Who do you think is sport's all-time best? Each week, we will profile a candidate, inviting you to decide who should top our list of 50. All participants will be entered into a draw for the weekly adidas prize and an end-of-contest Etihad Holidays four-day trip for two, including business class flights and accommodation, to a mystery location. We will reveal the full 50 at the end, but this week Neil Vorano looks at Canadian all-rounder Lionel Conacher.
In 1999, the Canadian Press voted Wayne Gretzky, the ice hockey player, Canada's top male athlete of the second half of the 20th century. But had the award encompassed the entire millennium, the Great One would have been passed over for an even greater one. Though Gretzky was arguably the best ice hockey player to lace up a pair of skates, he would have been overshadowed by a man whose domination in so many different sports would have made him an unimaginable superstar were he alive today.
As it was, Lionel Conacher enjoyed his glory years in the 1920s and 1930s, and, as a result, has fallen out of Canada's collective consciousness. But Conacher, or "Freight Train" as he had become known, reached the pinnacles of success at the highest echelons of ice hockey, rugby-style football, baseball, boxing, lacrosse and wrestling - a level of sportsmanship that has never been approached by anyone in the modern world before or since.
Lionel Conacher was born in Toronto in 1900, the oldest of 10 children. He quit school in Grade 8 to help support his family, and quickly realised his athleticism was the best way out of the slum he was raised in. He was quick (running the 100m in under 10 seconds), he was strong, and he had a coordination that made him an immediate natural in any sport. At 16, he won the Ontario 61kg wrestling championship. At this age he also taught himself to skate/
When he was 20, he became the Canadian light-heavyweight boxing champion. His ice hockey skills had progressed to a point where he was actually offered a contract with the Toronto St Pats of the National Hockey League for US$3,000 (Dh11,000) - about three times the average salary at the time. He was also asked to play baseball for the Detroit Tigers. But Conacher turned them down and took a job at a bank so he could continue to play lacrosse and football - at the time, a professional athlete was barred from playing amateur sport.
Conacher joined the Toronto Argonauts of the Ontario Rugby Football Union (a precursor to the professional Canadian Football League), and scored 23 of the team's 27 points in his first game.
In 1921, the Argonauts made it to the Grey Cup, the first east-west game in Canadian football history. Against the Edmonton Eskimos, Conacher scored 15 of the Argonauts 23 points to help Toronto win the cup.
Incredibly, Conacher didn't even stick around to the end - he left the game in the third quarter to catch a taxi and help his Aura Lee team win the Ontario Hockey Assocation championship that same night.
After turning down another professional ice hockey offer, Conacher moved to Pittsburgh, USA, to play football and ice hockey on a scholarship at Bellafonte Academy. On his departure, a newspaper stated it was "one of the Yankees' greatest victories since the War of Independence".
During this time, he fought and lost an exhibition match with world heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey.
Conacher eventually realised he could make a good living with sport, so he signed a then-record contract of $7,500 with the Pittsburgh Pirates of the NHL in 1925.
It was the start of a successful career in which Conacher played for four teams, won two Stanley Cups and was named an All-Star. He was a gritty player who often led the league in penalty minutes. Conacher began to ply his trades in other professional leagues.
In 1926, he played Triple-A baseball with the Toronto Maples Leafs and won the Little World Series. In 1930, he joined the International Indoor Lacrosse League and went on to become its top-scorer and win the championship. Then, in 1932, he added a fourth professional sport by becoming a wrestler, going undefeated in 26 matches.
His victories were not contained to the playing arenas. Conacher had become an alcoholic, so much so that his brother Charlie observed Lionel "seemed bent on a literal interpretation of the soft drink slogan, 'Drink Canada Dry'."
But with a daughter on the way in 1930, Conacher faced his problem and, calling it his "hardest battle as an athlete", beat his addiction.
In 1937, he retired from professional sport, battered with more than 600 stitches, a nose that had been broken eight times, and numerous other injuries. He went on to become a member of provincial parliament in Ontario, then a member of federal parliament in 1949.
The story of Lionel Conacher is so fantastical that, were it a work of fiction, would be dismissed as implausible, impossible, outrageous. And for a man so much larger than life, his end was fitting for such a legend. In 1954, playing in a softball game with members of parliament, he died of a massive heart attack - after reaching third base on a triple.
Conacher was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.
In 1932 - while he was still playing sport - the Canadian Press began an annual award in his name that is still handed out today, given to Canada's top male athlete.
In 1950, he was named Canada's best athlete of the first half of the century, but it would be a shame to not officially recognise Lionel Conacher as the country's greatest sportsman.
nvorano@thenational.ae
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Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
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Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Five expert hiking tips
Always check the weather forecast before setting off
Make sure you have plenty of water
Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear
Take your litter home with you
Asia Cup Qualifier
Final
UAE v Hong Kong
Live on OSN Cricket HD. Coverage starts at 5.30am
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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2. North America
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4. Hawkesbury
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Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
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Specs
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Range: Up to 610km
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Launched: 2008
Categories: Health, energy, water, food, global high schools
Prize: Dh2.2 million (Dh360,000 for global high schools category)
Winners’ announcement: Monday, January 13
Impact in numbers
335 million people positively impacted by projects
430,000 jobs created
10 million people given access to clean and affordable drinking water
50 million homes powered by renewable energy
6.5 billion litres of water saved
26 million school children given solar lighting
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The Birkin bag is made by Hermès.
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
Results
Stage 4
1. Dylan Groenewegen (NED) Jumbo-Visma 04:16:13
2. Gaviria (COL) UAE Team Emirates
3. Pascal Ackermann (GER) Bora-Hansgrohe
4. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal
General Classification:
1. Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 16:46:15
2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:07
3. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 0:01:35
4. David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:40
5. Rafal Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe
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Started: 2018
Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker
Based: India, UAE and the UK
Industry: EdTech
Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding
Scorebox
Sharjah Wanderers 20-25 Dubai Tigers (After extra-time)
Wanderers
Tries Gormley, Penalty
Cons Flaherty
Pens Flaherty 2
Tigers
Tries O’Donnell, Gibbons, Kelly
Cons Caldwell 2
Pens Caldwell, Cross
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
6 UNDERGROUND
Director: Michael Bay
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Adria Arjona, Dave Franco
2.5 / 5 stars
Race card
6.30pm: Emirates Holidays Maiden (TB), Dh82,500 (Dirt), 1,900m
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