Vincent Leah (November 29, 1913August 9, 1993) was a Canadian journalist, writer and sports administrator. He wrote for ''

The Winnipeg Tribune ''The Winnipeg Tribune'' was a metropolitan daily newspaper serving Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from January 28, 1890 to August 27, 1980. The paper was founded by R.L. Richardson and D.L. McIntyre who acquired the press and premises of the old '' ...

'' from 1930 to 1980, and was credited with giving the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

their team's name. He established youth sports programs in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

for baseball, basketball,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, lacrosse, ice hockey, and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

; and brought

Little League Baseball Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

for the ''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...

'' from 1980 to 1993. Leah was made a member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

, was inducted into the builder category of both the

Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame The Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is a Canadian museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, dedicated to honoring the history and achievements of sports in Manitoba. The organization began in 1980, and then opened a museum in The Forks in 1993. Afte ...

and the

Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame The Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum is a hall of fame and museum for ice hockey in Manitoba, located on the main level of the Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1985, when the first honoured members were named an ...

, and is the namesake of the

Vince Leah Trophy The Kim Davis Trophy is an annual award given to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League during the regular season. The trophy is named after former MJHL commissioner Kim Da ...

awarded to the rookie-of-the-year in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. He was the first recipient of the Outstanding Volunteer in Sport Award given by the Manitoba Sports Federation, was recognized for his career in sports by the

Heritage Winnipeg Corporation Heritage Winnipeg Corporation is a non-profit charitable organization in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that works to save and redevelop the city's built heritage. History Heritage Winnipeg was established in 1978 as a direct result of the protests surro ...

and the Canadian Amateur Sports Federation, and received an honorary doctorate from the

University of Winnipeg The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg, UW) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and kinesiology and applied health as well as gr ...

Early life

Vincent Leah was born in

, Manitoba, on November 29, 1913. He was the youngest of two sons to Francis and Bridget Leah. Leah had English heritage from his father, and Irish heritage from his mother. He contracted

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

at age eight, and attended Isaac Newton School and Ralph Brown School.

Journalism and writing

Leah began working for ''

'' as a

copy boy A copy boy is a typically young and junior worker on a newspaper. The job involves taking typed stories from one section of a newspaper to another. According to Bruce Guthrie, the former editor-in-chief of the '' Herald Sun'' who began work ther ...

in 1930, and retired on May 30, 1980, after 50 years as a

sports journalist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

for the newspaper. He was credited with giving the

their team's name. Journalist Jim Coleman wrote that Leah coined the name late in 1935, after Winnipeg became the first team from Western Canada team to win a

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

, and that the name came at a time when boxer

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He rei ...

had international success with the nickname, the Brown Bomber. After 1980, Leah was a

freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

for the ''

'' and also wrote for ''Seniors Today''. In 13 years as a columnist for the ''Free Press'', he chronicled the history of Winnipeg in his editorials in the "Neighbourhood" section of the newspaper. Leah was the author of eight books on the history of sports in Winnipeg and Manitoba. He wrote ''100 years of hockey in Manitoba'', in co-operation with the Manitoba Hockey Players' Foundation for the 1970 Manitoba Centennial. His other works include ''West of the River: The Story of West Kildonan'' (1970), ''Pages from the Past'' (1975), ''A History of the Blue Bombers'' (1979), and ''Alarm of Fire: 100 Years of Firefighting in Winnipeg, 1882–1982'' (1982).

Sports administration

Leah established youth sports programs in Winnipeg for baseball, basketball,

, lacrosse, ice hockey, and

. He was involved with

Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

sport programs in the

North End, Winnipeg Winnipeg's North End is a large urban area located to the north and northwest of Downtown Winnipeg. Paskievich, John. The North End Revisited, Photographs by John Paskievich. University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg 2017. It is bordered by the Re ...

, during the late-1920s, and began the Community Juvenile Hockey League in 1932. He founded the Excelsior Hockey Club in 1934, which won thirteen provincial championships and produced forty professional hockey players. He was nicknamed "Old Frostbite" since he stood in snowbanks while coaching minor ice hockey teams, and later expanded the Excelsior Club to include other sports for youths on a year-round basis. He later organized the Tom Thumb Hockey program in 1944, and the Red, White, and Blue Hockey Organization in 1949. Leah founded the Juvenile Football League, served as secretary of the Manitoba Football Union, and was a volunteer high school football referee for eighteen years. He helped establish the Winnipeg Bantam Basketball League in 1949, and was a coach, manager, and referee for lacrosse in Winnipeg after the conclusion of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1950, he brought

Little League Baseball Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization In community recreation, Leah was instrumental in establishing the Margaret Park Community Centre in 1964, and served as its president from 1965 to 1967. He later served on the athletic committee for the Manitoba Centennial in 1970.

Personal life

Leah married Mary Isabel Jardine on April 6, 1940, and had one son. Leah was a member of the Kildonan

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...

, the

Royal Canadian Legion The Royal Canadian Legion is a non-profit Canadian ex-service organization (veterans' organization) founded in 1925. Membership includes people who have served as military, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, provincial and municipal police, Royal ...

, the

Kiwanis Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. Since 1987, the organizatio ...

Club, and the

Fraternal Order of Eagles Fraternal Order of Eagles (F.O.E.) is a fraternal organization that was founded on February 6, 1898, in Seattle, Washington, by a group of six theater owners including John Cort (the first president), brothers John W. and Tim J. Considine, Harry ...

. He was an organist at his church, composed music and poetry, and was a watercolour and pastel artist. He died from a heart attack, on August 9, 1993, at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. His wife of 53 years died the next day on August 10. They were interred at Glen Eden Memorial Garden in Winnipeg.

Honours and legacy

Leah was named to the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt in 1959. He received the Manitoba Golden Boy Award in 1962, and the Manitoba Centennial Medal of Honour in 1970. When he retired from ''The Winnipeg Tribune'', he was the guest of honour at a civic banquet on June 3, 1980. He was made a member of the

on June 23, 1980, for "his work in newspapers and interest in the welfare of the youth of Manitoba". The formal ceremony was hosted by the

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...

on October 15, 1980. Leah was inducted into the builder category of the

in 1981, and the

in 1985. He received an honorary doctorate from the

in 1985. He was named to the honour roll of the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association in 1987. Other honours Leah received during his lifetime include, the Canadian Amateur Sports Federation Award for service to amateur sports, the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association Award of Merit, and the United States Recreation Association Award of Merit. He was the first recipient of the Outstanding Volunteer in Sport Award given by the Manitoba Sports Federation, and received the Distinguished Service Award from the

. He was also a life member of the Manitoba Lawn Bowling Association, the Manitoba Provincial Rifle Association, and the Ward Three Community Baseball League. Leah was widely known as "Uncle Vince". ''

Winnipeg Sun The ''Winnipeg Sun'' is a daily tabloid newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is owned by Postmedia following its acquisition of Sun Media, and shares many characteristics typical of Sun tabloids, including an emphasis on local news sto ...

'' journalist Jim Bender described Leah as a mentor to his colleagues, and that "he was simply the kindest, gentlest man they'd ever meet". The Margaret Park Community Centre was renamed to the Vince Leah Recreation Centre on October 4, 1980. He was posthumously inducted into the Winnipeg Citizens Hall of Fame in 1994. He was made the namesake of three streets in Winnipeg, and the

awarded to the rookie-of-the-year in the

Manitoba Junior Hockey League The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) is a Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Manitoba and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). The MJHL consists of thirteen teams all based ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leah, Vince 1913 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Canadian journalists 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers Baseball people from Manitoba Basketball people from Manitoba Canadian male journalists Canadian people of Anglo-Irish descent Canadian sports builders Canadian sports executives and administrators Canadian sportswriters Gridiron football people from Manitoba Ice hockey people from Manitoba Journalists from Manitoba Members of the Order of Canada People with polio Sportspeople from Winnipeg Writers from Winnipeg