The story of a hall of fame devoted entirely to Canada's sporting history started with the efforts of one man, Harry Price. In 1947, as chairman of the Sports Committee for the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), he traveled across the country trying to enlist support to build a museum dedicated to Canadian athletes past and present, a place to celebrate the many achievements by Canadian athletes in the world of sports. Eight years later, at the behest of Price and Bert Powell, the CNE's publicity director, sports representatives from each province came to Toronto to finalize plans for just such a museum. The inaugural meeting was held on June 10, 1955, when this committee inducted the initial group of fifty-three athletes.
The Stanley Barracks were used to house what was then called Canada Sports Hall of Fame, and the opening ceremonies took place on August 24, 1955. Even by standards of the day, the opening was a modest affair that nonetheless featured the symbolic lighting of a flame that would become the central image in the original logo. When the Hockey Hall of Fame came into existence in 1957, the two halls joined forces in the former Administration Building/ Press Building on CNE grounds near the Dufferin Gates entrance.
In 1961, the National Hockey League financed the first wing of a new building on lands southeast of the Press Building. The Hockey Hall of Fame and the Sports Hall of Fame shared this space for the next six years. In 1967, an east wing was added to the building that provided the space where Canada's Sports Hall of Fame was housed until its relocation in January 2006 to Stanley Barracks. This wing was financed entirely by the City of Toronto on terms which allowed the Sports Hall to assume an identity independent of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame is one of the oldest Halls of Fame in North America. Its purpose is to honour Canadians who have contributed to sports in this country either on the field of play as an athlete or behind the scenes as a builder. This honour has extended to include sportswriters and broadcasters as well as unique contributions from non-humans such as the schooner The Bluenose or the remarkable show jumping horse Big Ben. Photos and citations of the Honoured Members are displayed in the galleries of the Hall along with artifacts and memorabilia pertinent to the inductees and to the history of sport in Canada.
To date, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame boasts 499 inductees representing some 56 sports. It is overseen by a Board of Governors made up of men and women active in sports and business from across the country. Harry Price served as the first Chairman of the Board. He was succeeded in 1968 by Harold Rea, who was also chairman of the Task Force on Sports for Canadians. Rea lobbied the federal government for aid to improve the Sports Hall, and to this end the Department of Health and Welfare contributed $30,000. Rea enlisted two of his advisors from that Task Force, Douglas Fisher and S.F. Wise, to write a book about sporting achievement in Canada. Canada's Sporting Heroes honoured Canadian athletes and emphasized the importance of sports in Canada both historically and culturally. Price approached sports from a social perspective, as something that uniquely binds Canadians from coast to coast. Sports, he argued, produced Canadian heroes, and heroes political, artistic, athletic defined much of any nation's history and culture. Their achievements have contributed enormously to the national pride of the country and, by extension, to our Canadian identity.
Rea stepped down in 1975 and was replaced by Harry Foster. It was during Foster's ten-year reign that the lower level of Canada's Sports Hall was renovated to allow for more exhibition space to accommodate new inductees and an ever-growing number of artifacts and memorabilia. This expansion was funded by the federal Ministry of Fitness and Amateur Sport.
In 1984, Jake Gaudaur, Jr. followed in Foster's footsteps as chairman. He raised $1.25 million for further renovations to the main floor. The former commissioner of the Canadian Football League was able to engage the corporate sector with support from five key sponsors, each of whom gave $125,000 to the Hall for the purchase and development of a high-tech video system which enabled visitors to call up a biography of any inductee and show (where available) the inductee in action. Though common by today's standards, this technology was state of the art at the time. The additional funding also enabled the Hall to reorganize and build new display cases for the more than 3,000 artifacts housed in this building and to develop the Wall of Honour at its entranceway where the Honoured Members' names are proudly inscribed alongside the names of these generous sponsors: Carling O'Keefe Breweries Limited, Steve A. Stavro, General Motors of Canada Limited, Petro-Canada Inc., and Nabisco Brands Limited. In total, the current Sports Hall of Fame occupies more than 18,000 sq. ft. of display and office space.
In the early 1990s, declining attendance signaled the need for change to rekindle public interest in the Hall. The federal Minister of Sport supported a proposal to relocate the Hall to the nation's capital, believing Ottawa to be the ideal place for a national sports institution. In 1997, the Hall's Board of Governors established a new vision that confirmed Ottawa as the chosen site. The Hall then entered into a five-party Memorandum of Understanding with the federal government to move to the Government Conference Centre in Ottawa. The proposed move and purpose were enthusiastically embraced by corporate partners and the Ontario provincial government. In fact, based on this new vision, the Hall raised more than $17 million in commitments from the private sector.
From that sum, the Hall spent close to $2.73 million in feasibility and engineering studies, architectural and design plans, and staff and project planning with many departments and levels of government. In spite of this significant expenditure, incurred largely to meet the requirements of the federal government, the government abruptly cancelled the Conference Centre plans for the CSHOF while offering in substitution the building known as the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. After additional expenditures by the Hall, this second offer was also withdrawn by the federal government.
These failed relocation attempts brought the growth of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame to a standstill, but thanks to the dedication and determination of the Board of Governors and friends of the museum, new and determined efforts continue to ensure that Canada's Sports Hall of Fame is becoming once again the pinnacle organization of the Canadian sporting community. In October 2008, the Hall announced that it will be relocating to Calgary at Canada Olympic Park. Plans are now in development and the Hall hopes to open in spring 2011.
The Hall's vision - to inspire Canadian identity and national pride by telling the compelling stories of the outstanding achievements in Canadian sports history - remains integral in directing our programs. Until our new building is completed, this vision will be accomplished through the Hall's website and by special national exhibitions.
