By Mark Potter KTown Sports Blog

If you played minor hockey in Kingston, chances are you played at the Wally Elmer Arena.

Affectionately referred to as the ‘Wally Dome,’ or ‘Wally Gardens,’ it was a rink covered with a tin roof and about as bare bones as you could build it. On a cold, winter day it was ten degrees colder inside than it was outside (that’s Fahrenheit kids). After coming back to the bench during a game at the Wally, the coach always knew if you were trying because he could see your breath.

Lots of childhood memories from that Shannon Park barn, but I am guessing you may not know that Wally Elmer was a Stanley Cup champion and made a huge contribution to the City of Kingston.

Wallace Druce Elmer, known as ‘Wally,’ was an exceptional Kingstonian who left his mark in sports, in business and as a true community champion.

Born in Kingston on New Year’s Day 1898, his father was John Elmer, Kingston’s Fire Chief and his mother was the former Nettie J. Rattay. One of six kids in his family, they lived at 306 Brock Steet near the firehall.

Later in life, Wally married his wife Inez Tucker and they would help raise his niece Jackie Elmer-Macey. Jackie would marry Hubert (Hub) Macey, originally from Saskatchewan, Hub played briefly for both the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens during the World War II era in the 1940’s. Macey had a lengthy minor pro career and finished up playing Senior hockey in Kingston in the mid 1950’s.

During his playing career Wally Elmer was generously listed as a 5’ 9” right winger (he appeared shorter), weighed just over 160-pounds and played on the 1918 Junior Frontenacs team that went to the Ontario semi-finals.

Despite losing an eye in a hockey skirmish, he turned pro in 1922 with the Saskatoon Crescents of the Western Canada League. With the Crescents he joined teammate Bill Cook from Kingston (the Cook’s Arena in Kingston was named after Bill and his brother Fred ‘Bun’ Cook).

The Cook’s went on to star for the New York Rangers winning two Stanley Cups and winding up in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The Saskatoon Crescents of the Western Hockey League 1922. Wally Elmer back row 4th from the left

After two seasons in Saskatoon, Elmer was signed by the great Lester Patrick and joined the Victoria Cougars. His timing could not have been better, as Victoria would win the Stanley Cup the following spring.

In 1924-25 Victoria won the Western League title and with the Stanley Cup on the line they played the National Hockey League champion Montreal Canadiens.  

It was one-hundred years ago, on March 30,1925 in front of 4,200 delirious fans at Victoria’s old Willows Arena, Elmer and his Victoria teammates dumped Montreal 6-1 and won Lord Stanley’s Cup in a four-game series.

In that era roster sizes were small, most teams only dressed ten players and usually seven of them played most of the minutes. The champion Cougars gave each player a small medallion for winning the Cup, and Elmer’s medallion was recently donated to our local Original Hockey Hall of Fame, a century after it was presented to him.

At the end of March this year, Victoria celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the Cougars Stanley Cup win. The last non NHL team to win it.

Victoria and Montreal had a rematch for the Cup in 1926, this time Montreal won it and then a month later Lester Patrick sold the Cougars. The entire roster was sold to a group starting a new NHL franchise to Detroit. It subsequently became the Detroit Red Wings.

Elmer didn’t go to Detroit, he made several minor league stops and returned home to Kingston in 1929 to become coach of the varsity team at Queen’s. He also opened a gas station at the corner of Princess and Division street.

In 1938, he coached and sponsored the Kingston team that won the O.H.A. Junior ‘B’ championship. Some well-known Kingston players included Ken Partis (who had seven-points in the series finale win over Barrie), Johnny Carr-Harris, Nick Knott, and Buddy Goodfellow, along with the great goaltending of Carl Hewitt.

Three years later in 1941, Elmer coached the Kingston Combines to an O.H.A. Senior ‘B’ championship.

In 1940, Elmer sold his gas station and bought Patton’s Cleaners, a dry-cleaning business he would own and operate for 33 years until his retirement in 1973. Max Jackson was a close friend of Wally’s, prior to becoming a well-known TV & radio sportscaster at CKWS, Max worked at Patton’s Cleaners and was the manager of his 1938 Jr. ‘B’ championship team.

Elmer also loved baseball, he helped create the Central Ontario Baseball Association, was on the executive of the Kingston Ponies Baseball Club. He played a part in professional baseball coming to Kingston in 1948.

A member of the building committee for the Kingston Memorial Centre, he is credited with being the driving force behind getting it built as a memorial to Kingston’s fallen soldiers. He led the local charge and was key in securing the funding required through the help of political friends Judge William J. Henderson & William Nickle.

He also helped get the pool built at the Memorial Centre, and was on the board for the International Hockey Hall of Fame when they put in place a home for the great hockey artifacts at York & Alfred Streets in 1965.

Harold Harvey was a great friend of Wally’s and Elmer was key to helping Ebby Hare raise funds to get the Portsmouth Harold Harvey Arena built for the Church Athletic League in the early 1960’s.

In 1963, friends organized a testimonial dinner at the Commodore Hotel in his honour, and announced the new ‘Wally Elmer Award’, to be presented annually to a person who had made a significant contribution to sports in Kingston. Elmer himself was the first recipient.

As the Kingston Whig Standard reported, Ebby Hare said of Elmer, “It is to recognize what he has done for young people in this town. He has looked after so many youngsters in so many ways, no one will ever know.” That included hiring many young people to work at the businesses he owned, along with helping kids financially to further their education.

Mel Williamson who starred for the ’41 championship Combines team and was the manager of the Alcan aluminum plant, said of his mentor, “He has helped more kids get an education and back on the right road, than we will ever know. Everything he does, he does quietly.”

Harold Harvey praised Elmer, “If it weren’t for Wally, we might not have  the Kingston Memorial Centre, he just kept pushing and pushing until it was built.”

Bob Fray, Commissioner of Kingston Public Utilities added, “I don’t think there is anyone in Kingston who has done more, and not just in sports, than Wally. He has been a good citizen.”

Five years later, the Wally Elmer Arena was built and named after him, officially dedicated on November 16th, 1968.

Wally Elmer died on August 28, 1978. On the night of his passing according to his niece Jackie Macey, he declined an invitation to a dinner party to write a letter about an ill-advised decision to make Queen Street one-way. It was a decision the city later reversed.

An overflow crowd filled St. James Anglican Church for his funeral and among the honorary pallbearers were hockey greats Frank J. Selke, Bill Cook and his brother, Fred (Bun) Cook.

He was inducted into the Kingston & District Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.

Mark Potter is an honoured member of the Kingston & District Sports Hall of Fame and long-time Kingston broadcaster. He played many C.A.L games for St. John’s Anglican at Wally Elmer Arena