Dan Bain

Donald Henderson Bain (February 14, 1874 – August 15, 1962) was a Canadian amateur athlete and merchant. In ice hockey he was a member of the Winnipeg Victorias hockey team from 1894 until 1902, and helped the team win the Stanley Cup three times. He also won medals and championships in other sports and was the Canadian trapshooting champion in 1903. Bain was inducted into several halls of fame, including the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1949. He was also voted Canada's top athlete of the last half of the 19th century.

In his professional life, Bain was a prominent Winnipeg businessman and community leader. He became wealthy by operating Donald H. Bain Limited, a grocery brokerage firm. Bain was an active member of numerous community associations and president of the Winnipeg Winter Club. The Mallard Lodge, a building on the shores of Lake Manitoba built by Bain as a personal retreat, serves as a research facility for the University of Manitoba.

Early life Donald Henderson Bain, also known as Dan or DH, When Bain was a young child, the family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Bain attended school in Winnipeg and earned a bachelor's degree from Manitoba College. He began working in 1888, aged 14, as a bookkeeper's apprentice for a grocery broker.

Sporting career Bain's first championship came in 1887 when he won the Manitoba roller skating title by winning a three-mile race. At age 17, he won the Manitoba provincial gymnastics competition; at age 20, he won the first of three consecutive Manitoba cycling championships. Bain was also a top lacrosse player in his home province.

The Winnipeg Victorias in 1896. Bain is in the front row, second from the left. alt=Eight young men pose wearing identical sweaters with a buffalo logo on their right breast. They are all in hockey skates and holding sticks

In 1895, Bain answered a classified ad placed in a newspaper by the Winnipeg Victorias, an ice hockey team looking for new players. Though he played with a broken stick held together by wire, Bain was selected for the team five minutes into the tryout. He became a star centre and leader of the Victorias. On February 14, 1896, the team played against the Montreal Victorias for the Stanley Cup, the trophy for Canada's hockey championship; Bain scored a goal in a 2–0 win for Winnipeg. In a rematch for the Cup in December 1896, Bain scored two goals but Montreal recaptured the Cup with a 6–5 victory. Winnipeg was involved in other Stanley Cup challenges with Bain serving as the team's captain and manager. They lost again to their Montreal counterparts in 1898.

The Winnipeg Victorias posing for a photo with the Stanley Cup in 1901. Bain is in the front row, fourth from the left. alt=Fourteen men pose around a silver trophy. Several are wearing identical sweaters with a buffalo logo over the left breast and are holding hockey sticks. During a 1900 challenge series against the Montreal Shamrocks, Bain scored four goals in three games, but Winnipeg again lost the title. The Victorias challenged the Shamrocks in 1901 in a best-of-three series. the first time in Stanley Cup history that the winning goal was scored in extra time.

Bain also earned medals in lacrosse and snowshoeing, and was the Canadian trapshooting champion in 1903. He won over a dozen titles in figure skating, the last of which came at the age of 56; he continued to skate until the age of 70.

Personal life Bain's first job was a bookkeeper's apprentice to a grocery broker, where he rose to junior partner when the business was sold to one of his neighbours. By 1905, the company added his name, creating Nicholson and Bain. The firm prospered, with offices across Western Canada. This partnership ended in 1917 due to differences in lifestyle between the two men. Bain renamed the firm Donald H. Bain Limited and served as president. Through his firm, Bain amassed a large fortune and purchased several properties in and around Winnipeg.

Bain helped create the Winnipeg Winter Club on land that is now the home of the naval reserve division. After the Second World War, he organized the current Winter Club. This was followed in 1971 by his induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame and the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 1981 as an individual, then again in 2004 with the 1911 and 1912 Winnipeg Victorias teams. Bain was also voted Canada's top sportsman of the last half of the 19th century.