Karl Subban is a Jamaican-Canadian educator and writer,Lisa Evans, "Karl Subban is Canada’s ultimate hockey dad with three sons in NHL". Canadian Immigrant, January 5, 2015. best known as the father of National Hockey League players P. K. Subban, Malcolm Subban and Jordan Subban."The secret to the Subbans' success". CBC News, July 3, 2018.
Born in Jamaica, he came to Canada with his family as a pre-teen in the early 1970s, and settled in Sudbury, Ontario.Matt Durnan, "Subban family has special connection to Sudbury". Sudbury.com, November 22, 2017. Living in the predominantly francophone Flour Mill neighbourhood,"Karl Subban in Sudbury to launch new book". CBC Northern Ontario, November 29, 2017. he integrated into the community by playing neighbourhood street hockey, although he never played in an organized league. He later also played basketball for Sudbury Secondary School and Lakehead University. At Lakehead, he remains the fifth all-time leading scorer for the school's basketball team.
Following his graduation from Lakehead he became an elementary school teacher with the Toronto District School Board, until retiring from teaching in 2013. By this time his three sons were all playing in the NHL, with Karl becoming well known in his own right as a prominent "hockey dad".
In 2017 he published the non-fiction book How We Did It: The Subban Plan for Success in Hockey, School and Life. His children's book The Hockey Skates, illustrated by Maggie Zeng and recounting a true story from P.K.'s childhood, was published in 2023,"The Hockey Skates by Karl Subban, illustrated by Maggie Zeng". CBC Books, September 19, 2023. and was selected for the 2025 edition of CBC Kids Reads."Jay Baruchel, Anna Lambe, Andrew Phung and more take part in CBC Kids' annual literature celebration". CBC Books, September 17, 2025.
In the 2020s he was also a prominent campaigner for banning sports betting advertising.Alex Cyr, "“They take away from the entire game”: Karl Subban on his campaign to ban sports betting ads". Toronto Life, May 19, 2023. In 2026, he gave a talk on race and hockey in conjunction with a National Canadian Film Day screening of the Black Canadian hockey drama film Youngblood at the Acton Film Festival.Christian Collington, "‘Hockey dad’ Karl Subban guest speaker at Acton film fest finale". Penticton Herald, April 15, 2026.
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