Conacher, Lionel

Lionel Conacher, in full Lionel Pretoria Conacher, (born May 24, 1901, Toronto, Ont., Can.—died May 26, 1954, Ottawa), athlete and politician who was voted Canada’s Athlete of the Half Century (1900–50) and was a Liberal Party member of Parliament.

Conacher dropped out of school after the eighth grade to work. His athletic career stemmed from a prize he won in 1916 for selling the most newspapers—a membership card in a YMCA gymnasium. He won the Ontario 125-pound wrestling championship at age 16 and the Canadian light-heavyweight boxing championship at 20. He played on the championship Ontario lacrosse team in 1922 and on the Toronto American Athletic Association championship baseball team in 1926. He also played rugby for Toronto in the Ontario Football Rugby Union (1920) and for the Toronto Argonauts (1921–22). His most sustained professional sport was ice hockey; he played as a defenseman in the National Hockey League (1925–37) with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Chicago Black Hawks, the New York Americans, and the Montreal Maroons and was a member of Stanley Cup winning teams in 1934 (Chicago) and 1935 (Montreal).

Conacher was elected to the Ontario legislature in 1937. During World War II he was recreational director for the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was elected to Parliament in 1949 and 1953. He died of a heart attack after hitting a triple in a softball game between members of Parliament and the parliamentary press gallery. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, posthumously, in 1994.