John Purcell Quinn (January 9, 1876 – October 28, 1944) was a Canadian athlete, businessman, sports promoter and politician in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, 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 was the owner and president of the Toronto Blueshirts

Toronto Blueshirts

The Toronto Hockey Club, known as the Torontos and the Toronto Blue Shirts were a professional National Hockey Association team that played in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...

, winners of the Stanley Cup

Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...

 in 1914. He was a member of the world champion Montreal Shamrocks lacrosse team in 1896. From 1927 until 1932 and 1937 until 1942 he served as alderman on Toronto City Council. His brother Emmett Quinn

Emmett Quinn

Thomas Emmett Quinn ) was a Canadian ice hockey executive, coach and referee. Quinn served as president of the National Hockey Association , the predecessor of today's National Hockey League . His brother Percy Quinn was also an ice hockey executive...

 was also an ice hockey executive.

Personal life

Born in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Quinn played hockey and lacrosse as a youth. He joined Queen Insurance at the age of 14 and was transferred to Winnipeg

Winnipeg

Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

 in 1902. He became local manager of the renamed Royal Insurance office in Toronto in 1906, where he lived until his death in 1944, due to ill health after a heart attack in 1942. He married Louise Reeves. Quinn had three brothers Emmett, Fred and Raphael. Quinn did not have any children.

Ice hockey

Quinn was first involved in hockey as a coach and a referee in the early 1900s. He was referee of the Stanley Cup challenge series between the Winnipeg Victorias

Winnipeg Victorias

The Winnipeg Victorias were a former amateur senior-level men's amateur ice hockey team in Winnipeg, Manitoba, organized in 1889. They played in the Manitoba Hockey Association in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...

 and the Montreal Hockey Club

Montreal Hockey Club

The Montreal Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was a senior-level men's amateur ice hockey club, organized in 1884. They were affiliated with Montreal Amateur Athletic Association and used the MAAA 'winged wheel' logo. The team is notable for winning the first Stanley Cup in 1893, and in a...

 in 1903. When professional hockey was just beginning, Quinn was the owner and manager of the first professional 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...

 team in Toronto, the Toronto Professional Hockey Club

Toronto Professional Hockey Club

The Toronto Professional Hockey Club was Toronto's first professional ice hockey team, founded in 1906. The team played the 1906–07 season in exhibition games against other professional teams. In 1908, they were founding members of Canada's first fully professional ice hockey league the Ontario...

, which operated from 1906 until 1909. In 1911, he purchased a franchise in the National Hockey Association

National Hockey Association

The National Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor organization to today's National Hockey League...

 (NHA) to play in the new Arena Gardens of Toronto. The arena was not ready for the 1911–12 season, and the team began play in 1912–13. In only its second season, the Blueshirts would win the NHA championship and the Stanley Cup. Quinn sold his share of the Blueshirts, turning the club over to Eddie Livingstone.

In 1918, Livingstone and Quinn would team up against the owners of the NHA, now operating as the National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

(NHL). Together, they attempted to overthrow the NHL and form a new league, the "Canadian Hockey Association", but were unsuccessful as the rinks were controlled by the NHL or its partners.

Lacrosse

Quinn was a member of the Montreal Shamrocks team that won the world championship in 1896. He later was president of the Winnipeg Lacrosse Club and president of the Dominion Lacrosse Association.

Politician

Quinn became a City Councillor for the City of Toronto in 1927. As a politician, he acted in humanitarian causes to improve life in Toronto. He is credited with getting Toronto public libraries open on Sundays. He worked to improve conditions in the Toronto Don Jail.