History

Northern Ontario Hockey Association

110 Lakeshore Dr. , North Bay Ontario P1A 2A8

Tel: (705) 474-8851 Fax: (705) 474-6019 E-Mail: noha@noha.on.ca

ANGUS D. CAMPBELL

Founder of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association

Past President and Life Member

Member, Hockey Hall of Fame

(INDUCTED 1964)

Angus Daniel Campbell was an athlete who combined ability with scholastics. He was born March 19, 1884 at Stayner, Ont., and received his early education there, then graduated from the University of Toronto in 1911 with a B.A. Sc. degree in mining engineering.

Campbell played hockey and lacrosse while at the U of T and was on championship teams in both sports. During the 1909 - 10 season he was in Cobalt, Ont., where he held a student mine position, and played on a team with such greats as Walter Smaill, Art Ross, Herb Clarke, and Bruce Ridpath. He returned to Cobalt after graduation and played hockey there until 1914.

After his hockey career, Campbell played an important part in development of amateur hockey in Northern Ontario. He was first president of the Northern Ontario Association when the NOHA was formed in 1919. He later became an executive of the Ontario Hockey Association.

HISTORY

Organized amateur hockey came into existence for the North Country on October 8th 1919, when at the annual meeting of the Temiskaming Hockey League in Cobalt, to which delegates had been invited from towns between Cochrane and Sudbury, a resolution was passed favoring the formation of a Northern Ontario Hockey Association.

The climatic conditions gave the North a splendid opportunity to develop this favourite winter sport to the fullest extent and, although individual efforts had been made by various towns to form a league to take in several clubs, no real organization existed prior to the season of 1919 - 1920. Angus D. Campbell, Mining Engineer of the O'Brien Mine in Cobalt, was the founder of the NOHA. While a student at Varsity and later, in the Mines League of Cobalt, he not only proved himself a star player, but an exponent of clean sport.

His efforts to organize hockey in the North were realized when the NOHA was formed at a meeting held for the purpose of electing officers and discussing rating of the NOHA for the season of 1919 - 1920. The delegates present at the meeting when the N.O.H.A. was formed were W. Widdifield and G.S. Lowe, Timmins; J.R. Dier and W. Dixon, New Liskeard; N.F. Smith and N.B. Strong, Haileybury; T. Shaw and H.G. Kennedy, Cobalt; W. Sullivan, North Bay, and J.P. Mader, representing both Sudbury and Sault Ste Marie. J.R. Dier was made Vice-President and H.P. Charlton, Secretary-Treasurer. G.S. Lowe, Timmins, M.G. Hansman, New Liskeard; N.F. Smith, Haileybury; W. Beaton, North Bay; J.P. Mader, Sudbury and W. Widdifield, Porcupine, formed the first Executive.

On November 18th, 1919, the NOHA became affiliated with the Ontario Hockey Association. Under the terms of affiliation the NOHA adopted the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association residence rule, which was October 1st previous to the playing season; also, all playing members of the NOHA were to hold registration cards issued by the Ontario Branch of the AAU of C. Exclusive jurisdiction was given the NOHA covering the territory from Cochrane to North Bay and west as far as Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, the OHA to recognize the authority of the NOHA to regulate and govern hockey in the district mentioned. The NOHA champions, under these terms, were allowed to play off at the end of each season at Toronto with the winners of the OHA Intermediate and Junior series. However, at the annual meeting of the OHA held in Toronto on December 6th 1919, it was decided to allow the winners of the Intermediate series, through a play-off with the Senior O.H.A. champions, to compete for the cup that is emblematic of the world's amateur championship.