Fred Waghorne
Encyclopedia
Fred C. "Old Wag" Waghorne, Sr. (1866 – 1956) was an ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 referee
Official (ice hockey)
In ice hockey, an official is a person who has some responsibility in enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game. There are two categories of officials, on-ice officials, who are the referees and linesmen that enforce the rules during game play, and off-ice officials, who have an...

 and organizer in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. He also made significant contributions to lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

 in that country. He is a member of both the Hockey Hall of Fame
Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup...

 and the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in the "Builder" category.

League organization

Waghorne was born in Tunbridge Wells, England
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in west Kent, England, about south-east of central London by road, by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex...

 and then moved to Canada. While mainly interested in rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

 as a youth, he became interested in lacrosse and ice hockey and eventually started the Toronto Lacrosse Hockey League. This league started out fielding lacrosse teams in the summer and hockey teams in the winter, but as the popularity of hockey grew the league became simply the Toronto Hockey League.

When the Toronto Hockey League disbanded, Waghorne continued to work to provide opportunities for hockey players at all levels. In 1911, he formed the Beaches Hockey League which eventually became the Greater Toronto Hockey League
Greater Toronto Hockey League
The Greater Toronto Hockey League , formerly known as the "Metro Toronto Hockey League", is a minor level ice hockey organization based out of the Toronto region of Ontario. The league was founded in 1911 as the Beaches Hockey League by Fred C. Waghorne, Sr., and it is the largest minor hockey...

, the largest minor league hockey organization in the world.

Officiating

Waghorne is best known for his prolific career as a referee. He is known to have officiated 2,400 hockey games and 1,500 lacrosse matches. Many of the decisions he made on the ice rink became long-term rules in both amateur and professional ice hockey. Waghorne is credited with several changes and innovations to ice hockey rules, such as:
  • The use of a whistle
    Whistle
    A whistle or call is a simple aerophone, an instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means...

     instead of the customary cow bell
    Cow bell
    A cowbell or cow bell is a bell worn by freely roaming livestock, so that they do not run away or wander off without being heard. While bells were used on various types of animals, they are typically referred to as "cowbells" due to their extensive use with cattle.A trychel is a large cow bell...

     to stop play when fans started bringing their own cowbells to disrupt game play.
  • The acceptance of professional referees in amateur hockey games.
  • The practice of dropping the puck from a few feet up at faceoff
    Faceoff
    A face-off is the method used to begin play in ice hockey and some other sports. The two teams line up in opposition to each other, and the opposing centres attempt to gain control of the puck after it is dropped between their sticks by an official. One of the referees drops the puck at centre ice...

     rather than placing it directly on the ice, which limited player contact with the referee's shins and ankles during faceoffs.
  • The ruling that if a half of a broken hockey puck
    Hockey puck
    A puck is a disk used in various games serving the same functions as a ball does in ball games. The best-known use of pucks is in ice hockey, a major international sport.- Etymology :The origin of the word "puck" is obscure...

    entered the net, no goal was counted - a rule that led to the development of one-piece pucks.

Honors

Waghorne was involved with ice hockey and lacrosse until his death in 1956 at the age of 90. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961, and to the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1965.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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