John Bassett ran in the 1962 election in the riding of Spadina losing to Liberal candidate Perry Ryan by less than 2,000 votes.
12 Facts About John Bassett
1.
2.
John Bassett became a reporter for Toronto's The Globe and Mail newspaper after graduating from university.
3.
In 1952, John Bassett purchased part ownership of the Toronto Telegram.
4.
John Bassett needed a network in order to broadcast the games.
5.
John Bassett succeeded in 1997, a year before his death.
6.
From 1957 to 1974, John Bassett was the owner of the Toronto Argonauts, a team in the Canadian Football League.
7.
John Bassett became chairman of the Gardens' board of directors, when Smythe resigned shortly after Toronto won the Stanley Cup in 1962.
8.
John Bassett's name appears on the Stanley Cup 4 times 1962,1963,1964,1967.
9.
John Bassett persuaded the board to fire Smythe as president and Ballard as executive vice president.
10.
However, John Bassett did not force Smythe and Ballard to sell their shares, and they both remained on the board.
11.
Bassett's son, John F Bassett, would follow in his father's path of becoming a professional sports owner; the younger Bassett was a part owner of the World Hockey Association's Ottawa Nationals, Toronto Toros and Birmingham Bulls; the World Football League's Memphis Southmen and the United States Football League's Tampa Bay Bandits.
12.
John Bassett married fellow Bishop's University graduate Eleanor Moira Bradley of Sherbrooke on April 26,1938, in the University's St Mark's Chapel.