Learn a little of Toronto's history as told through its plaques.
Lionel Conacher Park
Photos by Alan L Brown - June 2006
In this park on the southwest corner of Birch and Gange Avenues is this 1967 City of Toronto plaque. Here's the text:
Lionel Pretoria Conacher, know affectionately as "The Big Train", was born in Toronto on May 24, 1900 and received his early education in this area. He was a truly remarkable athlete, excelling in football, baseball, hockey and lacrosse and was outstanding in boxing, swimming, track and field, rowing and, in fact, in any sport in which he participated. He was proclaimed by press polls as Canada's "greatest all-round athlete" and "greatest football player" for the first fifty years of the twentieth century. Following his athletic career he entered the political field, serving first in the Ontario Legislature and later in the Dominion Government. It was while participating in a benefit baseball game on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 26, 1954, that this amazing athlete met his untimely death. In recognition of his major contribution to the citizens of Canada and this City in both public service and athletics, the Council of the Corporation of the City of Toronto on October 25, 1967, dedicated this park to the memory of the late Lionel Conacher.
Plaque Location Co-ordinates: 43.680788 -79.393870
Related Toronto plaque pages
Lionel Conacher 1900-1954
Lionel Pretoria Conacher (1900-1954)
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