William Rowen Granger (December 13, 1873April 24, 1925) was an American-born Canadian sports administrator and businessman, who was president of multiple sports associations in Quebec, and led the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA). He served as president of the Montreal AAA from 1918 to 1920, oversaw the revival of the association's ice hockey, baseball and soccer teams after World War I, and previously served as president of the Montreal Lawn Bowling Club and the Montreal Bicycle Club. He helped establish the Province of Quebec Lawn Bowling Association and became its president in 1919. He also served as president of the Inter-Club Road Race Association of Montreal, helped organize the Cyclists' Rights Committee in Montreal, and was a director of the Canadian Wheelmen's Association.
Granger was instrumental in founding the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association (QAHA) in 1919, and was its second president. He committed to amateurism in sport, to eliminate veiled professionalism, and standard registration cards with the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada. Granger and the QAHA were defendants in a court case that challenged the denial of an amateur registration card to a player who participated in semi-professional baseball prior to reaching the age of majority. The case necessitated QAHA constitutional changes, and that registration forms be printed in both English and French. He served as president of the CAHA for the 1921–22 season, established a national registry of players and a residency rule to restrict players from touring the country from team to team; began the practice of charging registration fees to provide income to branches of the CAHA, and collected a portion of gate receipts to assist weaker teams by revenue sharing.
In business, Granger worked in importing and manufacturing, as the son of American industrialist A. O. Granger. Granger was superintendent and secretary for the Auer Incandescent Light Manufacturing Company which his father co-founded, and was later president of Glassford Brothers Limited. He was a member of the Montreal Board of Trade, the Canadian Manufacturers' Association, and the Canadian Association of British Manufacturers. He also served as president of the Montreal Winter Sports Association which aimed to attract tourists, and resurrect the Montreal Winter Carnivals to benefit local businesses. The Gazette wrote that Granger was "one of Montreal's most popular businessmen", that he was respected for his opinions, and that his funeral was reported to be one of the largest ever known in Montreal.
Early life and family
William Rowen Granger was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on December 13, 1873. His parents Arthur Otis Granger and Caroline Dickson Gregory originated from Philadelphia. A. O. Granger had Scottish heritage, and served as the private secretary to General William Tecumseh Sherman during the American Civil War, then became an industrialist in the United States and Canada.
Granger became a naturalized Canadian citizen after he moved to Montreal in autumn 1892. He had four brothers and a sister, including his brother Sherman, who also lived in Montreal. Granger was married to Ida V. W. Glassford, the daughter of Hugh Glassford, on September 18, 1900, at the American Presbyterian Church in Montreal. After a honeymoon in the Southern United States, they resided in Westmount, and had two daughters.
Montreal AAA Granger became involved with the Montreal AAA (Amateur Athletic Association) , playing tennis and bicycling. He was also involved in arranging the annual Caledonian Games in Montreal, to celebrate Scottish heritage.;
Bicycling Granger was chairman of the Montreal Bicycle Club racing board from 1896 to 1899, which promoted local cyclists in competitions and sought improved track facilities. He was elected to the bicycle club executive and Montreal AAA board of directors in 1897,; later became first vice-president, then elected president in 1899, and named to the Montreal AAA grounds committee.; During this time, he was an umpire and starter for the club's road races,; and led club efforts to establish a junior men's racing team.
Elected president of the Inter-Club Road Race Association of Montreal in August 1897, Granger presided over the road race board for Districts 10 and 11 of the Canadian Wheelmen's Association (CWA). He sought to maintain the ideals of amateur competitions, and cautioned that cyclists could be suspended from amateur status by racing against professionals or in events not sanctioned by the CWA. He assisted organizing the Cyclists' Rights Association in 1898, to educate the public on their objectives and liaise with Montreal City Council.; Later in 1898, the city's bicycle clubs agreed to support the Queen's Park bicycle track to be constructed by the season's races. Bicycle club memberships subsequently grew with construction of the track and a clubhouse at Queen's Park.
Granger represented the Montreal Bicycle Club at the 1899 CWA general meeting, and was named to the CWA racing board to oversee the provincial meet at Terrebonne, Quebec.; Montreal subsequently hosted the 1899 World's Meet at Queen's Park. He was reappointed to the racing board in 1900, after the CWA declared the International Cycling Association meet in Montreal to be a success, calling it the "greatest race meet ever held in America".;
Lawn bowling
Granger was elected to the Montreal AAA Lawn Bowling Club committee in November 1909, and was the skip of his own rink throughout the 1910s and 1920s. He hired a full-time groundskeeper for the club's bowling green when he became vice-president of the club in 1911, and was elected secretary-treasurer of the Montreal Lawn Bowlers' League established in the same year. He served as president of the club from October 1911 to November 1913,; and partnered with D. J. H. Murdoch to donate the Murdoch and Granger Cup awarded for the club's season champions in doubles competition. After his presidency, Granger remained involved on the executive and oversaw the greens committee.;
Granger and the club hosted the meeting in April 1914, when the Montreal and District Lawn Bowling League was renamed to the Province of Quebec Lawn Bowling Association (PQLBA), drafted a new constitution, became the eastern section of the Dominion Lawn Bowling Association, and standardized its rules of play to be similar to those used in Ontario. Granger served as the secretary-treasurer of the PQLBA from 1914 to 1918,; helped establish an annual singles competition as of the 1915 season, and proposed for an annual tournament with the Eastern Ontario Lawn Bowling Association to alternate between Montreal and Ottawa. He was elected vice-president of the PQLBA in December 1918, then became its president in October 1919. Under his leadership, the PQLBA began hosting an open-competition tournament in 1920, with divisions for singles and doubles welcomed from all lawn bowling clubs in Canada. He was subsequently made a permanent representative on the PQLBA committee, and helped organize competitions.
Executive member Granger was elected a director of the Montreal AAA in 1914, then elected to the Montreal AAA executive in May 1915 as chairman of the clubhouse committee. Later in the same year, he was delegated to represent the association's interests at the meetings for the Quebec branch of the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada (AAU of C). The Montreal AAA loaned its facilities to the Canadian Army for training during World War I, and Granger co-ordinated fundraising efforts for the Canadian Red Cross.
The Montreal AAA elected Granger as vice-president and named him to the finance and property committees for 1916 and 1917.; He served two years as president from 1918 to 1920,; and hosted The Prince of Wales at the clubhouse on a royal visit in November 1919. By the end of World War I, Granger had overseen the revival of the association's ice hockey, baseball and soccer teams; and hoped to restart the lacrosse team, establish a trapshooting club, and erect a memorial for members who died serving in the war. In 1920, Granger helped arrange the Canadian Olympic team trials hosted by the Montreal AAA, and the establishment of a monthly magazine, The Winged Wheel. He was made a life member of the Montreal AAA after his two years as president, and remained on the nominations committee for MAAA executive elections.
Ice hockey administrator 1918–19 season Granger oversaw the assembly of a hockey team by the Montreal AAA for the 1918–19 season, the resumption of playing in the Montreal City Amateur Hockey League after a three-year hiatus, and was committed to affiliating with the AAU of C.; The Montreal City Amateur Hockey League declined offers to amalgamate with another league or become professional, drew up a schedule to play at the Victoria Skating Rink, and passed a resolution that all of its teams must be amateurs and affiliate with the AAU of C.
The Quebec Amateur Hockey Association (QAHA) was founded in Montreal on January 19, 1919, with Hartland MacDougall elected as president and Granger as the vice-president. The new group was formed to govern amateur hockey in Montreal and the Province Quebec, and affiliated with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA). Registration cards became required to certify a player's amateur status as governed by the AAU of C, and prevented the mingling of amateurs and professionals in hockey. The Interscholastic Hockey League joined the Montreal City Amateur Hockey League under the jurisdiction of the QAHA and became eligible for the Allan Cup playoffs as the senior ice hockey champions of Canada, and the Junior Amateur Hockey Association also joined the QAHA and became eligible for the Memorial Cup playoffs as the junior ice hockey champions of Canada.
The Gazette credited Granger for being instrumental in founding the QAHA, fighting to maintain amateurism and for allowing hockey to thrive in Quebec. The establishment of the QAHA protected its leagues from the loss of players to the Eastern Canada Hockey Association, from which the Montreal City Amateur Hockey League had resigned during World War I in a dispute that the association operated under veiled professionalism. Granger warned that anyone playing against professionals would jeopardize their amateur status, and that the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association had never affiliated with the QAHA or the CAHA.
1919–20 season
Granger was elected vice-president of the CAHA for the 1919–20 season. The CAHA adopted uniform ice hockey rules of play for the Allan Cup competition, excluded teams sponsored by commercial organizations from the national playoffs for senior hockey, and sought an alliance with the United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA) to allow international amateur games. The CAHA assumed control of the Memorial Cup playoffs and implemented the age limit in junior hockey as used by Ontario Hockey Association.
The Montreal City Amateur Hockey League admitted three new clubs and scheduled its games and practices at the newly constructed Mount Royal Arena. With the growth of amateur hockey, Granger recommended accommodating new teams by establishing an intermediate division at a level between senior and junior hockey.