Charles William Conacher
Section 41, Lot 351
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Charlie Conacher was born in Toronto on December 10, 1909 and as a youngster attended Jesse Ketchum Public School. He joined the Toronto Maple Leaf hockey team in 1929 and scored his first National Hockey League goal on his very first shift as a rookie Leaf right-winger. Conacher also holds the distinction of scoring the very first Leafs goal in Toronto’s new Maple Leaf Gardens that opened on November 12, 1931. He remained with the Leaf team for nine seasons helping the team win the Stanley Cup in 1931-32. He was the league scoring leader in 1934 and again in 1935 and was a member of the All-Star team on four separate occasions. Conacher was probably best known as a member of the famous “Kid Line” with Joe Primeau at centre and Harvey “Busher” Jackson on left wing. The total age of this trio when put together by Conn Smythe on December 7, 1929 was fifty-eight years. During Conacher’s career with the Leafs he played 307 games, scored 193 goals, and had 115 assists. He continued to play in the NHL for another four years and eventually became the coach of the Chicago Black Hawks.
Following his retirement from hockey in 1941 Conacher started a second successful career in the hotel business. He listed among his many friends Dwight Eisenhower, Bob Hope, and Bing Crosby. After a long bout with cancer, Charlie Conacher died at the Toronto General Hospital on January 30, 1968. The Charlie Conacher Dinner*, a fundraiser for cancer research, was always a popular event. The Conacher memorial stone is an intriguing work of art as are the nearby Schlesinger (Section 36, Lot 1088) and Torokvey (Section 36, Lot 4100) memorials.
Mike Filey
Mount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide
Second Edition Revised and Expanded
*Editor’s Note: The Charlie Conacher Dinner was discontinued after 1984.