94 Facts About Cecil Duncan

Cecil Charles Duncan was a Canadian ice hockey administrator.

Cecil Duncan served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association from 1936 to 1938 and led reforms towards semi-professionalism in ice hockey in Canada.

Cecil Duncan served as chairman of the CAHA committee which proposed a new definition of amateur to eliminate what it called "shamateurism", in the wake of Canada's struggles in ice hockey at the 1936 Winter Olympics.

Cecil Duncan negotiated a series of agreements to protect the CAHA's interests, and to develop relationships with all other areas of the world where hockey was played.

Cecil Duncan was the first Canadian to be elected to the executive of the and served as a board member of the Ottawa District Hockey Association for 51 years.

Cecil Duncan oversaw and arranged senior ice hockey in the Ottawa Valley and used local leagues to experiment with changes to the ice hockey rules to reduce offside infractions.

Cecil Duncan managed an Ottawa team in the Ontario Rugby Football Union and served as vice-president of Quebec Rugby Union.

Cecil Duncan was posthumously inducted into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame in 2006, in the builder category for ice hockey.

Cecil Charles Duncan was born on February 1,1893, in Ottawa, Ontario.

Cecil Duncan played lacrosse and baseball as a youth, then competed in boxing from 1910 to 1920.

Cecil Duncan became involved in sports administration in Ottawa after retiring as an athlete and served as a board member of the Ottawa District Hockey Association for 51 years.

Cecil Duncan served on the registration committee for the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and proposed to establish a national playoff for the intermediate senior ice hockey level.

Cecil Duncan supported updating the residency rules to prevent mass movement of hockey players about the country, instead of the CAHA blindly approving the transfers due to the economic situation caused by the Great Depression.

Cecil Duncan assembled an amateur Ottawa All-stars team of players from the National Capital Region to play an exhibition series in Europe during December 1931 and January 1932.

Cecil Duncan was involved with the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada from 1929 to 1932.

Cecil Duncan was named to its Olympic committee in 1929 and was chairman of the AAU of C baseball committee to decide on a national champion.

Cecil Duncan was named vice-chairman of the AAU of C committee to reorganize the National Amateur Baseball Association in 1930, and was named to the fencing committee in 1931.

Cecil Duncan served as second vice-president of the CAHA from April 1932 to April 1934.

Cecil Duncan sat on the ice hockey rules committee which considered recent changes made in the National Hockey League and whether to implement them in the CAHA.

Cecil Duncan sat on the CAHA's registration committee which oversaw player transfer requests and implemented new regulations to prevent regional shifts of talent.

Cecil Duncan then issued suspensions for players who had not completed proper transfers and declined any new requests.

Cecil Duncan was in charge of organizing the 1935 Allan Cup final, and arranged for the 1935 Memorial Cup champions to play a tour in the United Kingdom to coincide with the Canada men's national ice hockey team tour of Europe in advance of ice hockey at the 1936 Winter Olympics.

Cecil Duncan was re-elected first vice-president of the CAHA in April 1935.

Cecil Duncan arbitrated a dispute for the Thunder Bay Manitoba Senior Hockey League championship and laid out terms for a three-game series in response to eligibility concerns for the 1936 Allan Cup playoffs and to which CAHA branch the Winnipeg Hockey Club belonged.

Cecil Duncan later contested the eligibility of the Montreal Senior Hockey Group for the Allan Cup playoffs due to charges of professionalism in the league.

Cecil Duncan served as chairman of the CAHA committee which proposed a new definition of amateur, in the wake of Canada's struggles at the Olympics and loss of the gold medal to the Great Britain men's national ice hockey team.

The Winnipeg Free Press reported that support for the reforms was strong, despite opposition by the "old guard" within the AAU of C Duncan proposed a resolution that the word "amateur" be dropped from the CAHA name.

Cecil Duncan was critical of Fry for publishing quotes from the letter in his Dunnville Chronicle before the letter was received.

On December 15,1936, Cecil Duncan formally notified new AAU of C president Jack Hamilton in writing that the CAHA would terminate its articles of alliance effective January 15,1937.

Cecil Duncan noted the lack of support for CAHA proposals and that the AAU of C did not enforce CAHA suspensions.

Cecil Duncan asserted the intent of the CAHA to remain the governing body of ice hockey in Canada.

Cecil Duncan reiterated to teams and leagues that registration with the CAHA would prevent against rosters being raided and players being signed by other countries, since the CAHA had its own agreements in place.

Cecil Duncan later implied that had Hamilton been president of the AAU of C when the "four points" were proposed, the separation might have been avoided.

The Quebec Amateur Hockey Association condemned severing relations with the AAU of C Duncan interpreted the QAHA position as its intent to withdraw from the CAHA.

Cecil Duncan ruled all leagues within the QAHA ineligible for national playoffs, except for the Montreal Senior Group which pledged allegiance to the CAHA and the Allan Cup and then considered setting up a committee to govern hockey in Quebec.

Cecil Duncan reiterated that the CAHA executive were the rightful trustees of the Allan Cup and had the right to oversee its playoffs, despite protests by CAHA finance chairman and former cup trustee Claude C Robinson.

In January 1937, Cecil Duncan announced plans for an international amateur series where the English National League champion would come to North America, to play against the winner of a series between the Allan Cup champion of Canada and the amateur champion of the United States.

Cecil Duncan later confirmed that either the Wembley Lions or Harringay Racers would come to Toronto in April 1937.

Cecil Duncan attended the congress of the in February 1937 and was elected second vice-president to become the first Canadian to serve on the LIHG executive.

Cecil Duncan felt that these changes gave associations more power to govern their own affairs and paved the way for the CAHA to introduce its own legislation for the immediate reinstatement of professionals as amateurs, instead of a five-year waiting period.

The Amateur Athletic Union of the United States ended its working agreement with the CAHA in March 1937, since the CAHA had broken ties with the AAU of C Duncan expected the CAHA to negotiate an agreement directly with the Eastern Amateur Hockey League, which was the top amateur league in the United States.

Cecil Duncan announced plans to continue the international championship series between the CAHA, EAHL and English National League champions.

Cecil Duncan stated the choice was made based on where the CAHA felt interest would be greatest and remained firm on the decision.

Cecil Duncan inquired directly with the Quebec Aces as the league champions and reached an agreement for the team to participate in the playoffs despite the protest.

Cecil Duncan was re-elected president of the CAHA in April 1937 and received a vote of confidence in how he handled the Allan Cup playoffs.

On December 9,1937, Cecil Duncan suspended the QAHA and declared its teams ineligible for the Allan Cup or Memorial Cup playoffs.

Cecil Duncan established a CAHA committee to govern hockey in Quebec and invited teams interested in competing for the national championships.

Leagues within the province vowed to stand by the decision of the QAHA, and its officials threatened to affiliate with the AAU of C Duncan stated that he didn't care if the QAHA returned, although peace prevailed and the association was reinstated in January 1938.

Cecil Duncan accompanied the Sudbury Wolves when the team represented Canada and won the gold medal at the 1938 Ice Hockey World Championships in Prague and the team on the corresponding European tour from December 1937 to February 1938.

Cecil Duncan attended the LIHG congress held in conjunction with the World Championships and assisted in convincing the LIHG to permit a limited number of Canadian-trained players with British heritage to be eligible for Great Britain's national team.

Cecil Duncan was re-elected to the LIHG executive at the same congress.

Cecil Duncan envisioned the CAHA overseeing a professional hockey league within Canada as permitted by the LIHG constitutional changes, and he expected the international series to continue between Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Cecil Duncan continued to serve as the LIHG vice president until 1939.

Cecil Duncan was a guest at the CAHA silver jubilee hosted at the Royal Alexandra Hotel in Winnipeg, where eleven of thirteen past presidents were in attendance.

Cecil Duncan was critical of the CAHA agreement signed with the NHL that went into effect in 1939.

Cecil Duncan had refused to sign the agreement while president since he felt it would have let the NHL control players as it wanted.

Cecil Duncan was opposed to the general trafficking of players into the NHL and players being placed unknowingly on negotiation lists for professional teams without compensation to amateur teams.

Cecil Duncan referenced the case of Eddie Finnigan who was suspended for a year by the CAHA since the NHL wanted financial compensation for unfinished contractual services when he retired, which led to the NHL asking the contract be bought out for the player to be reinstated as an amateur.

In 1940, Cecil Duncan recommended for CAHA members and hockey officials to finance a weekly CBC Radio show to communicate hockey scores and highlights for the Canadian soldiers overseas during World War II.

Cecil Duncan wanted to expand intermediate division playoffs in Canada and recommended that the intermediate champion of Quebec play against similar teams from the Maritimes, instead of the higher level senior hockey champion from Quebec.

Cecil Duncan submitted several recommendations while on the CAHA rules committee in 1933, and sought for consistency with the NHL's playing rules.

Cecil Duncan recommended to allow the forward pass in all three zones instead of an offside infraction, to allow kicking off the puck in the defensive zone, but to disallow checking of players not in possession of the puck.

In October 1936, Cecil Duncan tested a change to avoid automatic offside infractions in a match between the hometown Ottawa Senators and the visiting Springfield Indians.

Cecil Duncan felt the differences were insignificant and the decision promoted global uniformity in playing the game.

In May 1941, Cecil Duncan was critical of the lack of consistency in refereeing across Canada.

Cecil Duncan felt that referees in Eastern Canada were more strict in the interest of safety, whereas the Western Canada played a rougher more dangerous style.

In 1947, Cecil Duncan sought for the CAHA to implement European rules of play that restricted checking to a team's defensive zone, since he wanted to see a wide-open style of play that made it easier to counter-attack.

In May 1941, Cecil Duncan was concerned that the CAHA was dealing with the "commercial consideration" of the game, rather than the welfare of its branches.

Cecil Duncan stated the ODHA was considering a merger with the QAHA and the Maritime Amateur Hockey Association into the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association and cited disagreements that eastern and western delegates had on national playoffs.

Cecil Duncan was involved in organizing sports in Ottawa to contribute to the war effort.

Cecil Duncan was part of a delegation to confer with James Ralston, the Minister of National Defence of Canada to determine the role of the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union which Duncan represented.

Cecil Duncan wanted to promote hockey for the military servicemen stationed in the Ottawa area and organized the National Defence Hockey League, with its teams eligible for the Allan Cup playoffs.

Cecil Duncan recommended to the CAHA to guarantee non-military teams a place in the Allan Cup playoffs, despite the competition being dominated by the Royal Canadian Air Force and Canadian Army teams.

Cecil Duncan served as manager for the Ottawa Tigers senior team in the Ontario Rugby Football Union from 1945 to 1946.

Cecil Duncan attended the LIHG congress during the 1947 Ice Hockey World Championships, where the CAHA asked for recognition of its newest definition of amateur as anyone who was not actively engaged in a professional sport and the proposed merger of the International Ice Hockey Association with the LIHG.

At the 1947 general meeting of the CAHA, Cecil Duncan was opposed to the increasing commercialization of junior ice hockey and direct sponsorship of teams by the NHL.

Cecil Duncan proposed a major series for senior ice hockey in 1948, since he was concerned that certain teams would continue to dominate Allan Cup competition.

Cecil Duncan submitted a resolution at the general meeting in 1949, for the CAHA to consider the Quebec Senior Hockey League a professional league affiliated with the NHL.

Cecil Duncan stated that due to the number of times the league had threatened to withdraw from the CAHA and become professional, it would be better for hockey in the region.

Cecil Duncan later withdrew the resolution and stated he submitted it because of recurring rumours that the ODHA, QAHA, and MAHA would withdraw from the CAHA.

In 1952, Cecil Duncan submitted a resolution to the CAHA to request that the NHL limit its reserve list to 30 players, instead of the practice of 75 players at the time.

Cecil Duncan felt that the NHL and its professional minor leagues were dictating policy and player movements to the CAHA.

Cecil Duncan sought for the CAHA to cut its administration costs and redirect more profits from the Allan Cup and Memorial Cup into financing less wealthy leagues in Canada.

In November 1962, Cecil Duncan welcomed the Soviet Union national ice hockey team to Canada on behalf of the CAHA.

Cecil Duncan then acted as a chaperone for the Eastern Canada portion of the Soviet tour of Canada.

Cecil Duncan envisioned there would soon be an international league composed of national teams from Canada, the United States, Soviet Union, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and other European teams.

Cecil Duncan later recommended that when Canadian teams make international tours of Europe, they should be accompanied by on-ice officials who were accustomed to the Canadian style of play to avoid instances with international officiating.

Cecil Duncan was a civil servant and accountant within the Treasury Board, which oversaw pensions and healthcare in Canada.

Cecil Duncan was reported to be a business-first person and took exception to phone calls regarding hockey matters during business hours.

Cecil Duncan was married to Martha Sylvester Duncan, with whom he had one daughter.

Cecil Duncan died on December 25,1979, in Ottawa, Ontario, and was interred at Beechwood Cemetery.

Cecil Duncan was honoured by the LIHG with a diploma of merit in February 1937, for his contributions to international ice hockey.

Cecil Duncan received the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States citation award in 1950, for contributions to hockey in the United States, and was later made a life member of AHAUS.

Cecil Duncan was posthumously inducted into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame in 2006, in the builder category for ice hockey.