The Charlie Conacher Humanitarian Award (or Charlie Conacher Memorial Trophy) was an award given to a

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) player who made "outstanding contribution to humanitarian or community service projects". It was established in 1968–69 in the memory of

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

player

Charlie Conacher Charles William "The Big Bomber" Conacher, Sr. (December 20, 1909 – December 30, 1967) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and New York Americans in the National Hockey Leagu ...

, who died of throat cancer in 1967, and featured an annual benefit dinner that raised money for the Charlie Conacher Research Fund for Cancer. The award was not affiliated with the NHL, though it was given to one of the league's players.

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

captain George Armstrong was the first winner, named following the season. Co-winners were named on two occasions, as

Jean Beliveau Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...

and

Bobby Orr Robert Gordon Orr (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the pos ...

shared the award in 1970–71, as did

Jimmy Peters, Jr. James Stephen Peters Jr. (born June 20, 1944) is a Canadian retired ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), left wing who played 309 games in the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red Wings and Los Angeles Kings between 1964 and 1974. After his play ...

and

Gary Bergman Gary Gunnar Bergman (October 7, 1938 – December 8, 2000) was a Canadians, Canadian professional ice hockey player. A Defenceman (ice hockey), defenceman, Bergman played in the National Hockey League, NHL, mostly for the Detroit Red Wings. He was ...

in 1972–73.

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

forward

Lanny McDonald Lanny King McDonald (born February 16, 1953) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Rockies and Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played over 1,100 games during a 16-year c ...

was announced as the winner of the award at the 1982–83 Conacher Hockey Awards dinner, though he was actually the runner-up to

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

defenceman

Brad Park Douglas Bradford "Brad" Park (born July 6, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. A defenceman, Park played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings. Considered to be on ...

. The mistake was cleared up a few days after the dinner. Calgary's

Jim Peplinski James Desmond Peplinski (born October 24, 1960) is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) player. He played ten seasons in the NHL (all with the Calgary Flames) and won the Stanley Cup in 1989. He represented Canada at the 1988 Winter Oly ...

was named the final recipient of the award in 1983–84, after which the trophy was retired and put on display at the newly constructed Charlie Conacher Research Centre for cancer at the

Toronto General Hospital The Toronto General Hospital (TGH) is a major teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the flagship campus of University Health Network (UHN). It is located in the Discovery District of Downtown Toronto along University Avenue's Hospital ...

. Former

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

star

Stan Mikita Stanley Mikita (born Stanislav Guoth; May 20, 1940 – August 7, 2018) was a Slovak-born Canadian ice hockey player for the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League, generally regarded as the best centre of the 1960s. In 2017, he was n ...

was given a special award at that final banquet in recognition of his work with the hearing impaired. The benefit dinners held in conjunction with the award raised over $2 million towards throat cancer research in the 17 years that they were held. Two years after the Conacher Award was retired, Maple Leafs owner

Harold Ballard Harold Edwin Ballard (born Edwin Harold Ballard, July 30, 1903 – April 11, 1990) was a Canadian businessman and sportsman. Ballard was an owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL) as well as their home arena, Maple ...

presented the NHL with the

King Clancy Memorial Trophy The King Clancy Memorial Trophy is a sports award given annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community. The ...

, also to be given to the league's top humanitarian. The new trophy was first awarded in 1987–88.

Winners

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conacher, Charlie Humanitarian Award Cancer fundraisers Humanitarian and service awards National Hockey League trophies and awards