The Life Of Andy Blair (Part One)

Winnipeg's Andy Blair was a star forward with the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1920s and 1930s.

This is part of a four-week series that I have written on the great Andy Blair. I hope you enjoy this one as it took months to put together a few years back, and made for one heck of a tale in a previous book I’d written. Enjoy!

Andy Blair was one of the greatest athletes that has ever come out of Manitoba. He was extremely talented at any sport he tried his hand at. Rugby, football, soccer, tennis, golf. You name it, he played it, and was very good at it. Hockey just happened to be the sport he was best at and decided to forge a career at, but he could have gone professional with any of the sports I just mentioned. 

Blair was the first NHL player in league history to sport any kind of mustache on a regular basis during their playing career. A clutch playoff performer with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Blair was always a consistent goal scorer and playmaker; his peculiar whirling rushes had a very strong crowd appeal, which always made Blair a fan favourite. He was also one of the first players that had earned a university degree by the time he made the NHL, and perhaps the first big-league player to speak out against violence in hockey as he hated fighting and thought the game should be all skill-based.