One of the benefits of working at the Star is that its long, rich tradition goes back to the ‘90sÌý— not the 1990s but the 1890sÌý— so we can always dig up a story from our archives on an historical event.
The sinking of the Titanic? Here’s how the Star covered the tragedy on its front page on April 15, 1912.Ìý
John Lennon assassinated? This is what longtime music critic Peter Goddard wrote on Dec. 9, 1980, a day after the former Beatle was killed.
Pelé died? Let’s publish photos from soccer’s greatest player’s first trip to pc28¹ÙÍøin 1971.
The Star archives are such a valuable resource. Even though I’ve been helping to organize coverage forÌýProudfoot Corner for years, I didn’t know the origins of the sports department’s involvement in helping to raise money for gifts to give disadvantaged children at Christmas. It’s part of the Star’s Santa Claus Fund which itself began in 1906.
Proudfoot Corner launches with a look back at Jim Proudfoot’s prophetic column on the franchise’s first superstar.
Proudfoot Corner launches with a look back at Jim Proudfoot’s prophetic column on the franchise’s first superstar.
I knew that it used to be called Sportsmen’s Corner and that Jim Proudfoot had taken it over in 1971 to recognize generous readers who donated by boldfacing their names at the bottom of his columns. The drive had been renamed in his honour after he died since he quarterbacked it for almost three decades.
I reached out to Astrid Lange, our top-notch librarian who can dig up anything, and she found the very first Sportsmen’s Corner, published on Dec. 12, 1946.
As I read the “Speaking on Sports” column by sports editor Andy Lytle, I could almost smell the stench of second-hand cigar smoke in the newsroom at 80 King St. W., with the rhythmic patter of typewriters clanging in the background.
Bert Smith, the Star’s Kris Kringle, came out from behind his cigar this morning long enough for us to see his clouded blue eyes behind the smoke screen he usually sets up.
“We need help to put the Star Santa Claus Fund over this year,” said Bert, “and if you haven’t been misleading us, there’s a generous sports vein in this city which hasn’t been tapped.”
The first Sportsmen’s Corner, the sports contribution to the Star Santa Claus Fund, published on Dec. 12, 1946.Ìý
pc28¹ÙÍøStar libraryLytle believed that the “heart of sports fans is the strongest organ in the country” and he was being challenged to prove it.
He invited readers to send donations to the newsroom marked “Sportsmen’s Corner” and they would be “acknowledged in these columns.”
Back then, the goal of the Santa Fund was $28,000 for 14,000 needy children. In today’s dollars, that’s $471,349.82.
The need has grown tremendously in the last 80 years. The goal in 2024 is toÌýraise $1.5 million for 50,000 boxes that will go to financially vulnerable kids, ages one to 12, across the GTA.
In 1946, many recipients were children of soldiers who had just returned from World War II. Their present would include toys, nuts, candies and a sweater (“the full stocking, in short.”) That hasn’t changed much asÌýsocks, mittens and treats now fill the gift boxes.
Back then, readers were challenged to find out which sport had the most generous fans — whether they be curlers, boxers or hockey players.
“Doggone it, this is the best game in the world if we only get playing it!” Lytle wrote.
(We don’t use the phrase “doggone it” enough in the Star these days. Or at all.)
Lytle worked at the Star from 1934 to 1949 before returning west to become sports editor at the Vancouver Sun. One of Canada’s best-known sports editors, .
Replacing him as sports editor at the Star in 1949 was the legendary Milt Dunnell, yet another giant of sports journalism in Canada.
This department is steeped in tradition, and recognizing readers who donate to Proudfoot Corner (formerly known as the Sportsmen’s Corner) is one of them. The drive has evolved into a department-wide effort that runs every Saturday until the end of the year. The theme of each story that runs with the drive this year will be an update on, or a behind-the-scenes look at, some of the stories our journalists covered.
On the Corner:ÌýTo kick off this week,ÌýMaureen Smeaton gives $250 in memory of Peter John Smeaton. Ian Marr chips in $100. Coming in with $105 are:ÌýKaren and Warren MacRobie,ÌýEdgar Goodaire, Barbara Lindenbach, Mike McCann (in honour of Jean McCann) and Andrew Peter Suboch (in memory of Mom and Baba Suboch).
Friends and family of Vince Catalfo have been honouring his memory for well over a decade at Proudfoot Corner. Bill Dunn, Bruce Lee, Andy Alic, Bill Rodrigues, Dario Vodopia, Lino Girardo, Nancy Falcioni, John Falcioni, Michael Falcioni, Irene Petrovich, Ken Rovinelli and John Iannone teamed up this year to donate a very generous $1,000.
