"Howard Darwin was involved in a number of different sports over the years however his true passion was hockey and his contributions to the Ontario Hockey League and the Canadian Hockey League cannot be overstated" said OHL Commissioner David Branch. "In addition to being one of the founding principles of the Ottawa 67's hockey club, he also played a key role in the development of the CHL. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Darwin family during this most difficult time."
Howard Darwin’s Ontario Hockey League involvement began in 1967 when he, along with two other Ottawa businessmen, were granted an expansion franchise in the OHL. The club was nicknamed the 67’s in honour of Canada’s centennial year. Darwin, along with co-owner Earl Montagano, sold the 67’s in 1998. In addition to his 67’s ownership, Darwin purchased the London Nationals franchise in 1968 and renamed the team the Knights. Darwin stayed on as owner for 18 years until 1986. Darwin also served as the OHL Chairman of the Board for two seasons from 1977-79 and was an instrumental builder of the League.
The following article was posted in the Ottawa Citizen on Thursday October 22, 2009 - www.ottawacitizen.com
Howard Darwin, who turned 78 last month, died at the Civic Hospital Heart Institute after complications from heart surgery in early September.
Darwin, a jeweller by trade, loved all sports and founded hockey’s Ottawa 67’s and returned professional baseball to Ottawa in 1993 with the Ottawa Lynx. He also was a big promoter of boxing, both amateur and professional, and professional wrestling.
He is a member of the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame and also previously owned the OHL’s London Knights and London Gardens.
Darwin grew up on Nicholas Street in a tough neighbourhood that provided just enough edge to make him a success, the Citizen’s Wayne Scanlan wrote in a profile.
Darwin’s mother died of cancer when Howard was six. Born on Sept. 10, 1931, he was the fourth of five children.
More or less, Howard and his little brother, Rupert, raised themselves. Their father was a security guard on shift work and was rarely at home. An older sister was working as a live-in maid for an elderly couple.
Not long after his mother died, Darwin’s older brothers, Jack and Percy, left Ottawa to fight for Canada in the Second World War.
By the time he was in Grade 10, Darwin had quit school and tried to join the navy, to follow his brothers’ military path. But he was too young to get away with the fib, especially postwar. Out of necessity, an entrepreneur was born. It isn’t bragging, just fact, that Howard earned more money selling newspapers in the 1940s than his father — and most other fathers — earned in their grownup work. He began his local news empire at age nine, hustling his way to own the prime downtown locations.
By the end of the war, 14-year-old Darwin was selling up to 1,000 papers a day, earning $50 to $60 a week.
Recognizing he couldn’t peddle papers his whole life, Darwin sought a trade in his mid-teens. He apprenticed for Tim Burke’s jewelry store on Rideau Street, then, at 19, opened up his own watch repair shop on Nicholas Street.
Five year later, he would move to Wellington Street and open a jewelry store that he would operate for 37 years. It closed in 1991.
Over the years, as he developed as a sport promoter, Darwin’s store became a hot-stove lounge for sports discussions among sportsmen and sports writers.
If Darwin has a disappointment after all these years, it is that he never got the chance to stage a heavyweight championship bout. He came so close.
Paying for his anti-Vietnam war stance, Muhammad Ali was banned by the Ontario Boxing Commission from fighting in Ontario. Darwin saw an opportunity, to take an Ali-Ernie Terrell fight across the river to Hull. It was all but set.
Darwin still has the telegrams confirming the bout. The day it was announced, Darwin received a call from Frank Sinatra’s agent asking for 100 of the best seats at the Guertin Arena. But it was no cigar.
“At the last minute, the Ontario government approved Ali to fight in Toronto,’’ said Darwin. Terrell eventually withdrew from the bout, fearing a backlash. Instead, Ali fought George Chuvalo, whom he outlasted at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Other Darwin ventures had happier endings. Quietly, his business enterprises were amassing a small fortune. Most often, his business partner was his childhood friend, Earl Montagano, with whom he would later co-own the 67’s. Together, beginning in the early 1960s, they bought up several parcels of land in Ottawa, almost all of which have been sold for impressive profits.
A shopping mall they owned in London sold for more than $3 million, the OHL’s London Knights and arena for $2.3 million.
In the mid-’60s, Darwin made untold millions by having the foresight to pursue the rights to cable television in Ottawa.
Some of their profits very nearly resulted in Darwin and Montagano buying the NHL’s St. Louis Blues in the early 1980s. They said later the timing wasn’t right.
Kilrea’s team, the 67’s, got its start when Darwin and four partners recruited a major junior franchise, the necessary ingredient for the city to build the $11-million Civic Centre. It lit up its first hockey game in late 1967.
Years later, he repeated the building/franchise feat with the Triple-A Lynx. This time he had to have a stadium commitment from the city before pursuing an International League team.
In 2000, Darwin sold the Lynx for $7 million to Vermont businessman Ray Pecor. Plagued by poor results and low attendance, the team played its last game Sept. 3, 2007.
