Sports in Hamilton, Ontario

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Below is the expanded version of the Sports section from the Hamilton, Ontario wikipedia page.

See also: 1930 British Empire Games, Category:Sport in Hamilton, Ontario, and Sports venues in Hamilton, Ontario

1 Amateur & pro sports teams
2 References

[edit] Amateur & pro sports teams

Copps Coliseum

Professional sports teams

Club	League	Venue	Established	Championships
Hamilton Tiger-Cats	Canadian Football League	Ivor Wynne Stadium	1950	8
Hamilton Bulldogs	American Hockey League	Copps Coliseum	1996	0

Amateur and junior clubs

Club	League	Venue	Established	Championships
Hamilton Red Wings	Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey	Chedoke Twin Pad Arena	1973	1
Hamilton Wildcats	Australian Rules Football League	Mohawk Sports Park	1997	0
Hamilton Thunderbirds	Inter County Baseball League	Bernie Arbour Memorial Stadium	2005	0

[edit] Football

The Canadian Football Hall of Fame

Russ Jackson

Hamilton is also home to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame museum.^[1] The museum hosts an annual induction event in a week-long celebration that includes school visits, a golf tournament, a formal induction dinner and concludes with the Hall of Fame game involving the local CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Ivor Wynne Stadium.^[2]^[3]

On Wednesday, November 3, 1869, in a room above George Lee's Fruit Store, the Hamilton Football Club was formed. Hamilton Football Clubs have captured the Grey Cup in every decade of the 20th century, a feat matched in pro sport by only one other franchise, the Montreal Canadiens. In 1908, the Tigers won the Dominion Championship, a year before the Grey Cup was presented. Prior to World War II, the football team of the City of Hamilton was known as the Tigers. The only time that football was interrupted in Hamilton as a spectator sport was during the First and Second World Wars. After World War II the Tiger Football Team started competition once again. At the same time a new group in the City was formed and they became known as the Hamilton Wildcats. The competition for fan participation was so great that both teams were unable to operate on a sound financial basis. it was decided that the two Clubs should amalgamate and form one representative team for Hamilton. The present name, TIGER-CATS, and what is known as the modern era of football started in 1950. ^[4]

Hamilton based football teams have captured the Grey Cup a total of 15-times, which is second best among Canadian cities (Toronto teams have won 21-times). Hamilton Tiger-Cats-8, Hamilton Tigers-5, Hamilton Flying Wildcats-1 and the Hamilton Alerts-1. The Hamilton Alerts were the first team from Hamilton to win the Grey Cup back in 1912 against the Toronto Argonauts in Hamilton at the old A.A.A. Grounds.^[5] The city of Hamilton has hosted the Grey Cup Finals a total of 10-times, the last one being in 1996 (84th Grey Cup) in the "Snow Bowl" where the Toronto Argonauts defeated the Edmonton Eskimos by a score of 43-37.^[6]

Ivor Wynne Stadium is the home of the CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The stadium originally known as Civic Stadium was constructed in 1930 to host the 1930 British Empire Games; Canada's first major international athletic event, held in Hamilton from August 16 to 23, 1930.^[7] Notable residents and former players include "King Kong" Angelo Mosca.

The CFL's annual Eastern Division Labour Day Classic pits the Hamilton Tiger-Cats against perennial rivals the Toronto Argonauts. This particular weekend, typically the tenth or eleventh week in the season, is known for its fixtures that do not change from year to year. Oddly, for many years before his death, Harold Ballard owned both the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Toronto Maple Leafs, the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise in rival city Toronto. The team's prowess has fallen dramatically from its glory days in the 1960s and early 1970s, when it was a powerhouse. ^[8]

The Hamilton region has produced a number of star football players over the years and some of these include; Steve Christie ex-placekicker in the NFL, who holds a Super Bowl record for longest field goal kicked at 54 yards, Bernie Faloney, Tony Gabriel, Russ Jackson and the 1946 Lou Marsh trophy winner as Canada's top athlete Joe Krol.^[9]

[edit] Hockey

Copps Coliseum Arena has been the home ice for the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League for 11 years. When the Edmonton Oilers announced plans to suspend operations of the previous Hamilton Bulldogs franchise, local interests in conjunction with the Oilers, Montreal Canadians and the AHL secured ownership of the Quebec Citadelles and relocated them to Hamilton assuuring the continuation of the Bulldogs franchise. The team's primary affiliate is the Montreal Canadiens The Bulldogs have had well over 2 Million fans to date, and are currently the longest serving Canadian franchise in the American Hockey League. The Bulldogs reached the final of the Calde Cup Championship both in 1997 and 2003 only to lose in the finals on both occassions. ^[10]

In recent decades, Hamilton has yearned and applied for an NHL franchise. It has been continually disappointed, and voted against by nearby Buffalo and Toronto who would lose revenue if Hamilton had a NHL franchise. 1990 was the Year Hamilton came closest to landing an NHL franchise when 14,000 Hamilton hockey fans made Non-refundable downpayments for season's tickets in less than 24-hours but was blocked by Seymour Knox III (then owner of the Buffalo Sabres) and the Toronto Maple Leafs organizations, this according to Phil Esposito who at the time was with the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey club.^[11] ^[12] The Hamilton bid became the only group to meet all the necessary criteria established by the NHL. Here is a list of what the NHL wanted and what Hamilton’s bid had:^[13]

A building (Copps Coliseum, check)
20 year lease in place (check)
Local owner (Ron Joyce, check)
Owner with deep pockets (Owner of Tim Hortons, check)
Minimum of 10,000 season tickets sold (14,000 sold in 24 hours, check)
Market that would support hockey team (50 mile radius, 5 million people, check)
Corporate support (70 corporate companies committed to purchasing 70 corporate boxes for a minimum of 5 years, check)^[13]

Neither Ottawa nor Tampa Bay had a building, local owner, or a market comparable to Hamilton’s. At the time, no other bid came close to Hamilton’s—the media began talking about Hamilton as being the favourite. The NHL awarded the city of Ottawa, Ontario and the Tampa Bay area in Florida with new expansion teams.^[13]

The world class arena Victor K. Copps Coliseum was built downtown on Bay Street North. ^[14] The sports and entertainment arena, named for a former mayor and father of Sheila Copps, has hosted the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship Games which saw the Soviets capture gold against Team Canada with a top scoring line that consisted of Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Mogilny and Pavel Bure. It's also hosted the 1987 Canada Cup (ice hockey) which featured dynamic duo Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux combine forces to defeat the Russians and hosted the Canada Cup (ice hockey) again in 1991 with Canada winning the tournament once more, this time against Brett Hull and the Americans. In 1990 Copps Coliseum hosted the Memorial Cup tournament that featured a young Eric Lindros playing on the eventual winners; Oshawa Generals who defeated the Kitchener Rangers in an All-Ontario Finals. With each of these hockey tournaments Hamilton set Attendance records at the time of hosting them.^[12]

Hamilton based hockey teams have captured the Memorial Cup twice. The Hamilton Red Wings in 1962 which featured Pit Martin & the 1972 Summit Series hero Paul Henderson and in 1976 the Hamilton Fincups captured the trophy which featured future NHL stars Willie Huber, Al Jensen, Dale McCourt, Al Secord and Ric Seiling.^[9]

As of October 5, 2006 speculation has it that Jim Balsillie of Research in Motion who offered to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins for $175-million would move the team to Hamilton where it would play out of the Copps Coliseum Arena.^[15] On December 15, 2006, Jim Balsillie withdrew his bid to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins.^[16]. He made the decision after receiving notice from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman that the league would restrict Balsillie's control over the team. The move was geared at preventing Balsillie from moving the team.^[16].

The Hamilton Tigers played in the NHL during the early 1920s but then the team folded after a player's strike. Tigers owner Percy Thompson of the Abso Pure Ice Company of Hamilton then sold the players rights to New York City bootleggers and the new team was then named the New York Americans and became the first pro sports team to play out of the newly built Madison Square Garden in downtown Manhattan. Hockey Hall of Famer Joe Malone was a player/manager for the Tigers hockey club in the 1921-22 season. The team's home rink was the Barton Street Arena.^[17]

A number of NHL hockey players have come from the Hamilton region over the years. Some of these include:^[18]

Dave Andreychuk, Syl Apps, Allan Bester, Frank Caprice, Joe Cirella, Dave Dryden, Ken Dryden, Blake Dunlop, Babe Dye, Don Edwards, Nelson Emerson, Ray Emery, Todd Harvey, Red Horner, Harry Howell, Willie Huber, Dick Irvin, Al Jensen, Derek King, Jamie Macoun, Adam Mair, Brian McGrattan, Marty McSorley, Ron Murphy, Ric Nattress, Murray Oliver, George Owen, Keith Primeau, Pat Quinn, Leo Reise Jr., Rick Smith, Steve Staios, John Tonelli and Marvin Wentworth.

There are 30 hockey Arenas in the Greater Hamilton area including Copps Coliseum, Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena ,Pat Quinn Parkdale Arena, and the newest being Chedoke Arena on the west mountain.^[19]

[edit] Other Sports

Hamilton were the hosts of the first Commonwealth Games; then called British Empire Games in 1930 (see: 1930 British Empire Games); Canada's first major international athletic event, and bid unsuccessfully for the Commonwealth Games in 2010, losing out to New Delhi in India.^[9]

The [1] Around the Bay Race circumnavigates Hamilton Harbour or Burlington Bay. Although it is not a proper marathon, it is the longest continuously held long distance foot race in North America.^[9] The local newspaper also hosts the amateur Spectator Indoor Games.^[9]

The Hamilton Golf Club hosted the 2003 Canadian Open golf championship in which Bob Tway won. The traditional course layout, designed by famed course architect Hary Colt, proved very popular with touring pros. Hamilton also hosted the Canadian Open again in 2006 Jim Furyk won the title.^[9]

Hamilton successfully hosted the World Cycling Championships in 2003. It was only the fourth time the World Cycling Championships was staged in North America, and the second time ever in Canada (Montreal 1974.) Igor Astarloa of Spain was the winner.^[9]

Hamilton has hosted the Brier a total of 3-times. 1949, 1991 and the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier, March 3-11. ^[20]

Hamilton is also home of two auto race tracks. The first one is the Cayuga International Speedway a 5/8-mile oval auto racing track which is under new ownership and currently under major renovations. The last major event there was on September 2-3 (2006); The Canadian Association for Stock Car Racing (CASCAR) Labour Day Classic which featured the Super and Sportsman series. Rogers Sportsnet televised the Super Series race. The touring CASCAR series has been staging races since 1981. Cayuga International Speedway was considered one of Canada's top racing venues and attracted some of racing's top drivers, including Richard Petty, Al Unser, Kale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt, the Allisons (Bobby, Davey, Donnie and Kenny) and Benny Parsons.^[21] The second auto race track in Hamilton is the Flamboro Speedway, 1/3-mile semi banked ashphalt oval auto racing track. Established in 1961 and has provided excellent grass roots stock car racing action every year since - Making it one of Canada's longest running stock car tracks.^[22]

Hamilton is also home of Flamboro Downs; Canada's fastest half-mile harness horse racing track. Set on 220 acres (89 ha) on Highway #5 west, between highways 6 and 8, flamboro downs has grown substantially since its April 1975 opening. Races are held five days a week. A typical flamboro downs live race card will include at least 10 or 11 races, and often more. In addition to the live flamboro downs harness racing, both thoroughbred and standardbred racing from other tracks across North America are simulcast daily from 12 noon. An off-track betting network offers racing from teletheatres in Hamilton, Brantford, Burlington and Stoney Creek.^[23]

Hamilton is twinned with Flint, Michigan, and its amateur athletes compete in the Canusa Games, held alternatively there and here since 1958. ^[9] Flint and Hamilton hold the distinction of having the oldest continuous sister-city relationship between a U.S. and Canadian city, since 1957.^[24] 2007 marks the Games 50th-anniversary and Hamilton plays hosts on August 10-12.^[25]

Two new sports venues are expected in 2007, both of which are on the McMaster University grounds. The first is the Ronald V. Joyce Stadium,^[26] and the second is the David Braley Athletic Centre.^[27] New facilities will become part of the City's facility inventory prior to 2018 as Hamilton prepares to bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. In 1930 Hamilton was the site of the very first Commonwealth Games, then known as the British Empire Games. The Games came to Hamilton as a result of the efforts of Melville Marks Robinson. ^[9]