and British Columbia. It faded out after the war.
Baseball's popularity was increasing as was Football (International Rugby Football Association) which gradually changed to the American Football game.
Canoeing, rowing, swimming, basketball (invented by Canadian James Naismith in 1892), figure skating, skiing, tennis, curling, golf, horse racing and motor cycle racing were all popular sports.
The National Hockey Association was formed and launched their first season on January 5, 1910, at the Jubilee Rink in Montreal. Other teams were the Renfrew Millionaires, with both Cobalt and Haileybury from Ontario as well as the Montreal Canadians. Newsy Lalonde, Lester Patrick, Fred Whitcraft, Fred "Cyclone" Taylor and George Vezina were some of the big names in hockey back then.
1912 The first artificial ice arenas were built in Victoria and Vancouver, which quickly prompted other arenas to be constructed across the country as it afforded a longer playing season. Also the amount of players was reduced from 7 to 6 and the position of "rover" was abandoned.
1916 Montreal Canadians win their first Stanley Cup
1918 Sports Leagues welcomed back star players.
1930 - 1939
1932 -Torchy Peder wins professional six day bicycle races at New York's Madison Square Garden.
Amateur Champion, Sandy Somerville, wins the U.S. Amateur Open in Golf and dominates through the decade
Vancouver's Duncan McNaughton wins a gold medal in high jump at L.A. Olympics.
Toronto's "Lefty" Gwynne wins a gold medal in boxing at L.A. Olympics.
1934 - Vancouver's Jimmy McLarnin defeats Barney Ross for the world welterweight title.
Canadian women, Dewar, Haslam and Pirie, take half the titles in Empire Games swimming.
1936 - Olympic Games were held in Berlin, Germany.
1937 - Montreal Canadians Star, Howie Morenz, dies of brain injuries sustained during a game.
1938 - Captain Angus Walters won Fisherman's Trophy for racing the Bluenose.
1939 - Dorothy Walton wins All England Badminton Championship.
1940 - 1949
In 1946 Barbara Ann Scott at age 17 was the first woman to win the Lou Marsh Trophy as outstanding Canadian athlete of the year for her figure skating.
By 1947, at age 18, Barbara Ann Scott returned to Ottawa with the World Figure Skating Title won in Stockholm, Sweden in addition to the European Title won at Switzerland two weeks earlier. 70,000 fans were on hand to welcome her home to Ottawa when her train steamed into the station. The city gave her a cream-colored Buick roadster. Her shirred beaver coat with the puffed sleeves was fashion famous. It was pointed out to her by the U.S. Olympic Committee President, Avery Brundage, that if she kept the car she could not compete in the upcoming Olympics at St. Moritz. She returned the car keys and went to Europe.
In 1948, Barbara Ann Scott swept the olympics and brought home the gold medal. She turned professional and happily accepted a powder blue convertible. She was paid $80,000 for an 8 week run in the Roxy Theatre in New York and then starred in a number of American ice shows.
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