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Few Canadian amateur sports executives have a record of service equal to that of Frank Sargent. Born in Fergus, Ontario in 1902, he moved to Port Arthur from Renfrew at 21 years of age, and for the next sixty years dedicated himself to both hockey and curling, from the local to the national level.


In hockey, following a season playing locally at the intermediate level, he turned his attention to the building side of the game. First involved with the formation of a junior team, it was not long before his talents were sought by the Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association (TBAHA), being elected to the Executive in 1929.  Serving with the association for 27 years, he held many positions, including 5 years as President. In 1939 he was elected to the Executive of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), serving as an officer of the association for nearly a decade.  


As a member of the rules committee he was instrumental in introducing a number of rule changes. Elected President of the CAHA in 1942 he served in that position for 3 years, becoming the first person to hold that national office longer then 2 consecutive years. In his capacity as President of the CAHA he was involved with working alongside the National Hockey League in the formation of the Hockey Hall of Fame, serving on its inaugural Selection Committee in 1945.


An avid curler, he was one of the founding members of the Port Arthur Curling and Athletic Club (PACC) and was given Life Member honours by the organization.  It was his leadership and drive which completed the renovation of the old facility with the installation of the first artificial curling sheet in Thunder Bay, personally leading the delegation which procured the funds to do so.  


President of the PACC several times, he was instrumental in the formation of the Northwestern Ontario Curling Association, becoming its inaugural President in 1947. It was in that capacity that he carried the fight for the creation of two Ontario sections --Northern Ontario and Ontario -- to the Dominion Curling Association (DCA), making Ontario the only province with two representatives in the men's national Canadian Curling Championships.   


Elected to the Executive of the Dominion Curling Association in 1962, he was elected President in 1965, becoming the first person ever to have led both curling and hockey's national sport governing bodies. Following his term of office, he served for several years as chairman of the national mixed curling committee, introducing mixed curling on a national competitive level, and in 1973 was on the inaugural Selection Committee for the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame.


Successful as a competitor in both curling and golf, he won more than his share of honours. In 1953 he was a member of the Grant Watson Rink which reached the Brier and finished third. A district amateur golf champion and two-time runner-up, he also won the Thunder Bay Country Club championship on two occasions.


Bestowed with many honours for his involvement in sports, including life memberships in both the CAHA (1946) and the Canadian Curling Association (1967) and induction in the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame (1974), perhaps the greatest testament to this outstanding builder's contributions was the lasting legacy he left in the amateur hockey and curling communities of Canada and northwestern Ontario. 


Inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, September 25, 1982


Frank Sargent

Inducted: 
1982
Sport:
Curling, Hockey
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