Red Kelly

One of Red Kelly’s earliest hockey memories as a child growing up in Simcoe, Ontario, is playing hockey on the open-air ponds “a few miles to the cedar swamp by the tracks.”

He went on to play for St. Michael’s College School from 1943 to 1947, and played on the winning Memorial Cup Team in 1946-47.

In the 1950s, while playing for the Detroit Red Wings, he won four Stanley Cup Championships and was elected to eight All-Star teams. He won the Lady Bing trophy three times and in 1954 was chosen as the first recipient of the James Norris Memorial Trophy for outstanding defenseman in the league.

In the 1960s, Red played forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs and won four more Stanley Cup Championships, another Lady Byng Trophy and the Lady Bickle Award.

Red was elected and served two terms as a member of Parliament (MP) representing York West. In 1964 he represented the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson, at the Tokyo Olympics, and later at the World Congress on Recreation at Osaka.

Red became the first coach of the L.A.Kings, winning the Sportsman’s Award, “Athlete of the Half Century” in 1967. He went onto be Coach and General Manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins and later coached the Toronto Maple Leafs for four years.

Red was elected to the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame in 1969, Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1974, the Detroit Red Wings Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978.

In 1980 he was honoured with the Encyclopedia Britannica’s Achievement in Life Award for Achievement in Sports and in 1989 Red was the recipient of the Canadian Society of New York Sports Award. In 2002 Red received the Order of Canada.

After retiring from hockey, Red founded and served as President of CAMP Systems of Canada from 1977 to 1997.

Red and his wife, Andra McLaughlin Kelly, a former World Free Skating Champion, current live in Toronto. They have four children and four grandchildren.

Jack and Lynne Dominico

In the long-running sitcom that has been the sports scene in this country, Jack and Lynne Dominico have been recurring characters for almost four decades.

They have owned the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball club of the Inter-country Major League for 37 years and have achieved the kind of success what would make the Argonauts, Blue Jays, Raptors and Leafs hockey club envious.

Under the Dominicos the baseball Leafs have captured seven championships and 18 regular-season pennants. “That’s almost a pennant for every second season we’ve been in business,” said Jack.

The wonderful husband and wife team were raised in different parts of the province. Lynne is originally from Wingham and Jack was born in North Bay. And although the Leafs baseball club plays its home games at Christie Pits in the west end of Toronto, the city of Etobicoke remains close to their hearts.

They met in Etobicoke when they were both working at the Etobicoke Guardian. Jack was in the advertising department and Lynne was selling classified ads. They went on to form a sports management duo that is unmatched.

The two have lived in the same Etobicoke house with four different dogs since 1971. Their current border-collie is Luca, who makes sure Jack stays away from raiding the refrigerator late at night.

Each Spring, the Dominicos celebrate the beginning of the baseball season with a sports event that is second-to-none. They attract some of the biggest names in baseball’s past for their annual forum that coincides with the Leafs opening day.

The personalities are like a Who’s Who of the diamond’s history. Bob Gibson, Warren Spahn, Bob Feller, Bobby Thompson, Don Larsen, Bill Mazerowski, Curt Flood, Larry Dolby and Enos Slaughter are just a few of the 75 or so different baseball greats they have enticed to their opening day festivities.

Jack and Lynne are a pair of fixtures on the sports scene in this city and without the two of them, Etobicoke would be far less colourful.

Frank Orr

Frank Orr spent 37 years as a sports reporter and columnist with the Toronto Star, covering all sports from college football to horse racing. His major beats were hockey from junior to the National Hockey League and world championships; auto racing, both Canadian and international competitions, and figure skating (12 world and Olympic championships).

Born and raised on a farm near the Ontario village of Hillsburgh, Frank was a radio announcer with stations in Chatham and Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. He was sports editor of the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder and Guelph Mercury, joining the Star in 1961.

Frank covered the Maple Leafs and NHL through much of his Star-time, including the four Leaf Stanley Cup titles in the 1960s. A highlight was the trail-blazing 1972 Summit Series between Team Canada and the national team of the old Soviet Union.

He also attended several world hockey championships in the ’70s and ’80s (no Canadian victories) and covered four Canadian triumphs in the world junior championships.

In a golden era of Canadian figure skating, Frank wrote “world champ” nine times – four men’s titles by Kurt Browning, three by Elvis Stojko, one, plus an Olympic silver, by Brian Orser, a world pairs crown by Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler.

Frank has written or co-authored more than 30 books and contributed to 60 other books. The recently released The Dominators was co-authored by Frank and his Etobicoke neighbor George Tracz PhD.

In 1989, Frank was inducted into the media section of the Hockey Hall Of Fame and in 2003, he received the sports journalism lifetime achievement award of Sports Media Canada.

Frank and his wife Shirley, a health sciences college professor and consultant, have lived in Etobicoke lor 40 years.

Frank Selke Jr.

Frank was born in North Toronto, the 6th of 7 Selke children. He played minor hockey in the old THL, winning championships with the Maple Leaf Imps, Marlboro Bantams and up to Midget at St. Michael’s. He also played on the St. Mikes football team that won the Toronto Rugby Union Bantam Championship in 1944.

When the family moved to Montreal in 1946, his playing days ended but a new career beckoned as he worked in a variety of roles at the Montreal Forum, ultimately being named Vice-President of Marketing and Promotion in 1964. During the 50s and 60s he worked in radio and television in Montreal and became the TV host of Hockey Night in Canada in 1960.

When the NHL expanded in 1967 he joined the Oakland Seals as President, then General Manager a year later. He returned to Toronto in 1971 as Executive Vice-President of Canadian Sports Network, the producers of Hockey Night in Canada. He retired in 1989.

In the early 80s, Frank joined the Board of Ontario Special Olympics continuing his relationship to this day as Executive Vice-President of Special Olympics Canada.
He is a member of the Ontario Special Olympics Hall of Fame and was presented with the Canada Volunteer Award in 1991 and the Canada 125 Award in 1992.
Frank and his wife “Red” have lived in Etobicoke since 1971 and have 3 children and 7 grandchildren.

Dennis Maruk

Dennis grew up in Etobicoke where he started playing hockey at eight years of age. He began his OHA career with the Toronto Marlies and was later traded to the London Knights.

In the 1975-76 season he was drafted by the California Golden Seals, which after its demise, resurfaced as the Cleveland Barons. That club folded and was later absorbed by the Minnesota North Stars, Dennis included.

Dennis was later traded to the Washington Capitols and became one of the NHL’s top scorers. In his second full season with the club he scored 50 goals. The next year, 1981, he scored 60 goals and 76 assists for a total of 136 points. Today only eight players in history have equalled or surpassed his single season point totals.

Dennis finished his NHL career with the Minnesota North Stars in 1989, ending a stellar 16-year career.

Dennis has three children and lives with his wife, Kimberly, in Aspen, Colorado, where he works at the historic Hotel Jerome.

Dave Reid

David was born in Etobicoke on May 15, 1964, and lived there with his parents and two brothers until 1981 when he was drafted by the Peterborough Petes of the O.H.L. He played there for 3 seasons enjoying a successful junior career.

In 1982, David was drafted 60th overall by the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. In December of 1983 he played his first game with the Boston Bruins and from 1984 to 1988 David continued to play with the Bruins organization. He signed in 1988 as a free agent with the team he idolized as a child, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He wore the blue and white for 3 years, and in the ’90-’91 season led the NHL with 8 shorthanded goals. A feat which tied Dave Keons’ 21 year old Maple Leaf record. David moved back to Boston as a free agent and played the next 5 seasons with the Bruins.

In 1996, David signed as a Free Agent with the Dallas Stars where he played for 3 seasons. As a member of the Stars organization, he won his first Stanley Cup in the spring of 1999. In the fall of that year he signed with the Colorado Avalanche and played his final two seasons in the NHL.

In David’s final game of his career in June 2001 he lifted the Stanley Cup for the second time. At the conclusions of 18 seasons in the National Hockey League, David had played 961 regular season games and 118 playoff games.

David is grateful to all of the coaches and volunteers who made his Minor Hockey days so enjoyable. From his first days outdoors at the West Mall Arena with the Eringate Minor Hockey Association, through the West End AC’s to his three best years of minor hockey with the Royal York Rangers of the Etobicoke Hockey Association a passion for the game was fostered in David that remains with him to this day. He attributes his desire to help in Minor Hockey in his community to the wonderful start he had in Etobicoke.

Upon retirement from playing in 200 I, David began a new career as a Hockey Analyst with the NHL Network and TSN. David resides in Ennismore, Ontario with his wife of 18 years, Kathy and their two children, Jessica and Alec.