Charles Mayer

Charles Mayer (28 January 190112 November 1971) was a Canadian journalist, sportsperson and politician. He made a name in journalism as a sportswriter and municipal reporter with the newspaper La Patrie, and the magazine Le Petit Journal. He was the French-language publicist for the National Hockey League, and a radio sports commentator for the Montreal Royals and the Montreal Canadiens. He later became a press secretary for horse racing in Montreal, then was president of the Canadian Boxing Federation and vice-president of the National Boxing Association. He served six years on the Montreal City Council and campaigned for the city to host a Major League Baseball team and the Summer Olympic Games. He was one of the inaugural appointees to the National Fitness Council of Canada, was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, and was posthumously recognized with the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in 1985 for his career as a hockey journalist.

Early career

Charles Mayer was born on 28 January 1901, in Montreal, Quebec. He graduated from Université de Montréal in 1922 and went into journalism briefly with Le Canada, then was a sportswriter and municipal reporter for La Patrie from 1922 to 1933.

Mayer began French-language broadcasts of the Montreal Royals baseball games in 1945, and was the sports commentator for World Series broadcasts in French on radio and television from 1944 to 1966.

In 1949, Mayer published a book on the history of the Montreal Canadiens entitled L'Épopee des Canadiens, which sold more than 100,000 copies. He covered the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver and broadcast daily reports in French.

While on the city council, Mayer was vice-president of the Montreal Athletic Commission which oversaw the sport of boxing in Quebec. He was president of the Canadian Boxing Federation from 1955 to 1956, later served as vice-president of the National Boxing Association, and was a boxing judge at the Olympics and other events. In February 1962, the council endorsed a plan for a Canadian sports festival to be held every four years, which eventually became the Canada Games. Mayer felt the concept could be used to select the Canada men's national ice hockey team in advance of the Winter Olympics. Mayer served on the council until 1964. and he was inducted into the builder category of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in May 1971.

Mayer died on 12 November 1971 in Paris, France, shortly after arriving on a flight to begin a vacation.

Mayer was posthumously recognized with the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in 1985, for his hockey journalism career as chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. Named in his honour are Parc Charles-Mayer in Montreal, and Rue Charles-Mayer in Saint-Charles-Borromée, Quebec.