{{Short description|Canadian hockey player and coach}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Frederick Harvey Sproule | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = January 12, 1883<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1901/z/z003/jpg/z000108450.jpg|title=Fourth census of Canada 1901|website=collectionscanada.ca}}</ref> | birth_place = New Tecumseth, Ontario, Canada{{cn|date=January 2026}} | death_date = July 9, 1959 (aged 76)<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://www.cemsearch.ca/burial/?selChoice=31310&action=sectionSelect&Select=Select+highlighted+person|title = CemSearch Burials - Finding our Ancestors: In search of our roots, 923 cemeteries documented, mainly in central Ontario, Canada}}</ref> | occupation = NHL owner, coach, referee, journalist }} '''F. Harvey Sproule''' (January 12, 1883 – July 9, 1959) was a Canadian hockey player, National Hockey League coach, owner, executive, and referee, as well as a curler, journalist, and race horse owner.
==Early years== From Milton, Ontario, where he attended school, Sproule was a competitive cyclist and played amateur hockey in his hometown. Records show Sproule lived with his Uncle John Head and his wife Mary Elizabeth Sproule in Milton as young as age 8 in 1891.<ref>{{cite web|title=Census of Canada 1891|url=http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1891&op=img&id=30953_148142-00651|website=bac-lac.gc.ca}}</ref>
Sproule's uncle, John Head, had been a Milton town councillor,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.milton.halinet.on.ca/1475643/data?n=1|title = Head, John (Died)}}</ref> and a business merchant in Milton since at least 1881,<ref>{{cite web|title=Census 1881|website=collectionscanada.gc.ca |url=http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e328/e008190917.jpg}}</ref> selling men's and women's clothing,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.milton.halinet.on.ca/2491299/page/2|title = Canadian Champion (Milton, ON), 13 Oct 1881, p. 2}}</ref> before getting a customs job in Toronto and moving there with the family in the mid-1890s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.milton.halinet.on.ca/2494383/page/2|title = Canadian Champion (Milton, ON), 9 Dec 1926, p. 2}}</ref> In 1901, Sproule and his sister were still living with their Uncle John Head and his wife Mary in west Toronto.<ref name="auto1"/> In 1905, Sproule's sister Mildred died at age 20 at their uncle's home.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.milton.halinet.on.ca/2492741/page/2|title = Canadian Champion (Milton, ON), 26 Oct 1905, p. 2}}</ref>
While in Toronto, Sproule played for the Toronto Old Orchard and the Toronto Rowing Club hockey teams.<ref>[http://images.ourontario.ca/Partners/MPL/MPL002505457pf_0862.pdf Building Milton year by year] ourontario.ca</ref><ref>[http://images.ourontario.ca/Partners/MPL/MPL002491138pf_0436.pdf Newspaper clipping] ourontario.ca</ref><ref>[http://images.ourontario.ca/Partners/MPL/MPL002493367pf_0193.pdf Newspaper clipping] ourontario.ca</ref> He then became involved in team management as coach and manager of the Toronto Victorias and Toronto Crescents.
==Notable relatives== Sproule was related to William Kingston Flesher (June 10, 1825 – July 22, 1907), a settler of southwestern Ontario, a militia officer, businessman and political figure. As well as founding the village of Flesherton, he represented the riding of Grey East in the House of Commons of Canada as a Conservative member from 1872 to 1878.<ref name="parl">{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=19d911c0-3646-4d28-8732-c376dba765a3|nolist=yes}}</ref>
Flesher's son-in-law was Thomas Simpson Sproule, Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada and Canadian Senator.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.milton.halinet.on.ca/2493114/page/2|title = Canadian Champion (Milton, ON), 24 Oct 1912, p. 2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/SiteInformation/parlinfoMoved|title=ParlInfo Has Moved|website=lop.parl.ca|accessdate=13 January 2024}}</ref>
==Career== ===Referee=== For many years, Sproule was a referee in the Ontario Hockey Association. In 1913, the Toronto Canoe Club selected Sproule to officiate the city's championship game.<ref>{{cite news|title=Kid All-Stars to Play Champions|work=The Toronto World|date=March 12, 1913}}</ref>
On January 22, 1914, he was the referee for one of the wildest games in OUA league history in when spectators in Collingwood, Ontario, rioted, came onto the ice and threatened and assaulted Sproule.<ref>{{cite news|title=Orillia Plays Clean Hockey|work=The Toronto World|date=Jan 25, 1914}}</ref> J. Ross Robertson issued a warning to Collingwood following the incident that another similar instance would result in a ban to the town and the rink.<ref>{{cite news|title=OUA Cancels Certificates|work=The Toronto World|date=Feb 2, 1914}}</ref>
In 1915, he was involved with a decision by the Toronto's Beaches Hockey League to grant soldiers the same privileges in the BHL as they had in the OHA at the time.<ref>{{cite news|title=Soldier Team Joins the Beaches League|work=The Toronto World|date=December 21, 1915}}</ref>
===Horse Racing=== Sproule was also a sports journalist, writing for the ''Toronto Star'' and other publications, usually about horse racing. In 1914, he was quoted in the Ottawa Citizen as being opposed to the installation of "iron men" betting machines at Ottawa's horse racing track, arguing that the clientele that frequented smaller locations still preferred to bet on the books.<ref>{{cite news|title=Racing People Evidently Divided on Question of Books or Machines|work=Ottawa Citizen|date=December 9, 1914}}</ref>
Partnered with Paul Ciceri, Sproule owned the Coronado racing stable. Sproule's horse named Rocksilk won the first race on the programme for Canadian-bred horses at the 1920 King's Plate at Woodbine. Rocksilk was bred by the famous stud of the late Joseph E. Seagram of Waterloo, Ontario.<ref>{{cite news|title=Rocksilk was Claimed|work=Montreal Gazette|date=June 3, 1920}}</ref> He continued to race his horses through the 1920s in places as far as Chicago.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/drf1924052301/drf1924052301_djvu.txt|title=Daily Racing Form: N. Friday, May 23, 1924|year=1924}}</ref>
===Toronto St. Patricks=== In 1919, Sproule and Ciceri became partners in Toronto's NHL franchise, which was renamed the Toronto St. Patricks with Sproule as secretary-treasurer and business manager. During the season, Sproule became head coach of the team and held the job until the end of the 1919–20 season. In the last game of the season, which was meaningless as Toronto would not advance to the Stanley Cup Finals that year, a zealous fan presented coach Sproule with "a loving cup" during the second intermission, with Toronto beating Montreal 8-2 at that point.<ref>{{cite news|title=St. Patricks Beat Canadien Team in Last NHL Game|work=Ottawa Citizen|date=May 13, 1920}}</ref> NHL record books list him as coaching 12 games with a record of seven wins and five losses.<ref>{{cite web|title=Harvey Sproule: Coaching Record|url=https://www.hockey-reference.com/coaches/sprouha99c.html|publisher=Hockey-reference.com|accessdate=22 June 2013}}</ref>
===Later years=== Sproule became an NHL referee during the 1920–21 season and also returned to the OHA as a referee.<ref>{{cite news|title=OHA Rules Adopted|work=The Toronto World|date=Jan 8, 1919}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Thomas|first1=Norman|title=Ye Sport Sandwich|work=Lewiston Evening Journal|date=Mar 18, 1958}}</ref>
It seems Sproule may have gained an interest in curling early in life from his Uncle John Head.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.milton.halinet.on.ca/2506853/page/7|title = Canadian Champion (Milton, ON), 2 Nov 2001, p. 7}}</ref> In 1928, Sproule threw third stones for the Lakeview Curling Club team under skip Charles Snow that finished in a three-way tie for first place through the round-robin at the 1928 Macdonald Brier. The team lost its tie-breaking games and finished third. Sproule went on to skip his own team for many years in Toronto and Cobourg, Ontario. He lost in the final of the Ontario British Consols in 1939 to Bert Hall.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hall Rink Earns Right to Represent Ontario in Dominion Championships|date=March 2, 1939|page=8|newspaper=Kitchener Daily Record|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/waterloo-region-record/167045483/|accessdate=March 2, 2025}}</ref>
===Death=== On January 17, 1945, Sproule's first wife Fannie Retallack died at age 56. Harvey remarried later to Grace Macklin, who was 18 years his junior. Harvey Sproule died on July 9, 1959.<ref name="auto"/> He is buried in Cobourg Union Cemetery in Cobourg, Ontario, along with his first wife Fannie and his second wife Grace.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cemsearch.ca/burial/?action=sameStone&sameChoice=31311&Select=Select+highlighted+person|title = CemSearch Burials - Finding our Ancestors: In search of our roots, 923 cemeteries documented, mainly in central Ontario, Canada}}</ref>
==Coaching record== {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;" |- ! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="7"|Regular season !! colspan="1"|Postseason |- ! G !! W !! L !! T !! OTL !! Pts !!Finish !! Result |- !TOR||1919–20 |12||7||5||0||-||(24)||3rd in NHL||Did not qualify |}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{succession box | before = Frank Heffernan | title = Head coach of the Toronto St. Patricks | years = 1920 | after = Frank Carroll}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sproule, Harvey}} Category:Toronto Maple Leafs coaches Category:Canadian ice hockey officials Category:National Hockey League executives Category:Sportspeople from Milton, Ontario Category:Ice hockey people from Ontario Category:Curlers from Ontario Category:Canadian male curlers Category:1883 births Category:1959 deaths