Much like Bill Wirtz’ induction, we are guessing that Toronto fans felt the same way about the performance of Harold Ballard AFTER he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Ballard was a longtime supporter of Hockey on multiple levels and did a lot financially for amateur hockey teams in the Toronto area for years. In the early 60’s, along with Stafford Smythe and John Bassett Sr., Harold Ballard became the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs.   The Leafs would dominate the 60’s, and Ballard would see his team win three Stanley Cups under his partial ownership. With the buying out of Bassett and the death of Smythe, Ballard would become the sole owner of the team, and though they did not win a cup in the 70’s, were still competitive. By the 80’s though, Harold became a caricature of himself, and was the leader of a floundering team. He was never as disliked as Wirtz was in the end, but many people in Toronto questioned a lot more than Ballard’s Hall of Fame induction in the 1980’s.  

Bunny Ahearne was born in Ireland, and spent most of his adult life in Great Britain; a strange pedigree for a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee. Ahearne worked for the British Ice Hockey Association (yes there is one) and managed the team that shockingly won the Olympic Gold over Canada in 1936. He would later serve in various capacities for the IIHF and was a big part in bringing Canada and the United States to become active members of the organization. This induction is great for showing the Hall wanted to truly honor the International aspect of the game, but this may not be the best overall choice to do so.

You would think that it would be impressive enough that Alex Delvecchio played a little over twenty two seasons in the NHL for just one team; that being the Detroit Red Wings: but it was far more than that accomplishment that made him enter the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Delevecchio’s lengthy tenure in Motown was made more impressive by the fact that he rarely missed a game and his production was robotically consistent.

Philip Ross’ entry to the Hockey Hall of Fame can be traced to the Stanley Cup itself. Ross was actually a decent player, as he played for the Ottawa Hockey Club but he served the game by helping to form the Ontario Hockey Association and actually competed in the championship game in 1891. A few years later, he was named as one of the trustees by Lord Stanley for the Stanley Cup. This was a role that Ross (who would later also become a respected Canadian politician) took very seriously, and held for fifty years, all the while protecting the integrity of the trophy. It is because of men like Philip Ross that the Stanley Cup holds the value it does today.