Vince Leah

Vincent Leah (November 29, 1913 – August 9, 1993) was a Canadian journalist, writer and sports administrator. He wrote for The Winnipeg Tribune from 1930 to 1980, and was credited with giving the Winnipeg Blue Bombers their team's name. He established youth sports programs in Winnipeg for baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, ice hockey, and soccer; and brought Little League Baseball to Canada. The Excelsior Hockey Club he founded in 1934, won thirteen provincial championships and produced forty professional hockey players. He was widely known as "Uncle Vince", authored eight books on history and sports, and was a freelancer for the Winnipeg Free Press from 1980 to 1993.

Leah was made a member of the Order of Canada, was inducted into the builder category of both the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame, and is the namesake of the Vince Leah Trophy awarded to the rookie-of-the-year in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. He was the first recipient of the Outstanding Volunteer in Sport Award given by the Manitoba Sports Federation, was recognized for his career in sports by the Heritage Winnipeg Corporation and the Canadian Amateur Sports Federation, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Winnipeg.

Early life Vincent Leah was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on November 29, 1913. He was the youngest of two sons to Francis and Bridget Leah. Leah had English heritage from his father, and Irish heritage from his mother. He contracted polio at age eight, and attended Isaac Newton School and Ralph Brown School. and retired on May 30, 1980, after 50 years as a sports journalist for the newspaper. Journalist Jim Coleman wrote that Leah coined the name late in 1935, after Winnipeg became the first team from Western Canada team to win a Grey Cup, and that the name came at a time when boxer Joe Louis had international success with the nickname, the Brown Bomber. After 1980, Leah was a freelancer for the Winnipeg Free Press and also wrote for Seniors Today. His other works include West of the River: The Story of West Kildonan (1970), Pages from the Past (1975), A History of the Blue Bombers (1979), and Alarm of Fire: 100 Years of Firefighting in Winnipeg, 1882–1982 (1982). He later served on the athletic committee for the Manitoba Centennial in 1970. He died from a heart attack, The formal ceremony was hosted by the Governor General of Canada on October 15, 1980.

Other honours Leah received during his lifetime include, the Canadian Amateur Sports Federation Award for service to amateur sports, the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association Award of Merit,