46 Facts About Tom Pashby

Thomas Joseph Pashby was a Canadian ophthalmologist and sport safety advocate.

Tom Pashby spent 46 years improving the safety of hockey helmets to prevent injuries in ice hockey, by developing visors and wire face masks, and advocating for neck protection on goaltender masks.

Tom Pashby served two decades as chairman of the Canadian Standards Association, setting standards for manufacturers of hockey and lacrosse helmets.

Tom Pashby compiled Canadian data on hockey-related spinal cord injuries and visual impairment, while pushing for changes to ice hockey rules to prevent injuries.

Tom Pashby's work resulted in the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association making CSA-approved helmets mandatory in 1976, and the National Hockey League requiring helmets for all new players as of 1979.

Tom Pashby succeeded in facial protection requirements for amateurs players in Canada, and rule changes against checking from behind enacted by Hockey Canada, USA Hockey, and the International Ice Hockey Federation.

Tom Pashby received multiple awards, including the Ontario Hockey Association Distinguished Service Award, the Gordon Juckes Award from the CAHA, and was named man-of-the-year by The Hockey News in 1990.

Tom Pashby was named a member of the Order of Canada in 1981, inducted into the builder category of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2000, and was posthumously inducted into the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame.

Thomas Joseph Tom Pashby was born on March 23,1915, in Toronto, Ontario.

Tom Pashby was the only child of Norman and Florence Pashby, and attended Riverdale Collegiate Institute.

Tom Pashby grew up in the Danforth and Pape area, and his family operated a butcher shop in East Danforth.

Tom Pashby graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in 1940, and received his certificate of registration with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario on August 22,1940.

Tom Pashby married Helen Christie in 1941, ten days before he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Tom Pashby earned ophthalmology specialist credentials from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in January 1948.

Tom Pashby established his own practice in Leaside in 1948, Tom Pashby later had offices in North Toronto and Don Mills, and treated patients at Toronto Western Hospital and Centenary Hospital.

Tom Pashby served a consulting physician for the Toronto Maple Leafs, was the senior staff ophthalmologist at the Hospital for Sick Children, and spent time as a professor at the University of Toronto.

In 1959, Tom Pashby's son was playing minor ice hockey without a hockey helmet, and struck his head on the ice resulting in a concussion.

Tom Pashby then forbade his sons from playing without a helmet.

Tom Pashby then spent the next 46 years of his life to improve the safety of helmets to prevent injuries.

Tom Pashby pioneered the development of visors and wire face masks to prevent eye injuries, and pushed for neck protection on goaltender masks.

Tom Pashby began working with the Canadian Standards Association in 1969, to assess the safety of helmets.

Tom Pashby reported that since 1972, there were 309 players at either the minor, junior or professional hockey levels who had lost eyesight, but that none of them wore a CSA-approved facemask.

Tom Pashby became chairman of the CSA in 1975, serving for two decades to set standards for manufacturers of hockey and lacrosse helmets, while pushing for changes to ice hockey rules to prevent dangerous play and injuries.

Tom Pashby continued to compile statistics for eye injuries, and began researching data spinal cord injuries.

Tom Pashby reported 150 spinal cord injuries since 1976, and that 30 players were in wheelchairs as of 1990.

Tom Pashby sought to reduce injuries in the game with a four-point plan; for existing rules to be enforced, for players to wear certified protective equipment, for the size of the ice hockey rink to be enlarged to international standards; and for education in prevention of injuries be given to players, coaches, and trainers.

Tom Pashby stressed the need to start education at an early age.

In 1985, Tom Pashby was a member of the Committee for the Prevention of Spinal Cord Injuries Due To Hockey, and lobbied for rules to stop checking from behind.

In 1999, Tom Pashby began an international push for rules against checking to the head.

Tom Pashby sat on the board of directors of the National Association of Safe Sports, which aimed to change behaviour in sport and reduce injuries.

Tom Pashby retired as an ophthalmologist on June 1,2001.

Tom Pashby moved to Leaside in 1945, where he lived for 60 years.

Tom Pashby was a long-time coach for baseball and ice hockey teams in Leaside.

Tom Pashby sponsored local hockey and baseball teams for 40 years, and regularly spent summers along Georgian Bay and often vacationed at Walt Disney World.

Tom Pashby died at his home on August 24,2005, aged 90.

Tom Pashby received the Canadian Standards Association Award of Merit in 1979, and the Ontario Hockey Association Distinguished Service Award in 1980.

Tom Pashby was named a member of the Order of Canada on June 22,1981, for his contributions to eye protection and the "design and acceptance of protective equipment which has greatly reduced injury in sport".

Tom Pashby was formally invested in the order by the Governor General of Canada during a ceremony on October 21,1981.

Tom Pashby received the Jean P Carriere Award from the Standards Council of Canada in 1988, was one of two inaugural recipients of the Canadian Sport Safety Award from the Canadian Sports Spine and Head Injuries Research Centre in 1989.

Tom Pashby was named man-of-the-year by The Hockey News in 1990, in recognition of his work to prevent injuries.

Tom Pashby was granted an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Waterloo in 1996.

Tom Pashby was inducted into the builder category of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, with the ceremony taking place on November 9,2000.

Tom Pashby was posthumously made one of the inaugural inductees into the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame states that, "in pioneering the development, marketing, and standardization of protective hockey helmets, Tom Pashby has helped to prevent innumerable career-ending, even life-threatening head injuries".

Tom Pashby was honoured with a dinner at the Regal Constellation Hotel on March 27,1990, which included Don Cherry as a guest speaker.

Tom Pashby had a personal collection of hockey helmets and masks, 50 of which were donated for display at the Hockey Hall of Fame, including the first helmet worn by his son.