He was nicknamed "The Big Train" and he perhaps earned it. He was, after all, the greatest of athletes. His all-around talent included the sports where he not only excelled but he also proved to be superior. "The Big Train" was Lionel V. Conacher.
Born in 1900, Conacher began playing football with the Toronto Capitals when he was eleven years old. He became known for his athletic talent in Canadian football, ice hockey, lacrosse, baseball, boxing, and wrestling.
Lionel V. Conacher played for Toronto Argonauts before going to play for the National Hockey League in 1925. He played for the league until 1937 and was a proud player of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Lionel V. Conacher’s list of accomplishments included sports and politics. His sports accomplishments were never limited to only one sport. In fact, his awards and recognition came in for any sport he wanted to play and definitely mastered.
Even after his death, Conacher was still achieving notoriety. Lionel V.Conacher gained entry into the 1955 Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. That same year, he also passed into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. In 1966, he entered into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame and then gained the Hall of Fame status again in 1994 when he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Lionel V. Conacher’s life was full of accomplishments and in his death, he continued to claim it. During his lifetime, he was also an Ontario Liberal Party Member of the Provincial Parliament.
Lionel died in 1954 at the young age of fifty-four. He was playing softball when he had a heart attack that ultimately killed him. Prior to his death, he was voted as Canada’s Athlete of the Half Century by the Canadian Press. It wasn’t surprising that he was playing a sport when death came knocking on his door.
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