Ronald James Butlin (August 8, 1925September 24, 2014) was a Canadian ice hockey executive. He was president of the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) from 1968 to 1971, when the league separated from the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) due to grievances arising from the National Hockey League (NHL) agreement for the NHL Amateur Draft. He also served as president of the Canadian Hockey Association from 1968 to 1970, which was formed as a national governing body of junior ice hockey in Canada, in opposition to the CAHA. He sought to raise the age limit imposed by the NHL and negotiate better financial terms for the junior teams which developed future professional players. He criticized the CAHA for its spending on administration and wanted hockey policy to be determined by the teams instead of elected officials. He negotiated an agreement to reunite the WCHL with the CAHA in 1970, where the WCHL gained direct representation on the CAHA junior council, better financial return for drafted players, and received development grants from the NHL.

Butlin previously hosted a sports radio show, and was a founding member and later president of the Calgary Booster Club. He founded the independent Calgary Spurs senior ice hockey team in 1964, which joined the Western Canada Senior Hockey League in 1965. After the Spurs were 1967 Allan Cup finalists, he helped establish a senior league based in Western Canada which included the Canada men's national ice hockey team in its schedule. He sold the Spurs in 1968. After his tenure with the WCHL, he was executive director of Sport Alberta from 1973 to 1977, and directed the first Alberta Summer Games in 1974, and the first Alberta Winter Games in 1976. He then became the manager-director of the BC Games Society which oversaw the BC Summer Games and the BC Winter Games until 1987, and then coordinated the Washington state centennial in 1989. He later spent 21 years organizing the annual Santa Claus parade and the Victoria Day parades in Victoria, British Columbia.

Early life and education Ronald James Butlin was born on August 8, 1925, in Calgary, Alberta. His grandfather James had participated in the westward march of the North-West Mounted Police in 1874. Butlin studied at the University of Alberta, then became a trustee in bankruptcy, and the owner of a business in Calgary. His company was known as Central Liquidation Limited, and helped him earn a personal fortune.

Butlin was a baseball coach during the 1950s, and was elected vice-president of the Alberta Fastball Association in 1953. He and Arthur Ryan Smith hosted a weekly amateur sports radio show on CFAC, and a hot stove league on broadcasts of the Western Hockey League in the late 1950s. Butlin was a founding member of the Calgary Booster Club, served as its president from 1961 to 1963, and was later made an honorary life director of the club.

Calgary Spurs and senior hockey

Butlin founded the Calgary Spurs as an independent senior ice hockey team in 1964, after the Calgary Stampeders team had folded. The Spurs were not part of any league and played an exhibition schedule during the 1964–65 season. The team had an average of 3,000 fans per home game which increased when it joined the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association (AAHA) playoffs. Senior hockey in Alberta was consolidated into the Alberta Senior Hockey League during June 1965. The Spurs were invited to join the newly formed Alberta league, and were also invited to join the Western Canada Senior Hockey League (WCSHL) which was based in both Alberta and Saskatchewan. He considered offers from both leagues, and chose to join the WCSHL. The Spurs finished the 1965–66 WCSHL season in first place, but lost to the Drumheller Miners in the league playoffs.

Butlin brought a professional approach to amateur hockey in Calgary according to The Canadian Press. He divided profits at the end of the season among the players instead of paying salaries, provided medical benefits, assisted in finding day jobs for players in Calgary, and transported the team to distant away games by airplane to avoid time lost at their jobs. The Spurs played home games at the Stampede Corral, and were the only team in the WCSHL to have all home and away games broadcast on the radio. Butlin at one time considered operating a professional hockey team, but discussions did not progress beyond preliminary stages.

During the 1966–67 WCSHL season, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) upheld a protest by the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association (SAHA) that the Spurs had used ineligible players registered after the December 31 deadline. Butlin responded by taking legal action against the AAHA, who according to him had given permission for the signings. The Alberta Supreme Court upheld the original AAHA decision that both players were eligible, but CAHA secretary-manager Gordon Juckes enforced the suspensions since no court order had been issued against the CAHA. The Spurs finished the season in first place, won the T. B. Patton Cup as senior champions of Western Canada, but lost in the 1967 Allan Cup final versus Drummondville Eagles for the national championship. Attendance for the season in Calgary exceeded 100,000 fans.

In May 1967, Butlin proposed a major senior hockey league for Western Canada, and expected the higher-level league to begin operation for the 1967–68 season. He invited the Canada men's national ice hockey team based in Winnipeg, and the United States men's national ice hockey team based in from Saint Paul, Minnesota, to play in the league along with teams from Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Regina. He sought a long-term commitment from the national teams, and wanted to strengthen rosters of the other club teams for balanced competitive play. He proposed for the league to use international ice hockey rules and act as a talent pool for the national teams, and later invited the Finland men's national ice hockey team to play a series of exhibitions games in the proposed league. In June 1967, the league diverged into two separate senior leagues which both kept the WCSHL name.

Butlin offered the Calgary Spurs for sale in August 1967, and intended to accept a position as president of the new league. He acted as spokesperson for the new league, and hoped for multiple European national teams to play games against the league. Later in August, Butlin decided to remain owner of the team. He signed a new ice agreement with the Corral, brought in partners to help operate the team, and switched to player salaries instead of dividing end-of-year profits. Butlin later chose not to accept the league president position, but he felt that Canadian would show interested in the use of international rules of play and three on-ice officials for games.

Butlin sought to hire a full-time general manager for the Spurs when Marv Vangotsinoven resigned in March 1968, after four seasons with the team. In April 1968, the WCSHL was in danger of folding, and Butlin considered joining the Western International Hockey League whose senior teams were based in British Columbia and Washington. Butlin stated he was leaving senior hockey in June 1968, because he felt junior ice hockey had a better future. He reportedly asked for C$12,000 to sell the Spurs, but an agreement was not reached. A separate group of owners submitted a bid to the Alberta Senior Hockey League in July 1968, for a team to be called the Calgary Stampeders that would use free agent players from the Spurs. Butlin later sold the team after operating it for four seasons.

Western Canada Hockey League

On June 8, 1968, the Western Canada Junior Hockey League changed its name to the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), and affiliated with the Canadian Hockey Association (CHA) which was established as a national governing body of junior ice hockey in opposition to the CAHA, and the National Hockey League (NHL) agreement for the NHL Amateur Draft. Butlin was named president of both organizations, and was kept on a retainer and given expenses instead of a salary.

Butlin was opposed to the CAHA structure of elected officials who determined hockey policy but were not connected to a team, and felt that "teams within the association should be allowed to guide their own destiny". His main objective for the CHA was to seek better financial return for their teams' efforts, and wanted to see more money given to teams for travel expenses to the Memorial Cup final.

Butlin felt that according to the NHL Amateur Draft agreement with the CAHA, the WCHL should receive the corresponding development payments for its players. The NHL responded that it would not do business with players who had contracts to CHA teams due to potential lawsuits, and had no intention of promoting a relationship with the CHA. Butlin claimed that CHA team had no issue signing players to contracts despite being shunned by the NHL.

Butlin wanted the WCHL to be more involved in the community, and operate clinics for minor ice hockey players, coaches and managers. He felt that a player's education was important, and drafted the league's schedule to minimize the number of days a player would miss from school. He was adamant that changes were needed and wanted to prove to the CAHA that the CHA was doing the right thing. He also claimed that the National Fitness Council wanted a different organization to run junior hockey in Canada, and planned to present a brief to the council for an operational grant.

Butlin looked to expand the CHA eastward, and targeted the Western Ontario Junior Hockey League (WOJHL). He made a 20-minute presentation to the league at a meeting in Sarnia, and convinced five teams from the league to join the CHA. He also courted the Border Cities Junior Hockey League, met with the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League, and attempted to get the British Columbia Junior Hockey League (BCJHL) to join the CHA.

1968–69 season

Butlin continued his verbal attack against the CAHA into the 1968–69 season, whereas the CAHA had mostly ignored him. He stated that the CHA was contemplating expansion into minor ice hockey in addition to junior ice hockey, in an attempt to "change the hockey pattern in Canada". He criticized the CAHA for accepting the NHL's lower the age limit that was "a move to put the kids into the money machine faster". He felt the NHL should be pressured to pay more money for players it drafted, and that the CAHA wasted too much money on administration that could be spent on its teams.

The CAHA refused requests to have WCHL teams to play exhibition games against the Canada men's national ice hockey team. Butlin claimed the decision was discrimination against the WCHL, referred to his league as "good, clean-cut Canadian kids" and contested that "Canada's national team is professional in every respect". He felt that the $200,000 grant from the Government of Canada towards the national team was a waste of tax payers' money since the team would not win anything, but felt government should have more say into its operation.

In October 1968, the CAHA released the disbursement of development payments from the 1968 NHL Amateur Draft. The statement omitted payments for players drafted from the WCHL while the league was under CAHA jurisdiction. The CAHA refused to issue the payments as it considered all teams under the CHA jurisdiction to be defunct. In January 1969, Butlin announced legal action against the CAHA to seek development payments from the NHL, which totaled $13,200.