76 Facts About Lou Lefaive

Louis Ernest Lefaive was a Canadian sports administrator and civil servant.

Lou Lefaive served in multiple executive roles which included, the director of Fitness and Amateur Sport, director of Sport Canada, president of the National Sport Recreation Centre, president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee, chairman and president of Hockey Canada, executive director of the Canadian Figure Skating Association, and executive director of Sport Marketing Canada.

Lou Lefaive was described as "key builder of the Canadian sport system" by The Globe and Mail, and "had an exceptional ability to bring government and sport together, enabling the development of some of the most successful sports policies", according to the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

Lou Lefaive was born on February 13,1928, in Windsor, Ontario, the son of Achille and Aurore Lou Lefaive.

Lou Lefaive played football, basketball and softball while growing up in Windsor.

Lou Lefaive attended University of Ottawa, then later coached basketball at the university and St Patrick's College in Ottawa.

Lou Lefaive was an original council member for the Canada Games that began in 1967, and was named a director of the Canadian Olympic Association.

Lou Lefaive was appointed director of the Directorate of Fitness and Amateur Sport in 1968.

Lou Lefaive developed a working relationship with John Munro, the Minister of Health and Welfare, and was able to influence the government's policies on sport.

Lou Lefaive urged Munro to act on recommendations from the directorate before being tabled in the House of Commons of Canada.

In 1968, Lou Lefaive recommended that the directorate set national sport policies with the rationale it was staffed with full-time civil servants who were experts in physical education and public administration, instead of the National Advisory Council on Fitness who were volunteers.

Lou Lefaive later suggested the foundation of the Coaching Association of Canada.

On February 21,1969, Hockey Canada began operations as a separate entity from the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, and Lou Lefaive was appointed to the initial board of directors with the goal of the Canada men's national ice hockey team defeating the Soviet Union national ice hockey team, and assist in planning the upcoming 1970 Ice Hockey World Championships hosted in Canada.

Lou Lefaive was involved in planning the inaugural Arctic Winter Games in 1970.

Lou Lefaive announced plans that the games would be held every two years.

Lou Lefaive explained that Sport Canada would be concerned with the competitive aspects of sports, and Recreation Canada would be concerned with getting more Canadians to participate in sports for pleasure.

Lou Lefaive served as the director of Sport Canada until 1974.

In June 1971, Lou Lefaive felt that universities were becoming less opposed to third party scholarships for athletes, and hoped it would relieve the financial burden of bidding for athletes to attend their school.

Lou Lefaive felt that having more people involved would increase the talent pool, and stated that "the quality of an athlete is the consequence of participation, not the goal".

In February 1972, Lou Lefaive became part of the board of directors for the Sport Federation of Canada, via his role in Sport Canada.

In 1973, Lou Lefaive called for amateur sport leaders in Canada to be more vocal in supporting the planned 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.

Lou Lefaive was acting as the assistant deputy Minister of Amateur Sport, from July 18 to September 1,1973, until an appointment took effect.

Lou Lefaive had made a recommendation for the foundation of a National Sport and Recreation Centre.

Lou Lefaive remained part of the board of directors for Hockey Canada while serving as the director of Sport Canada.

Lou Lefaive was part of the Canadian delegation attending the 1971 Ice Hockey World Championships, which began discussions on a possible return of the national team to international competition.

Lou Lefaive expected the Japanese Olympic Committee to invite Canada to ice hockey at the 1972 Winter Olympics, and that Hockey Canada would consider without indicating any acceptance or refusal.

In February 1972, the Canadian Bureau of Public Affairs empowered Joe Kryczka, president of the CAHA, Charles Hay chairman of Hockey Canada, and Lou Lefaive to oversee diplomatic efforts to return Canada to international ice hockey, and gave them needed assistance from Canadian embassies in Europe, and specifically the Embassy of Canada in Moscow.

Kryczka, Hay and Lou Lefaive went to Prague in April 1972 to finalize a deal with the Soviet Union Ice Hockey Federation for what became the 1972 Summit Series.

Lou Lefaive noted that obstacles were the timing of the events overlapping with the National Hockey League season, and the cost of traveling to Europe from North America.

In 1974, Lou Lefaive was the chairman of Hockey Canada's international committee, and represented Hockey Canada at meetings for international competitions.

Lou Lefaive met with the CAHA, NHL, World Hockey Association and European countries regarding a potential World Cup of Hockey in open competition.

Lou Lefaive sat on the committee for planning the 1974 Summit Series.

Lou Lefaive supported adding the WHA Players' Association representative Ron Roberts to the committee to give the players a voice, despite opposition from Ben Hatskin who owned the Winnipeg Jets.

Lou Lefaive described the vision of the new centre as providing direct administrative and technical assistance to amateur sport organizations, and helping those volunteer organizations achieve more.

Lou Lefaive said, "right now amateur sports are at the mercy of the government and big business" but the centre would give amateur sports a powerful lobby.

From 1976 to 1977, Lou Lefaive served as the first president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee and presided over the government's coordinating committee for the Sports for the Physically Disabled.

Lou Lefaive oversaw the allocation of government funds for the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association, the Canadian Association for Disabled Skiing, the Canadian Amputee Sports Association and the Canadian Blind Sports Association.

Lou Lefaive wanted the games to remain targeted towards developmental athletes, since he felt there was adequate competition for higher-level athletes.

Lou Lefaive cautioned that raising the level of competition at the Canada Games would lead to the more populated Canadian provinces dominating the events.

Campagnolo stated that Lou Lefaive's returning came at a time when the national sport policy was nearing completion.

Lou Lefaive wanted to see Sport Canada be more interactive in the sport community, and a closer understanding of common objectives.

Lou Lefaive said, "I think I can serve best in the area of developing better dialogue with such organizations as the national sport governing bodies, the Canadian Olympic Association, the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union, and particularly, the provinces".

Lou Lefaive had mixed feelings on Canada's results at the 1979 Pan American Games.

Lou Lefaive said Canada need to take a long look at whether results were worth the tax payer's money, and suggested that the money might be better spent going to competitions in Europe.

Lou Lefaive was nominated to return to the Hockey Canada board of directors in September 1978.

Lou Lefaive felt the CAHA should take legal action against the WHA, instead of using its IIHF veto as leverage.

Later in 1979, Lou Lefaive began plans for regularly scheduled Canada Cup tournaments as of 1980.

Lou Lefaive resigned as the director of Sport Canada in January 1980.

Lou Lefaive was named chairman of Hockey Canada in April 1979.

Lou Lefaive agreed with the CAHA to move forward planning the 1980 Canada Cup, but still disputed who had control of the Canada men's national junior ice hockey team.

Lou Lefaive felt that Hockey Canada's links to the private sector would help establish a permanent national men's team, and finance the national junior team at the World Juniors.

In October 1979, Lou Lefaive announced a proposal to operate an elite CIAU hockey league in Canada funded by Hockey Canada and the private sector.

The CAHA chose not to send a team to the 1980 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, and Lou Lefaive stated the decision would hurt Canada's reputation.

Lou Lefaive became the first full-time salaried president of Hockey Canada on January 22,1980.

Lou Lefaive deferred a decision until after a potential boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics hosted in the Soviet Union.

Lou Lefaive arranged arena and television contracts with escape clauses if politics caused any problems.

Lou Lefaive was optimistic the event would succeed event without Soviet participation.

Lou Lefaive wanted to keep the nucleus of the team together for international tournaments such as the Izvestia Cup in Moscow, and the Rude pravo tournament in Czechoslovakia, and add players for the upcoming World Championships.

Lou Lefaive was critical of the NHL for giving nearly twice the financial assistance to the United States men's national ice hockey team instead of Team Canada, and felt that the NHL owed more to Canada.

Lou Lefaive reported that Hockey Canada lost $600,000 income due to the cancellation, which would have ensured its financial stability.

Lou Lefaive accepted responsibility for cancelling the 1980 Canada Cup due to lack of sponsors and public opinion on world events, and hoped the event could be held in 1981.

Lou Lefaive felt the Soviets would play in 1981 to redeem their loss to the Americans at the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Lou Lefaive began planning in summer 1981 for ice hockey at the 1984 Winter Olympics, and expected the national men's team to be composed of junior and college players.

Lou Lefaive planned on sending a team to the 1981 Winter World Student Games.

Lou Lefaive threatened a lawsuit for copyright infringement if a replica of the Canada Cup was made, but later said "If someone wants to send $11,000 worth of nickel to Moscow that's not my business".

Lou Lefaive served as the executive director of the Canadian Figure Skating Association from 1983 to 1986, and served as a board member of the Sports Federation of Canada.

Lou Lefaive began new marketing campaigns for figure skating, and managed its amateur development.

Lou Lefaive wanted athletes to remain in North America, instead of travelling to Europe for competition.

Lou Lefaive emphasized the "spirit of helping each other" especially at the amateur levels of figure skating.

Lou Lefaive departed the Canadian Figure Skating Association to pursue opportunities in sports marketing, and was succeeded as executive director by David Dore on January 20,1986.

Lou Lefaive served as the executive director of Sport Marketing Canada from 1986 to 1992, and was president of the Sport Marketing Council.

Lou Lefaive said in a September 1988 interview, "sport is too important for government not to be involved, but the days when we merely tapped government as the milk cow are gone".

Lou Lefaive felt that sports organizations needed to raise more funds from their members and innovative marketing strategies.

Lou Lefaive died on July 4,2002, in Ottawa at age 74, and was interred at Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa.

Lou Lefaive was an honorary life member of the Canadian Gymnastics Federation.

Lou Lefaive was described by The Globe and Mail as a "key builder of the Canadian sport system".