Fred Marples
Frederick Paul Henry Marples was a Canadian sports executive in ice hockey and athletics. He was president of the Winnipeg Monarchs team which won Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League championships in 1914 and 1915, and the Allan Cup as senior ice hockey champions of Canada. His operation of a reserve team to support the Monarchs led to debates on player eligibility for the Allan Cup and calls for a national governing body of hockey. As the secretary-treasurer of the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League, he helped establish both the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association and the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1914; then served as secretary-treasurer of the MAHA from 1914 to until 1934, and as secretary of the CAHA from 1926 to 1945. He sought to grow the game in rural regions of Manitoba, promote minor ice hockey as a source of future senior players, to keep players in junior ice hockey until age 21, and was against the exodus of amateur players to professional teams.
Marples was an athlete in his younger days and won the relay event at the 1909 Canadian Track and Field Championships with a team from the Winnipeg North End Amateur Athletic Club. He later served as secretary-treasurer of the club, then as a track and field official for the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada, the 1928 Summer Olympics, and the 1930 British Empire Games. As the secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Olympic Committee from 1922 to 1936, he urged Canadians and provincial governments to support fundraising efforts for athletes at international competitions, and led efforts to establish the Manitoba Citizens' Olympic Committee in 1932. He served as the head of mission for the Canadian delegation at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Germany, which saw the Canada men's national ice hockey team fail to win the gold medal amid disagreements on the eligibility of players and how the medals were determined. He was posthumously inducted as an individual into the builder category of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame, and was inducted into both the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame as a member of the Winnipeg Monarchs.
Early life and Winnipeg athletics
Frederick Paul Henry Marples was born on January 27, 1885, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He grew up in a family of ten boys and one girl, raised by parents Francis William Marples and Katherine Marples. Marples was an all-round athlete in his younger days. He ran on a Winnipeg North End Athletic Club team which won the relay event at the 1909 Canadian Track and Field Championships held in Winnipeg. The team included his brother Herb and had won all fifteen of its races as of 1910. Marples also played recreational curling with the Winnipeg North End Athletic Club.Marples was elected secretary-treasurer of the Winnipeg North End Amateur Athletic Club in 1909, and helped co-ordinate its running events and track and field meets. He was a regular on-course judge and a track and field official for events held by the club and the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada. He was the club's delegate to meetings of the Manitoba branch of the AAU of C, was elected first vice-president of the branch in 1914, and sat on the organizing committee for the 1915 Canadian Track and Field Championships held in Winnipeg.
In 1922, Marples resigned from the Winnipeg North End Athletic Club to focus his efforts on Canadian national teams and the Olympic Games. He remained involved as an on-course judge for the club's races, and was made honorary vice-president of the club in 1926.
Manitoba hockey executive
Early hockey career
Marples became an ice hockey executive during the 1909–10 season, when he was appointed secretary of the Winnipeg Monarchs. The Monarchs were a senior ice hockey team which played in the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League, and included his brother Stan Marples. As secretary, Marples co-ordinated exhibition tours by the Monarchs in the United States in 1910 and 1912.The Monarchs merged with the Winnipeg Strathconas as of the 1912–13 season due to struggles in finding ice time, and elected Marples as their president. He was also elected as the secretary-treasurer of the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League in which the Monarchs played. He arranged extra time at the Winnipeg Amphitheatre for practices and games, and felt that it would improve the chances of the Monarchs winning the Allan Cup. The decision to use the Amphitheatre caused a rift within the league which had an agreement in the previous season to play all games at the Winnipeg Auditorium. Marples and the Monarchs felt that the league did not have the authority to bind any club to any single rink, and that the Amphitheatre had better amenities for the players and spectators. League president W. F. Taylor cast a tie-breaking vote to uphold the agreement to play all games at the Auditorium.
1913–14 season and the Allan Cup
The Winnipeg Tribune wrote that the leadership of Marples and Taylor had brought peace and financial stability to the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League, and both were re-elected to the same positions for the 1913–14 season. Marples advocated for the league to appoint a board of on-ice officials to avoid in-season arguing over the selection of officials. The league approved of the proposal by Marples, appointed a board of referees in advance of the season, and chose to play its games at both the Amphitheatre and the Auditorium.Marples resurrected the Strathconas senior team and entered them into the Independent Amateur Hockey League, in addition to operating the Monarchs in the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League. He felt it necessary to give the younger players more opportunities to practice and play in order to develop talent, secured more ice time and operated the Strathconas as a reserve team to support the Monarchs. The Monarchs won the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League regular season title and were chosen to defend the first challenge for the 1914 Allan Cup on behalf of the league.
The Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League debated whether or not players from the Strathconas were in a lower level of hockey and eligible to be a reserve player. Trustees for the Allan Cup also struggled to determine player eligibility since there was no authoritative national body to classify leagues by the level of play. When Allan Cup trustee William Northey ruled that Dick Irvin of the Strathconas was ineligible to compete, the Monarchs refused to defend the Allan Cup. Marples considered the Strathconas to be a reserve team for the Monarchs and that the decision was unfair to his team. After three days of negotiating, the Monarchs agreed to play without Irvin in a one-game Allan Cup challenge versus the Kenora Thistles, instead of the customary two-game series decided on total goals scored. The Monarchs won by a 6–2 score versus the Kenora Thistles, then lost the second Allan Cup challenge in a one-game final by a 5–4 score to the Regina Victorias.
Players on the Winnipeg Monarchs were presented with motorcycles as gifts after the Allan Cup playoffs. The action was criticized by members of the Manitoba branch of the AAU of C for being against amateur principles and promoting professionalism, despite that the AAU of C constitution did not forbid gifts. Marples defended the action and stated that he and the club would ensure the players did not exchange or sell the motorcycles for profit.
Founding the MAHA and the CAHA
The Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League met with Allan Cup trustees in June 1914, and agreed on the need to form a national commission to govern ice hockey in Canada and competition for the trophy. The meeting formed a provisional Manitoba Hockey Commission with Marples appointed as its secretary. Marples sent letters to other clubs and leagues in Canada and advocated for establishment of the national commission. He was formally elected secretary of the Manitoba Hockey Commission in July 1914, and assisted in drawing up recommendations for a constitution.The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association was established on December 4, 1914, in a meeting at the Château Laurier in Ottawa. Marples represented the Winnipeg Monarchs at the meeting, in which Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League president W. F. Taylor was elected president of the CAHA. The new association adopted of a constitution, established by-laws and competition rules which included player registration and eligibility, recognized the Allan Cup as its championship trophy, and affiliated with the AAU of C to exclude professionals from amateur hockey.
The Manitoba Hockey Commission met later in December 1914, and changed its name to become the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association to align with the CAHA. The MAHA ratified the player registration rules put in place by the CAHA to maintain amateurism and exclude professionals, and sought to expand within Manitoba by recruiting existing leagues to join.
1914–15 season and the Allan Cup
Before the 1914–15 season, a separate organization named the Strathcona Hockey Club was formed. Marples condemned the new club and stated that the Monarchs had already incorporated the Strathcona name into their club. He felt that the gift of motorcycles to the Monarchs had upset members on the Strathconas who then broke away to form their own club. He vowed to continue the Strathconas under the same management and was recognized by the Winnipeg Independent Hockey League as the representative for the Strathconas.Marples returned as secretary of the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League which agreed to register players according to the Allan Cup's eligibility rules. The Winnipeg Monarchs repeated as league champions in the 1914–15 season. In the 1915 Allan Cup playoffs, the Monarchs defeated the Winnipeg Falcons by a total score of 27–14, defeated Fort William by a total score of 16–10, the defeated Edmonton by a total score of 17–8 to reach the final series. The Monarchs defeated the Melville Millionaires by a 4–2 score, and won the 1915 Allan Cup by a two-game total score of 7–6.