Rhonda Leeman Taylor
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Rhonda Leeman Taylor (born 1953 in
Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between To ...
) is a former women's
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
player and ice hockey administrator from Canada. In 1980, Leeman Taylor became the first salaried female employee of the Ontario Women's Hockey Association (OWHA). Leeman Taylor also served as the chairwoman for the inaugural Women's National Hockey Championships in 1982 and became the first woman to sit on the board of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (now known as Hockey Canada). Taylor also sat on the board of the Ontario Women's Hockey Association (OWHA). A book about her career and co-written with her niece, Denbeigh Whitmarsh was released in
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. Leeman Taylor is also a Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame member.


Women's ice hockey


Playing career

In 1948, Canada's Sam Jacks was asked to become director of parks and recreation for the city of
North Bay, Ontario North Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing. North Bay developed as a railroad centre, and its airport was an important military ...
, in
Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...
. After moving to the city and accepting the position he then became a member of the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA). Soon after he became instrumental in developing the first Northern Ontario Playground Hockey Association (NOPHA) which encouraged youth to play ice hockey on outdoor rinks. This effort enabled girls and boys more opportunities to play ice hockey, figure skate, and eventually gave opportunity for Canadian girls to play the sport of
ringette Ringette is a non-contact winter team sport played on ice hockey rinks using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. The sport is among a small number of organize ...
, which Jacks created with the help of NORDA and the Society of Directors of Municipal recreation of Ontario (SDMRO), an organization where he served as President. As a result of the efforts and activities of the SDMRO, NORDA, and NOPHA, Taylor was provided with the opportunity to not only play ice hockey, but gain access to an administration level of sport later on. In 1961, the Fitness and Amateur Sport Act came into force in Canada whereby the Government of Canada made an official commitment to "encourage, promote and develop fitness and amateur sport in Canada." A few years later, the Canadian government created two new directorates: Recreation Canada, which was tasked with improving the lifestyle of Canadians, and
Sport Canada Sport Canada is a branch of the Department of Canadian Heritage that develops federal sport policy in Canada, provides funding programs in support of sport, and administers special projects related to sport. Its mission "to enhance opportuniti ...
, which was responsible for developing competitive sport.


1969–1976


Kingston Ontario

In 1969, at the age of 15, Leeman saw an ad in the
Kingston Whig-Standard ''The Kingston Whig-Standard'' is a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is published five days a week, from Tuesday to Saturday. It publishes a mix of community, national and international news and is currently owned by Postmedia. It has ...
looking for women to form a community hockey team. The team became the Kingston Red Barons, and would place a stuffed doll of
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character,
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, at centre ice before every game played. In addition to Leeman Taylor, fellow Red Barons players Annabelle Twiddy, Katherine Cartwright, Mary Skeggs eventually became members of the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame.


Queen's University

Following her time with the Red Barons, Leeman played for the Queen's Golden Gaels women's ice hockey program from 1973 to 1976. Known as the "Golden Gals" at the time, the program captured the OWIAA title in the 1974–75 season. After graduation from Queen's University, Leeman Taylor relocated to Kapuskasing, Ontario, launching a women's hockey organization.


Women's administration

In 1976, Taylor graduated from Queen's University in
Southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is disp ...
, then moved to the
Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...
town of
Kapuskasing Kapuskasing is a town on the Kapuskasing River in the Cochrane District of Northern Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Hearst. The town was known as MacPherson until 1917, when the name was changed so as not to conflict with another rail ...
where she started a women's ice hockey organization. That same year, she took on a volunteer position with the newly formed Ontario Women's Hockey Association (OWHA). Within three years, Taylor helped the Association grow the number of registered female teams from 101 to 203, travelling throughout the province. Taylor was the first employee hired by
Hockey Ontario Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
to assist in the development of the OWHA, which was the floundering at the time. In 1980 she became the first salaried female employee of the Association. In 1982, Taylor organized the first women's national hockey championships in Canadian history, the
Esso Women's Nationals The Esso Women's Nationals was the Canadian women's senior ice hockey championship from 1982 to 2008. The winners of the event received the Abby Hoffman Cup. The second place team was awarded the Fran Rider Cup, while the third place was given t ...
, and served in the role of chairwoman. The inaugural Women's National Hockey Championships in 1982 took place in
Brantford, Ontario Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indepen ...
and secured
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as a sponsor. The final saw teams representing the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Ontario face-off, with attendance of approximately 1,600 fans. That same year, she founded and directed the
Female Council Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females ...
, a subsect of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, representing female hockey in Canada. The following year in 1983, Leeman Taylor became instrumental in banning contact from all national women's hockey tournaments in Canada.


Awards and honors

*1974-75:
Ontario Women's Intercollegiate Athletics Association Ontario University Athletics (OUA; french: Sports universitaires de l'Ontario) is a regional membership association for Canadian universities which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providin ...
(OWIAA) championship *Class of 1997: Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leeman Taylor, Rhonda 1953 births Canadian women's ice hockey players Living people Ice hockey people from Ontario Sportspeople from Kingston, Ontario Women ice hockey executives Women in Ontario