Rapid Ray was the first Canadian born black athlete to represent Canada at the Olympics. The Hamilton resident overcame racism and poverty to win a bronze medal in the 4×400 relay at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932. He also ran the 440-yard race at the British Empire Games of 1934 in London. Lewis began [...]

A Hamilton native, Bill Friday is the only hockey referee to ever work the Stanley Cup finals in the National Hockey League and the Avco Cup finals in the World Hockey Association. Known for his flamboyant style Friday was a whistleblower in 1,425 games in both leagues. A former Junior B and minor hockey league [...]

Winning the 1906 Olympic Marathon in Greece wasn’t nearly as difficult for Hamilton’s Billy Sherring as just getting to the starting line. He was able to travel on a cattle boat to Athens after friends helped raise money for him but he still had to take a job once he got there to support himself. [...]

The most decorated Canadian athlete in the history of the Pan-Am games is Hamilton’s Joanne Malar. The McMaster University graduate captured 30 national titles and 70 international medals. She has won gold at the Pan-Am Games, the Pan-Pacific Games, the Commonwealth Games and on the World Cup circuit. In the 1995 FINA Short Course World [...]

A Hamilton native Russ Jackson is widely considered the greatest Canadian-born quarterback ever. A star athlete in basketball and football at Westdale Secondary School and later McMaster University Jackson went on to an all star career in the Canadian Football League with the Ottawa Rough Riders. He led Ottawa to three Grey Cup Championships, in [...]

The Leander Boat Club and the rowing community in all of Canada are better for Claude Saunders life-long dedication to the sport. He competed out of Leander from 1932 to 1948 and competed in the 1936 and 1948 Olympics. Saunders was the first Canadian to receive a FISA referee’s licence and became the first referee [...]

For decades in Hamilton learning to swim from Jimmy Thompson was part of your youth. Thompson probably taught more than 60,000 children how to swim between 1932 and 1966 when he was swimming director and Hamilton’s Municipal Pool. The pool was renamed in his honour in 1971. Thompson started the Learn to Swim program, introduced [...]

From Burlington Bay to the Olympics Mel LaForme has travelled the world rowing for Hamilton and Canada. He began his career as a high school rower for Westdale Secondary School and later the University of Guelph. LaForme excelled at the sport and was named to four Olympic teams including the boycott year of 1980. He [...]

Coached by Hall of Famer Ralph Sazio, the ’67 Cats won the CFL club’s 12th Grey Cup Championship. They finished Canada’s centennial year with a 10-4 record. The Cats that season did not allow their opponents to score a single touchdown in their final six games including the Grey Cup which they won 24-1 at [...]

Rock steady is the best way to describe Harry Howell’s career patrolling the blueline in the NHL and WHA. The Hamilton resident joined the New York Rangers when he was just 19 and became captain at 22. He played 17 years for the broadway blueshirts and his No. 3 is one of only eight jersey [...]