Episode 4
The People's Game
Biographies
Monsignor (Pere) Athol Murray
Monsignor (Pere) Athol Murray touched countless lives through faith and sports. Born in Toronto and ordained as a catholic priest in 1918, Pere Murray later moved to Saskatchewan and became the head of Notre Dame College in Wilcox, Sask. Stressing a combination of religion and athletics for students at his non-denominational academy, Pere Murray founded a school hockey team, which he christened the Hounds. The team later went on to produce such NHL stars as Wendel Clark, Rod Brind'Amour, Curtis Joseph and Vincent Lecavalier."I love God, Canada and hockey - not always in that order," the salty man of the cloth declared prior to his death in 1975, at which time the school he led for half a century was renamed the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame.
Monsignor (Pere) Athol Murray, Notre Dame College
Tommy Naylor
The dean of hockey equipment managers, Tommy Naylor is recognized as one of the game's great innovators. From West Bramwich, England, where he was born in 1904, Naylor found his way to Toronto and as a young man found work sharpening skates for the Maple Leafs. Naylor's excellence in his craft later earned him a permanent post as the equipment manager and skate sharpener for all teams playing at Maple Leaf Gardens.A creative thinker, Naylor made an indelible mark on the game by inventing new equipment, including ankle protectors and the skate guard, and by hatching the first portable skate sharpener. Naylor's equipment expertise won him a job handling Team Canada's gear for the 1972 Summit Series, and a year later he received special recognition from the Canadian Athletic Trainers Association for his decades of service to hockey.
Tommy Naylor, Hockey Hall Of Fame
Hilda Ranscombe
One of the finest female athletes in Canadian history, Hilda Ranscombe formed the heart and soul of perhaps the greatest women's hockey team ever assembled. Famous for her astonishing speed and stick-handling ability, the dazzling right wing led the Preston Rivulettes to six Dominion championships, 10 Ontario and Quebec titles and an astounding 350-2 record in the 1930s. Thanks in large part to those inspiring exploits, women's hockey flourished in the interwar years. An accomplished all-around athlete, Ranscombe also excelled in softball and tennis before returning to the rink as a coach when her playing days ended.
Hilda Ranscombe, Courtesy of Dave Menary
