James Lloyd Turner (August 9, 1884 – April 7, 1976) was a Canadian ice hockey manager and executive. He was born in Elmvale,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Career

Turner's first real experience with hockey began in

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is at the St. Mary's River on the Canada–US border. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay. The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants ...

. He played on an amateur team with his three brothers. In his spare time, he worked at the local rink, managing it and making its ice. Despite becoming involved in hockey, Turner was still primarily a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player. When he moved to

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

in 1907, Turner played as the

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

for the team in Calgary, where he was the only non-American player in the Western Canada Baseball League. However, this is where his reputation as a hockey promoter grew. At the time, hockey was still young throughout

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

, and one of his primary goals was to help establish the game. He met the task by converting a

roller skating Roller skating is the act of traveling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on streets, sid ...

rink to a hockey rink, and followed through by establishing a team and league. When the arena burned down in 1915, he built a nearby outdoor facility so the team would not have to stop playing. 1924 Calgary Tigers

In what was arguably his most notable achievement, Turner started up two teams each in Calgary and

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, two of which eventually became the foundation of the

Western Canada Hockey League The Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), founded in 1921, was a major professional ice hockey league originally based in the prairies of Canada. It was renamed the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1925 and disbanded in 1926. The WCHL's Victoria C ...

. He personally managed the

Calgary Tigers The Calgary Tigers, often nicknamed the ''Bengals'', were an ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada from 1920 until 1927 as members of the Big-4 League, Western Canada Hockey League and Prairie Hockey League. The Tigers were revived in ...

, who played so well in the WCHL that they challenged the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

for the Stanley Cup in 1924, albeit in a losing effort. Afterwards, he managed the

Minneapolis Millers The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...

of the American Hockey Association and led them to a championship in 1926. Soon after, he flew back to the west to manage the Seattle Eskimos of the

Pacific Coast Hockey League The Pacific Coast Hockey League was an ice hockey minor league with teams in the western United States and western Canada that existed in several incarnations: from 1928 to 1931, from 1936 to 1941, and from 1944 to 1952. PCHL 1928–1931 The first ...

. In the 1930s, Turner changed his focus to senior amateur hockey. He wanted to raise the profile of the

Allan Cup The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the national senior amateur men's ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. The current champions are the ...

, so he promised to pay W. G. Hardy, then-president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), $1,500 for every tournament finals game played in Calgary. By 2006 standards, this is about $20,000 per game. Turner paid to have fans shuttled in via train from as far as 150 miles away. Thanks to media coverage, the popularity of the tournament skyrocketed, and the CAHA raised a significant amount of funds. Turner created and managed several more leagues, teams, and tournaments throughout his life. He concentrated efforts on creating military and civilian tournaments, and he organized the Southern Alberta Indian Tournament, a competition for the

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

tribes of Alberta. For this, he received the honorary title of ''Chief Sitting Bull.'' In 1958, Turner was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder, and in 1980, he was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame for contributions to hockey. He was one of the first 25 members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Lloyd 1884 births 1976 deaths Hockey Hall of Fame inductees People from Simcoe County Sportspeople from Ontario