The Greatest West End Athlete
FROM APRIL/MAY 2024 ISSUE OF WEST END PHOENIX
#1 George Chuvalo
BOXING LEGEND
We asked sports aficionados to name their favourite of all time. Here, we present their winning pick and what they had to say about 24 notable runners-up
There used to be a barber shop at Hallam and Delaware called Fortunato and Ross. Of the two Italianissimo men who cut hair, I used to wonder which one could be Ross, until I discovered that Ross was Rossini, and it all made sense.
Ross occasionally clipped what was left of my thinning hair, and even after its passing I still jumped in the chair now and then to get my head shaved, wanting to support a longstanding neighbourhood business. Underneath his razor, Ross and I talked about the Leafs, the NHL and hockey, and he told me that, growing up, Canadian Olympian and New Jersey Devil netminder Sean Burke had sat in this very chair, his healthy brunette wave shaped into whatever was in fashion. Burke, I learned, grew up nearby on Westmoreland Avenue – he played ball hockey at the Dovercourt Boys and Girls Club – and it set me off into mapping other Bloorcourt players, from Team Canada coach and former Whitby Dunlops star Harry Sinden (“I grew up on Marchmount,” he told me during an interview at his home in Florida. “Can’t remember the number, though.”) to Black Hawk Lou Angotti, who grew up close to linesman John D’Amico on Beaver Avenue.
A window flung open to other athletes – many of them are listed on these pages – who spent time in our neighbourhoods, some of them as kids and others as adults, from Börje Salming on Indian Road to the Jones brothers on Greensides to the more western suburbs, where everyone from hockey player Brendan Shanahan (our 2018 Top West End Athlete winner) to decathlete Michael Smith learned the joy of play.
I once met Hall of Fame left winger Bobby Hull at the Riviera Bakery on College Street. He patted our son Lorenzo’s head, then engulfed my normal-size hand in his Yeti-size paw. But close encounters don’t count here; he lived in Chicago. Gifted Blue Jays shortstop Tony Fernandez (who hails from San Pedro de Macoris) shopped for yucca in West End markets – the taste made him feel not so far from the barrio – but he isn’t eligible either.
Among the many entries, from the revealing (Herb Carnegie, whose childhood home, we discovered through his daughter, Bernice, was on Federal Street) to the obvious (Paul Coffey was already a West End legend at 10 years old), the most nominated, and therefore top, athlete was Hook Avenue’s George Chuvalo, whose street name portended that he would become one of the most famous Canadian boxers of all time.
Despite boxing all around the world over a career that spanned decades, George and his family never left the West End. Before it closed during the pandemic, George and his son, Mitch (an instructor at UTS), held court at the Pegasus Bar & Grill in the Junction, where they sang karaoke every Friday night, a weekly event that Joe O’Connor wrote about in our May 2019 issue. With the recent George Chuvalo Neighbourhood Centre opening in 2019 on 50 Sousa Mendes St. in the West Bend area, his name has become even more synonymous with local sporting greatness. Every day, kids skateboard and cycle past the building that bears his name – its back windows face the Railpath – and a quick look at YouTube, and a few excellent documentaries, shows us all that he accomplished in his career. That includes taking Muhammed Ali the distance on two occasions, leading the champ to call him the “toughest guy I ever fought,” but also “the old washer-woman,” trying to get under his skin, which he could not. Congrats to George and Mitch, and everyone who got past the playgrounds and schoolyards and rinks to do what they loved to do for a lot longer than most of us.
Honourable Mention
What were you doing at age 16? Smoking butts? Sneaking beers from Dad? Badass stuff, no doubt, and yet far more rebel-cool is what Marilyn Bell did in the staid old early 1950s, when she became the first person to swim across Lake Ontario. This was no one-off, either, since for encores she swam across the English Channel and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. All hail Marilyn Bell! — Joe O’Connor, National Post Junction bureau
Marilyn Bell didn’t conquer great, record-breaking distances only to secure exorbitant cash prizes, or land life-changing endorsement deals, or even bask in the roar of an adoring crowd. She largely chugged along for hours, battling lethal waves with unmatched athleticism and endurance, because the water was there and no one had accomplished such feats before her. — Victoria Matiash, writer/broadcaster
Runners Up
I have to nominate Leo Rautins here because the last time I did not, he got mad at me. Seriously, though, anyone who calls themselves “The Kid From Keele Street” and who has had such a prolific career in professional and amateur basketball deserves a spot in the Pantheon. — Dave Bidini, WEP publisher
Arguably both the fastest and smoothest skater in NHL history, Weston’s Paul Coffey is also assuredly one of the top five or six defencemen to ever lace up skates. Whether his secret was the snugness of those blades – always a couple of sizes too small – or merely his West End roots, he’s the second-highest-scoring blueliner of all time and still holds the single-season-goal NHL record for defencemen with 48 in 1985-’86. — Wayne Parrish, former head, Basketball Canada
My pick for #1, which will surprise no one who knows my passion for baseball, is Joey Votto. The best baseball player Canada has produced appears to be also a genuinely intelligent and witty person, someone who sees the world in idiosyncratic, interesting ways. Not only a delight to watch on the field, it seems like he’d be a splendid person to have a drink with. — Guy Gavriel Kay, author
Emma Venusio played boys hockey growing up in the ’hood and eventually played for the AA Eagles. She went on to accelerate through girls hockey, skipping multiple levels to captain Team Canada U18. The way she played with the boys was as one of the fiercest and toughest girls in full-body contact and the hardest shooter, breaking the glass at times and injuring goalies and players alike with her terrifying slapshot. I believe she is and will be one of the best hockey players the world has ever seen. — Neil Doctorow, director, Central Hockey Academy
Born at 5 Federal St. near Brock and Bloor, Herbert Carnegie stands out as one of the best West End Toronto athletes due to his pioneering achievements in hockey, breaking barriers as part of the “All Black Line” and establishing Canada’s first registered hockey school. His legacy extends beyond sports, encompassing character development and community enrichment through the Future Aces Foundation. — Jalani Morgan, WEP photo director
Bobbie Rosenfeld was one of Canada’s most accomplished athletes in the early 20th century. She excelled in multiple sports, but one of her most notable achievements was winning a gold and a silver medal in the sprints at the 1928 Olympics. Off the track, Rosenfeld was known for her contributions to women’s sports and advocacy for gender equality in athletics. She was an early advocate for women’s participation in sports and worked to promote opportunities for female athletes. After retiring from competitive sports, Rosenfeld remained active in the sports community as a journalist and sports administrator. She was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1949 and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1955. In 1950, she was named Canada’s Female Athlete of the Half-Century by The Canadian Press. — Sami Jo Small, Olympian, author
Dave Reid, who grew up in Rexdale, held the Canadian record for the 1500 metres (3:37.84 in 1984) and ran in multiple world championships. Andrew Sznajder is a Canadian tennis Hall of Famer who went to Humberside and who earned the No. 46 ranking in 1989, the highest ever for a Canadian male at that time. He was a 1992 Olympian and played in multiple Davis Cups. There’s also Peter Fonseca (MP), who went to St. Mike’s and competed in the 1996 Olympics as a successful marathoner. Sue Stewart from Mississauga played in the 1996 Olympics for basketball and won two national titles at Laurentian, 5 OUA titles, 5x OUA all-star and player of the year (CIS) in ’91/’92. Melissa Humana-Paredes was a 2019 World Champion in beach volleyball. And can we claim Marnie McBean? She got her start at the Argonaut Rowing Club. — Michael Grange, writer, Sportsnet
Born in 1900, Davenport’s own Lionel Conacher is not a name you see often. Want to know two places where you can still read his name? One is on the Stanley Cup. The other is on the Grey Cup. Deion Sanders might be a three-sport athlete (baseball, football and media circus act), but Lionel “The Train” Conacher not only helped lead teams to the pinnacle of our nation’s two most storied sports championships, he also won an Ontario wrestling championship. Oh, and a Canadian boxing championship. He was no roster-filler. That Grey Cup championship? He scored 15 of Toronto’s 23 points himself. Final proof? The NHL all-star didn’t learn to skate until he was 16. That’s one gifted athlete. — Ian Merringer, writer
Avelino Gomez was arguably the greatest Canadian jockey ever, winning more than 4,000 races over his career. He won four Queen’s Plates. He’s a member of the Etobicoke and Canadian Sports Halls of Fame and has a statue in his honour at Woodbine. — William Hayes, broadcaster
Trailblazer, iconoclast and creator Chris Silva is a West Toronto BMX legend. He started riding the Harwood Park neigbourhood in 1996, turned pro in 2005 and is a proud member of the ICC crew. Silva is internationally recognized as the inventor of many pegless handrail tricks including the pegless hangover toothpick, the pegless over grind and the pegless kinked rail. Fellow Canadian and arguably the greatest BMX rider ever, Jay Miron, described Chris Silva as “one of Canada’s best street riders of all time.” — Greg Thomas, writer
When you’re discussing the best, you sometimes break down abilities and strengths within a game. An example might be the best receiver in football or best putter in golf. Such a discussion on the best playmaker in hockey would surely have Adam Oates at the very top of the list. He’s eighth all-time but higher on an assist per game list. He wasn’t considered a great skater but his vision was top drawer. — W.H.
I don’t think we can have an all-time list without a person who might be dragging hockey into a modern era of thinking, policy and action. Akim Aliu immigrated with his parents from Nigeria – his mother proudly Ukrainian, his Nigerian father finding his love as a track athlete at a Ukrainian university. They landed in Parkdale, the ultimate mosaic neighbourhood, one that my own mother calls home. Parkdale, where Aliu could thrive in his multitudinal identity and try different passions, became the place that changed his trajectory. In modern folklore, his first pair of skates was purchased at a garage sale and he began playing in a house league at McCormick Arena, home of the venerable Parkdale Flames. He demonstrated a natural talent for the game and, within a few years, was drafted into the Ontario Hockey League by the Windsor Spitfires.
His impact out in the world – to tell his story of racial abuse and discrimination – is an act of courage that might have swallowed up his NHL career. But his work with the Hockey Diversity Alliance, his work with kids and his tireless efforts to keep playing the pro game are expressions of a person who lives with multitudes he would rather not deny. That, in essence, is the Parkdale Mentality – to live as yourself, to excel despite the difficulties. I look to that tremendously and hope his story takes on the arc that he has always dreamed of. — Perry King, author
Allow me to also make an argument for Brody Clarke, one of the best undersized big men I’ve ever watched play basketball in person. He’s the son of Norman Clarke – a Toronto Star Athlete of the Year who played several years on Canada’s national team and represented Canada at the 1988 Olympics – and the younger brother of Julian Clarke, who played on scholarship at NCAA Division 1 Santa Clara and is now a medical doctor. Yet Brody has set himself apart in his own family. He is a poetic yet physical power forward and centre for the Oakwood Barons. He dominated his peers in his high school career – he wasn’t afraid to grab rebounds but also had a tremendous mid- and long-range game, in case his competition were taller and longer, which was always the case. I remember his last game against Eastern Commerce in the mid-aughts; he was towering in possession and aggressive on defense. With his massive contribution, the Barons won the provincial OFSAA title in 2014. Clarke represented Canada at the 2019 FISU Games, the 2015 U19 World Cup and the 2011 U16 Americas Championship. After Oakwood, Brody attended the University of Alberta, where he was a three-time first-team Canada West all-star and two-time All-Canadian. He left that school fourth in all-time scoring as a Golden Bear. This kind of trajectory is impressive, and he deserves way more recognition than he has received. He currently plays for Edmonton in the Canadian Elite Basketball League, and is considered one of the best Canadian players in this nascent league. — P.K.
Muay Thai in Canada would not be what it is without Ajahn Suchart Yodkerepauprai. Period. Born in the early 1960s in a small village in Thailand, Ajahn Suchart began training at the age of nine. Separated from his family, he moved to an all-boys Catholic boarding school in Chiang Mai to pursue education while continuing to learn Muay Thai. His pro career quickly began at the age of 14. In 1982 and ’83, in his early 20s, he became Northern Thailand Champion, holding the title for an unprecedented two years. He has competed in Bangkok’s largest, most highly respected Muay Thai stadiums and has also tested his skills in more than a dozen bare-knuckle fights around the world. He got an education while competing internationally, earning a Bachelor degree at the Chiang Mai Physical Education and Teachers College. He taught phys. ed. in schools in Chiang Mai for a few years before moving to Canada. His great contributions to the West End of Toronto came in the second act of his life. He immigrated to Toronto in 1987. He has taught tens of thousands of students at his gym at 254 Niagara St. – which has seen different locations in Bloordale, High Park and Bloor West Village. The ultimate learner of his craft, Ajahn Suchart is one of the few professional Muay Thai Masters who has a formal academic degree, operates Muay Thai schools and trains world-class athletes. He’s an all-timer, and it’s not a debate! — P.K.
Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner Sophie Jaques was taken 10th in the inaugural PWHL draft and plays lately for Canada and Minnesota. But most importantly for the purposes of this contest, she learned to skate in Rennie Park, moved on to George Bell Arena, then Humber Valley, donning blades for the mighty Etobicoke Dolphins. — Doug Bell, writer
Granville Mayers: My high school teammate at The Woodlands School in Mississauga, and one of the three most talented athletes I’ve ever met. Numbers: Legit. 6-1, 205 lb., sub-4.3-second 40-yard dash. Long jumped 7.11 metres in 1992, a district record that stood for 17 years. The previous year he jumped a junior-record 6.69. That record still stands. Bad teenage decisions kept him from maximizing his track and football potential, but he reinvented himself as a powerlifter in his 40s and, predictably, rewrote the record book. He hoisted 1,627.5 total pounds at last year’s nationals at age 49 to win his age group. Again. — Morgan Campbell, writer
Angela Bailey (1962–2021): A fast starter in the grand sense, she made her first national team at age 16, and won her first international medals two years later. And a faster starter on the track: Her times at 50 metres (6.16 seconds) and 60 metres (7.12) lasted more than a decade as national records. A rare case of bad timing: She was a clean athlete who peaked during the performance enhancing drug free-for-all that defined late 1980s track and field. Still, Bailey, an alum of The Woodlands School and the Etobicoke Huskies track club, ran 10.98 in the 100 metres in 1987 and remains the only Canadian woman to break 11 seconds drug-free. — M.C.
Decathletes have long been considered by many to be the top athletes on the planet. Mike Smith won gold at the Commonwealth games, silver at the World Track and Field Championships and was the first North American to win the Götzis International Decathlon (twice). He carried the Canadian flag at the ’92 Barcelona Olympics and was ranked in the World top 10 for 10 straight years. If Smith isn’t the best athlete to ever call the West End home, he’s high enough up the list that no one should have to scroll to find his ranking. — Darryl Webster, writer