Elmer Ferguson (February 25, 1885 – April 26, 1972) was a Canadian sports journalist. Born in

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County, Prince Edward Island, Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlott ...

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, Ferguson moved to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in 1910 and became the sports editor of the

Montreal Herald This is a list of defunct newspapers of Quebec presented in order of first appearance. 1770–1799 * ''La Gazette du commerce et littéraire pour la Ville & District de Montréal'', 1778, Montréal, Fleury Mesplet, printer, and Valentin Jautar ...

in 1913. Ferguson was one of the most respected and prominent columnists of his time. He became a

Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and National Hockey Le ...

media honouree in 1982 and was the namesake of the

Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award The Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award is an accolade presented annually to a print newspaper columnist or reporter in recognition of their achievements covering the game of ice hockey. The award is "to recognize distinguished members of the newspap ...

Career

At the age of six, Ferguson started selling newspapers on the streets of

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. Th ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

and became a copy boy with the ''Moncton Transcript'' when he was 17. He soon became a sportswriter with the paper and became the news editor in 1910. With Ferguson as editor, the ''Moncton Transcript'' became the first

Maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...

newspaper to print a full sports page every day. Soon after, Ferguson left for Montreal where he got a job as an editor at the ''

''. He became sports editor of the paper in 1913 and soon became a well-known sports journalist with his column "The Gist and the Jest of It". He was sports editor for the paper for 39 years and continued to write columns until the ''Herald'' folded in 1957. He continued to write columns for ''

The Montreal Star ''The Montreal Star'' was an English-language Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike. It was Canada's largest newspaper until the 1950s and remained the dominan ...

'' until a few months before his death in 1972. In addition to his work in the print media, he was also a

colour commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

on radio broadcasts for the

Montreal Maroons The Montreal Maroons (officially the Montreal Professional Hockey Club) were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL). They played in the NHL from 1924–25 NHL season, 1924 to 1937–38 NHL season, 1938, winning the Sta ...

(1933–1938) and the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

(1938–1952), where he was partnered with Doug Smith. Ferguson was inducted into

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canada, it serves as a hall of fame and mu ...

as a builder in 1968. In 1984, Ferguson was recognized as one of the first

media honourees. The award that is given out was named the

in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Elmer 1885 births 1972 deaths Canadian male journalists Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian sportswriters Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award recipients Journalists from Prince Edward Island National Hockey League broadcasters Writers from Charlottetown