Frank Forest Sargent (July 6, 1902 – September 28, 1988) was a Canadian sports executive in ice hockey and curling. He served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) from 1942 to 1945, and was president of the Dominion Curling Association (DCA) from 1965 to 1966. He was the first person to be elected to more than two terms as CAHA president, and the first to be president of two national amateur sporting associations in Canada.
Sargent served as a Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association executive for 27 years, including two terms as its president. He served on the CAHA committee to negotiate professional-amateur agreements with the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1938 to 1955, and helped negotiate recognition each organization's authority over the game, payments from professional clubs to amateur clubs for developing hockey players, and common usage of the ice hockey rules. He sought for enforcement of rules to ensure fast, clean play without injuries, and disliked the increasing physical style of the game. His time as president of the CAHA coincided with World War II, and he supported the purchase of Victory bonds to assist the war effort, and facilitated the supply of players to fill NHL rosters lacking numbers due to military service. Under his leadership, junior ice hockey profits from the Memorial Cup were reinvested into the development of minor ice hockey in Canada; but senior ice hockey struggled with the loss of Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force teams, which led to his decision to cancel national playoffs for the Allan Cup in 1945.
Sargent served multiple terms as president of the Port Arthur Curling Club, and led its effort to affiliate with the Manitoba Curling Association. He later assisted in founding the Northwestern Ontario Curling Association, became its inaugural president in 1947, and sought for recognition as its own branch within the DCA to compete for The Brier national championship. He played second on the rink that won the 1953 Northern Ontario Men's Provincial Curling Championship, and placed third at the 1953 Brier championship. As a member of the DCA executive, he assisted in establishing both the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship and the Canadian Senior Curling Championships in 1964. He was an original member of the senior championship committee, and believed the event would attract former Brier competitors and give seniors place to compete which had not existed.
Sargent's career in sports was recognized with the Canadian Centennial Medal in 1967, and the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977. He also received awards, citations and life memberships from multiple sporting and service organizations; including life membership of the CAHA in 1946 and life membership of the DCA in 1967. When hockey and curling established a Hall of Fame for their respective sport, he was named to the selection committees to choose the inaugural group of inductees for each sport. He was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame in 1974, and inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1982.
Early life
Frank Forest Sargent was born on July 6, 1902, in Fergus, Ontario. His father Lewis was a livery yard keeper, and his mother was Matilda Sargent (née Alexander). He grew up in a family of three children, with a sister Ruby and a brother Arthur. Sargent began curling in Fergus at age 12 with his father. He participated in his first bonspiel at age 14 in Hamilton. He also played lacrosse in Fergus as a youth, and played junior ice hockey for Guelph in the Ontario Hockey Association.
Sargent played senior lacrosse in Orangeville, and won two Ontario titles, and one national title. He later played lacrosse in Hamilton, and was roommates with future professional hockey players Hap Day and Carson Cooper. While playing for Hamilton, Sargent body checked against Lionel Conacher who then fell across Sargent's legs. Sargent spent four weeks in the hospital recovering from the injury which shortened his career for contact sports. He later lived in Renfrew, Ontario, then moved to Port Arthur in 1923, and played one season of intermediate level senior ice hockey.
Business career
In 1923, Sargent began working for Thompson and Sargent, a funeral home co-founded by his father Lewis Sargent. Sargent apprenticed in Winnipeg with Clarke-Leatherdale, then graduated from the Canadian School of Embalming with honours in 1926, to become a funeral director. Lewis Sargent bought out his partner, then Frank Sargent assumed management of the family's funeral home business when it was renamed Sargent and Son. He became a member of the Ontario Funeral Service Association and the Northwestern Ontario Funeral Service Association, then took over the family business upon his father's death in 1946.
Hockey career Early involvement Sargent led a group of five investors in 1928, who sought a junior hockey team based in Port Arthur to compete for the Memorial Cup. The Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association (TBAHA) feared that the plan to group the best players on one team would weaken the local junior league and did not approve the endeavour. Sargent was subsequently elected to the TBAHA executive in 1929, and served continuously until 1955. He was vice-president of the TBAHA from 1935 to 1936, and president from 1936 to 1938. He oversaw the Thunder Bay District Senior Hockey League which had four teams in Canada, and also played games against teams from Minnesota. He coordinated Allan Cup playoffs for the Canadian teams. He gave approval for the Kenora Thistles to continue playing as a senior team under the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association umbrella instead of the TBAHA, since they had done so as a junior team.
CAHA second vice-president
Sargent was elected second vice-president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) on April 18, 1938. He became a member of the CAHA rules committee. He also served on the CAHA committee to negotiate professional-amateur agreements with the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1938 to 1955, along with W. G. Hardy and George Dudley. In August 1938, the CAHA and the NHL reached a new working agreement. Stipulations included the recognition each other's suspensions, use of the same playing rules, the NHL would not sign players without CAHA consent during the season, and the CAHA would deny international transfers to amateurs who were on reserve lists for NHL teams. Sargent accompanied the Port Arthur Bearcats to the 1939 Allan Cup championship, which they won versus the Montreal Royals in four games.
Sargent was re-elected second vice-president on April 12, 1939. The Port Arthur Bearcats were chosen to represent the Canada men's national ice hockey team at the 1940 Winter Olympics, and Sargent was placed in charge of the upcoming tour of Europe and was expected to travel with the team. The CAHA approved C$5,000 towards travel expenses overseen by Sargent, and the team would receive any profits from exhibition games played while in Europe. The Bearcats requested a guarantee from the CAHA against financial loss, and Sargent expected a meeting to decide on the travel demands. The 1940 Winter Olympics were ultimately cancelled after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939.
CAHA first vice-president
Sargent was elected first vice-president of the CAHA general meeting on April 17, 1940. At the same meeting, the CAHA updated its constitution to define an amateur as "one who either has not engaged or is not engaged in organized professional hockey", and permitted its teams to sign players to binding contracts. The CAHA and the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States (AHAUS) agreed to an alliance and formed the International Ice Hockey Association to govern international hockey relationships. Sargent explained that in the new definition of amateur, the CAHA was only concerned whether a player was a professional in hockey, and not in any other sport. At the same time, the CAHA declined an invitation to re-affiliate with the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada due to differences in what constitutes an amateur.
The CAHA reached a new agreement with the NHL in November 1940, which included payments to junior or senior clubs for developing players signed by professional teams. Sargent and W. G. Hardy became responsible to distribute the money proportionate to the player's service time. The new agreement also stipulated that players and teams would be suspended for improper transfers, and gave Sargent an $800 honorarium to cover expenses as an executive. Sargent oversaw schedules for playoffs in Western Canada, and stated that schedules might be altered to generate more attendance and profit.
Sargent was re-elected first vice-president of the CAHA on April 16, 1941. He stated that the CAHA would take measures to ensure faster and cleaner hockey, and that proposals would be forthcoming at the upcoming meeting with the NHL to eliminate high-sticking, boarding and body checking injuries. He was subsequently named chairman of the resolution committee for the next CAHA general meeting.
The CAHA adopted new rules in 1941, to assist in finding replacement players during wartime conditions; and sought for temporary reinstatement of professionals as amateurs, who were unable to travel to the United States during the war. Sargent was committed to do everything possible to expedite in reinstating professionals as amateurs under CAHA jurisdiction.
CAHA president
First term Sargent was elected president of the CAHA on April 21, 1942, to succeed George Dudley. He announced that the CAHA had profited nearly $15,000 from the 1942 playoffs, which he distributed to teams based on games played. The CAHA generated most of its playoffs profit from the 1942 Memorial Cup, more than three times the profit compared to the 1942 Allan Cup. The CAHA also approved grants to each of its provincial branches for the development of minor ice hockey, and agreed to distribute funds according to a survey of minor ice hockey organizations completed by W. B. George of the Ottawa District Hockey Association. The CAHA later allocated $9,000 towards promotion of minor ice hockey.
In August 1942, the CAHA was requested to submit a brief to military service selection officials with the Government of Canada, to summarize the current participation numbers and its future plans. Sargent issued instructions to teams in the CAHA to arrange for games not interfere with the war economy, and accommodations must be made for any players who also worked at jobs contributing towards the war effort. He reported that registrations dropped from 26,000 in 1939, to just 13,000 in 1942, and he expected to lose more players to military services. Despite declining registration, he felt that prospects across the CAHA looked bright and was committed to have hockey to continue for the morale of Canadians.
The CAHA and the NHL agreed in principle that a junior-aged player could become a professional whenever he wanted, to make a living under wartime conditions. They expected that NHL clubs would rely on junior-aged players as replacements due to military enlistments. In October 1942, Sargent announced a new professional-amateur agreement was reached. NHL teams were permitted to sign junior-aged players if the junior club was contacted first, and agreed not to sign any other junior-eligible players who had not yet played for the CAHA. The NHL continued to pay the CAHA for developing players, and contributed $17,000 towards junior teams during the 1941–42 season, compared to $6,000 during the 1940–41 season.
During the playoffs for the 1942–43 season, Sargent sought for more strict enforcement of rules by referees in the interest of player safety. He was particularly concerned with increasing trend of rough play as opposed to "good clean hockey".
Second term