{{Short description|Canadian sports journalist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Elmer Ferguson | image = Elmer Ferguson sports journalist photo.jpg | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|mf=y|1885|2|25}} | birth_place = Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island | death_date = {{Death date and age|mf=y|1972|4|26|1885|2|25}} | death_place = Montreal, Quebec | known_for = | alma_mater= | employer= | relations= | years_active= | occupation =Journalist, sportswriter }} '''Elmer Ferguson''' (February 25, 1885 – April 26, 1972) was a Canadian sports journalist. Born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Ferguson moved to Montreal in 1910 and became the sports editor of the Montreal Herald in 1913. Ferguson was one of the most respected and prominent columnists of his time. He became a Hockey Hall of Fame media honouree in 1982 and was the namesake of the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award.
==Career== At the age of six, Ferguson started selling newspapers on the streets of Moncton, New Brunswick and became a copy boy with the ''Moncton Transcript'' when he was 17. He soon became a sportswriter with the paper and became the news editor in 1910. With Ferguson as editor, the ''Moncton Transcript'' became the first Maritime newspaper to print a full sports page every day.<ref name="CSHoF">{{cite web|url=http://www.cshof.ca/hm_profile.php?i=423|title=Elmer Ferguson|accessdate=February 17, 2008|publisher=Canada's Sports Hall of Fame|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080126093257/http://www.cshof.ca/hm_profile.php?i=423|archive-date=January 26, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Soon after, Ferguson left for Montreal where he got a job as an editor at the ''Montreal Herald''. He became sports editor of the paper in 1913 and soon became a well-known sports journalist with his column "The Gist and the Jest of It".<ref name="CSHoF"/> He was sports editor for the paper for 39 years and continued to write columns until the ''Herald'' folded in 1957. He continued to write columns for ''The Montreal Star'' until a few months before his death in 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/leg_writers.htm|title=Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award Winners|accessdate=February 17, 2008|publisher=Sports Media Canada|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230101939/http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/leg_writers.htm|archivedate=December 30, 2007}}</ref>
In addition to his work in the print media, he was also a colour commentator on radio broadcasts for the Montreal Maroons (1933–1938) and the Montreal Canadiens (1938–1952), where he was partnered with Doug Smith.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}
Ferguson was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame as a builder in 1968. In 1984, Ferguson was recognized as one of the first Hockey Hall of Fame media honourees. The award that is given out was named the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in his honour.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/leg_writers.htm|title=Elmer Ferguson|accessdate=February 17, 2008|publisher=Hockey Hall of Fame|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230101939/http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/leg_writers.htm|archivedate=December 30, 2007}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Elmer}} Category:1885 births Category:1972 deaths Category:20th-century Canadian male journalists Category:20th-century Canadian journalists Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent Category:Canadian sportswriters Category:Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award recipients Category:Journalists from Prince Edward Island Category:National Hockey League broadcasters Category:Writers from Charlottetown