Zeke O’Conner

Zeke O’Connor was born in New York City in 1926. As a boy, he was encouraged by his parents to play all kinds of sports. But it wasn’t until he entered high school at Mt. St. Michael Academy that he participated in organized sport, with a particular talent in football and basketball.

While attending the University of Notre Dame, his team won the national Collegiate Championships. He graduated from Notre Dame in 1949, and went on to receive his masters at Columbia University.

His professional football career includes playing with the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns and the New York Yanks. Zeke soon moved to Canada to play for the Toronto Argonaut’s, and is best remembered for scoring the winning touchdown in the 1952 Grey Cup.

His accomplishments go far beyond the realm of sports. He worked for Simpson Sears for more than 30 years, most notably as the Assistant Vice President of Public Affairs, but spent much of his free time volunteering with several organizations. Some of these include The Easter Seals Society, Special Olympics, and The Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada.

He took early retirement at the age of 57 so he could dedicate more time to these worthy causes, including, The Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation, which he founded in 1974 and continues to play an active role. In 1987 Zeke founded the Special Olympics in Nepal.

One of his biggest thrills was as honorary coach of the Canadian Special Olympics team, and leading them into the opening ceremonies during the (1987) World Games at Notre Dame.

Zeke is most proud of his three children and seven grandchildren.

Mark Osborne

Left-winger Mark Osborne played over 900 NHL games with four different teams – Detroit, New York, Toronto and Winnipeg. He scored more than 200 career goals, but was best known for winning battles in the corners.

Mark was born in Etobicoke and at age 17 became a walk-on for the Niagara Falls Flyers in the OHA. In 1980, he was drafted forty-sixth overall by the Detroit Red Wings, and as a rookie scored 26 goals for the club during the 1981-82 season.

He was soon traded to the New York Rangers as part of a multi-player deal. He worked hard as a consistent two-way forward and helped the Rangers reach the semi-finals in 1986.

In 1987, Mark was sent back to his hometown to play with the Toronto Maple Leafs. With the Leafs, Mark played on the “GEM” line with Ed Olczyk and Gary Leeman, and during the 1989-90 season scored a career best of 73 points.Mark Osborne retired in 1998.

Tom Watt

Long-time coach and physical educator, Tom Watt was born in Toronto in 1935. As a child growing up in York Township, he was encouraged by his father to play every sport. Never in his wildest dreams, did Tom set out to be a professional coach.

He graduated from University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Physical Education in 1959, and planned on a career in teaching.

In 1965 he returned to U of T as both the Head Hockey Coach for the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, and as an Assistant Professor in Physical Education. Between 1965 and 1977, Tom was an offensive line coach.

One of Tom’s proudest moments was when U of T won the first ever national college championship, the Vanier Cup, beating Alberta 14 – 7. During his years as coach, he led The Blues to 9 National and 11 Conference Championships.

He proudly coached Canada’s Olympic Hockey team along side Clare Drake in Lake Placid in 1980. Following his Olympic experience, he joined the Vancouver Canucks as assistant coach for the 1980/81 season.

The following year, he was hired as Head Coach for the Winnipeg Jets, where he led the team to a 48 point improvement, the single largest improvement from one year to the next in the history of the league at that time. He was then awarded the Jack Adams trophy, honoured as the number one coach in the National League, for his tremendous efforts.

In 1989, while he was assistant coach with the Calgary Flames, they won the Stanley Cup. In 1990 he moved back to Toronto to be the Assistant Coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he coached for two more years. He also served as Director of Player Development and Pro Scouting for the Maple Leafs.

Tom was an assistant coach for Team Canada, when they won the coveted Canada Cup in 1984, 1987 and 1991. Tom then became a regular television commentator on numerous Olympic and World Hockey Championships. His career has allowed him to live all over the country, an opportunity for which he is thankful and proud of. Tom stays very active, and is currently Pro Scouting for the Florida Panthers.

Louis Cauz

Journalist, author, historian and official scorer. Louis Cauz has had a wide and varied career, but his love of sport began when he was just a boy, watching and playing baseball, hockey and basketball. He played baseball for the Hamilton Mountain Lions, ran Track and Field with the Hamilton Armours for Westdale Collegiate, and played goalie during the 40s and early 50s, working out on occasion with the Hamilton Tiger Cubs at the Forum.

During the 1950s World Series between Philadelphia and the Yankees, Louis sat by the teletype as they pumped out scores and statistics. He was hooked. He loved all sports, and while Louis says he wasn’t very good at playing them, sport reporting was his opportunity to participate and be the interpreter of a sporting event for the public.

When Louis was18 years old he joined the Hamilton Spectator, where he fell in love with the newspaper business, and dedicated himself to becoming a writer and sports reporter. After years as an office boy and proof reader, Louis got his opportunity to write in 1955.

Two years later he moved to Toronto and joined the Globe and Mail where his career as a writer and reporter flourished. Louis had the opportunity to cover news and politics, but eventually made his way back to sports and started covering horse racing in the mid 60s.

During his first year covering hockey in 1967, the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup. For more than 17 years at the Globe and Mail, Louis covered all sports including the hockey, football, baseball, skiing, tennis and curling.

Some of his deepest memories include, witnessing Hank Arron tie Babe Ruth’s record, covering the Olympic Games in Munich, and being honoured with a Sovereign Award by The Jockey Club of Canada in 1984 for his book “The Plate: A Royal Tradition.”

He has been an Official Scorer for the American League at the Rogers Centre since 1989, and is the Managing Director of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Louis is married and has six children, and seven grandchildren.

Frank Bonello

Frank Bonello has lived and loved the game of hockey for over 60 years. Growing up in the west end of Toronto, Frank began to play hockey at the age of 12 with the St. Cecelia’s Pee Wees. His talents were quickly recognized and he was scouted by DeLaSalle High School.

Frank was an outstanding amateur hockey player who played on several Ontario team including the Toronto Marlboro Midgets, the Unionville Jets OHA Junior “B” team, and then the Galt Black Hawks. It was while he was playing Senior “A” hockey in Chatham that he met his wife Carol, and they were married in 1954.

He later joined the Whitby Dunlops who won Canadian Allan Cup Senior “A” and Provincial Senior “B” championships in Ontario, and most notably represented Canada in 1958 at the World Amateur Hockey Championships in Oslo Norway, where they won the championship.

For the past 40 years, he has significantly built the game through his dedication to coaching and managing. In the 60s, Frank gained coaching and managerial experience at the Junior “A” and “B” levels with the Markham Waxers, which concluded in an OHA Junior “B” league championship in 1969.

In the 70s, his long and successful career began with the Toronto Marlboros, where he held roles as Coach, Manager, Governor and CEO of the franchise. During his association with the club, the Marlboros twice won the Memorial Cup.

Since 1988, Frank has been working with the National Hockey League, as the Director of Central Scouting for the NHL, a role that allows all teams in the league to capitalize on his many fine talents on knowledge.

Frank and his wife have one daughter and one granddaughter, and are long time residents of Etobicoke.

Erin Woodley

Erin Woodley is both an athlete and coach. This synchronized swimming sensation was born in 1972 in Mississauga, Ontario and later moved with her family to Etobicoke.

As a child, her parents encouraged Erin and her two sisters to try all sports – gymnastics, swimming and dance. She was a natural in the water. At the age of 9, Erin participated in a synchronized swimming camp, and fell in love with the sport.

She attended high school at Silverthorne Collegiate, and later the University of Toronto, as she trained for some of the biggest events of her swimming career.

In 1991, Erin won three gold medals at the Canada Games for her solo, duet and team performances, and was the recipient of the Unisys Quest for Excellence Award.

In 1994 she won the national duet title with partner Lisa Alexander, then on to a gold metal at the Commonwealth games.

And while the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 would mark the end of a fantastic career, Erin counts her Olympic experience as one her proudest moments. It was there, where years of training, goal setting and careful planning, would come to fruition for the entire world to see, and where she would lead her team to a silver medal win in the synchronized swimming team event.

Erin has been busy since her Olympic medal win nearly 10 years ago; counting motivational speaking, coaching synchronized swimming, and raising two beautiful little girls as some of her most recent accomplishments.