Joseph Viateur "Léo" Dandurand (July 9, 1889 – June 26, 1964), was an American-Canadian sportsman and businessman. He was the owner and coach of the
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
team in the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
(NHL). He also was an owner of race tracks and of the
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...
football team in the league that evolved into the
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...
.
Personal life
Dandurand was born in
Bourbonnais, Illinois
Bourbonnais ( ) is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 18,164 at the 2020 census.
History
The village is named for François Jace Bourbonnais ''père'', a fur trapper, hunter and agent of the American Fur C ...
, with most of his family either migrating or born there:
* Great grandfather Christome Marcel Dandurand (1784–1865) was born in
Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec
Baie-Saint-Paul (; 2021 Population 7,371; UA population 4,308) is a city in the Province of Quebec, Canada, on the northern shore of the St. Lawrence River. Baie-Saint-Paul is the seat of Charlevoix Regional County Municipality. The city is ...
, and died in Bourbonnais in 1865.
* Grandfather Luc Dandurand was born in
La Prairie, Quebec
La Prairie () is an off-island suburbs, off-island suburb (South Shore (Montreal), south shore) of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Jacques River and the Saint Lawrence River in the Roussillon Regional Coun ...
, in 1827, and died in 1903 in
Kankakee, Illinois
Kankakee ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. Located on the Kankakee River, as of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley, IL MSA, Kan ...
.
* Father Francois Xavier Dandurand (1859–1896) lived in Illinois his entire life.
He moved to Canada when he was 16 years old and attended
St. Mary's College where he was an athlete in baseball, hockey and lacrosse. After graduating, he became involved in real estate and later in wholesale tobacco in the Montreal area. His first sports investment was the Kempton Park racetrack in Laprairie.
[Podnieks, p. 58] After his retirement from professional sports, he owned a successful restaurant in downtown Montreal. He died of a heart attack on June 26, 1964, at the age of 74. He was entombed at the
Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery
Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery (, ) is a rural cemetery located in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which was founded in 1854. The entrance and the grounds run along a part of Côte-des-Neiges Ro ...
in Montreal.
Ice hockey and the Montreal Canadiens
He was a referee in the
National Hockey Association
The National Hockey Association (NHA), initially the National Hockey Association of Canada Limited, was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor of today's National Hockey Leagu ...
and was involved with the St. Jacques minor hockey team in the
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
area. He was a representative at the founding of the
Canadian Amateur Hockey Association
The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA; ) was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey in Canada from 1914 until 1994, when it merged with Hockey Canada. Its jurisdiction included senior ice hockey leagues and the Allan Cup, ...
in 1914. He is considered the inventor of the rule in ice hockey limiting the number of concurrent penalties to two.
On November 2, 1921, Dandurand and his partners,
Joseph Cattarinich
Joseph Jean Étienne Stanislas Cattarinich (November 13, 1881 – December 7, 1938), was a Canadian professional Ice hockey player, and co-owner of horse racing tracks in Canada and the United States as well as a co-owner of the Montreal Canadien ...
and
Hilarion Louis Létourneau, purchased the
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...
hockey club from the widow of
George Kennedy
George Harris Kennedy Jr. (February 18, 1925 – February 28, 2016) was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 film and television productions. He played "Dragline" in ''Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), winning the Academy Award for Best Supp ...
for $11,000. Under their ownership, the Canadiens won the
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...
in
1924
Events
January
* January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after.
* January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...
,
1930
Events
January
* January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...
, and
1931
Events
January
* January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics.
* January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa.
* January 22 – Sir I ...
. Dandurand coached the team until 1926 and was the coach for the 1934–35 season. Dandurand was also the team's general manager from 1921 until 1935. Létourneau sold his stake in the club in 1930, and Dandurand and Cattarinich continued as owners until selling the team in 1935 for $165,000.
Leo Dandurand was inducted into the
Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and National Hockey Le ...
in 1963 as a builder.
Other sports interests
Along with hockey, Dandurand and his partners were heavily involved with horse racing. In 1932, they bought
Blue Bonnets Raceway in Montreal. They owned 17 tracks in
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
,
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
,
Ohio
Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
,
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
,
Utah
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
, and
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
at the time of Cattarinich's death in 1938. In 1931, he introduced the
daily double exotic bet at the
Connaught Park Racetrack to encourage bettors to attend the early races.
Dandurand was also a boxing and wrestling promoter in Montreal and a director of the
Montreal Royals
The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm club ( Class AAA) of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939; pi ...
baseball team.
In 1946, Dandurand founded the
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...
football team with
Eric Cradock
Eric Cradock (died October 5, 1985) was a Canadian stockbroker and sports entrepreneur who played a key role in Canadian football development in the 1940s and 1950s. Toronto-born Cradock worked in mining and stocks, and was reputed to have become a ...
and
Lew Hayman. In 1949 Montreal Alouettes defeated Calgary Stampeders 28-15 to win the
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup () 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 between the winners ...
. The team played in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union, which later became the CFL's
east division. Leo Dandurand got name on the Grey Cup as the President of the Alouettes. He only 1 of 6 persons to get their names on the Grey Cup and Stanley Cup. (See
Carl Voss
Carl Potter Voss (January 6, 1907 – September 13, 1993) was an American ice hockey forward in the National Hockey League. He played for several teams between 1926 and 1938. He would later become a referee, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall ...
,
Lionel Conacher
Lionel Pretoria Conacher ( ; May 24, 1900 – May 26, 1954), nicknamed "the Big Train", was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports. ...
,
Joe Miller,
Norman Kwong
Norman Lim Kwong (born Kwong Lim Yew; ; October 24, 1929 – September 3, 2016) was a Canadian professional Canadian football, football player who played for the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Elks, Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football L ...
&
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...
). The
Leo Dandurand Trophy is a CFL award presented each year to the most outstanding lineman in the East Division.
Coaching record
References
Bibliography
*
*
Notes
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dandurand, Leo
1889 births
1964 deaths
American ice hockey coaches
National Hockey League executives
National Hockey League owners
Montreal Alouettes owners
Montreal Alouettes team presidents
Montreal Canadiens coaches
Montreal Canadiens executives
Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
People from Bourbonnais, Illinois
Stanley Cup champions
Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery