Today, in many Ontario households and communities, the calendar of life revolves around school, work and sports. Celebrated teams give pride of place and economic stimulus. Arenas and stadia provide key landmarks, draw larger congregations than places of worship, and bring people together across the divides of class, culture and religion in a common devotion to the home team. Many of the best facilities commemorate formative episodes in our history, such as First and Second World War memorial arenas that dot the landscape, or the recreation centres built to celebrate Canada’s centennial. I have never been to a local history museum that did not have some artifact or display on sports.

Of course, the best stories about Ontario sport revolve around the athletes and teams who have played here, enriching our lives with their heroics and travails, and affording us lessons about the human experience long afterwards. In the 19th century, it was rower Ned Hanlan – who won and held the world’s professional singles championship for five years against much larger Americans, Britons and Australians – who first gave Toronto and Ontario international renown rivalling that of the larger and more-established Montreal. Early in the 20th century, the remarkable Onondaga marathon runner Tom Longboat enhanced that reputation. When he won the Boston Marathon in 1907, running for the West End YMCA in Toronto, city controller William Hubbard said that “I don’t know anyone who has done more to help the Commissioner of Industries than this man Longboat.”

Every generation makes role models out of its favourite athletes. When I was growing up in the 1950s, a number of the young women in my neighborhood were named Barbara in hopes that they would grow up with the same artistry and determination as the Ottawa figure skater and Olympic champion, Barbara Ann Scott. Although he has not lived in Parry Sound since he was a teenager, Bobby Orr’s name lives on in town with two buildings named after the outstanding hockey player: a multi-purpose community centre and a hockey hall of fame. Many cities, towns and regions have their own sports halls of fame. It is not only Stanley Cup-starved Toronto that lives and dies by the fortunes of its signature teams. It happens every weekend in every town across Canada.

But not everyone has had equal access to sports in Ontario. Sports were initially developed, played and celebrated as part of men’s culture, with girls and women kept to the sidelines. Well into the 20th century, members of First Nations, Blacks, non-British immigrants and the working class were also excluded or discouraged – by explicit prohibition, prejudice or economic hardship.

One of the most inspiring narratives of Ontario sport is the way in which those excluded fought to win opportunities for themselves, while progressives helped them. At first, those excluded held their own events and formed their own clubs and organizations. During the first wave of feminism, women did this under the slogan “Girls’ sports run by girls,” creating their own clubs, provincial and national organizations and competing in their own Olympics. The Ladies’ Golf Club of Toronto, established in 1924 by Ada Mackenzie in Thornhill, is a remnant of this effort. It is the only surviving women’s-only club in North America.

Virtually every immigrant group, as soon as it developed a critical mass, did the same. For much of the 20th century, for example, Finnish Canadians – whether in mining or lumber camps in northern and northwestern Ontario or in large cities such as Thunder Bay, Sudbury or Toronto – ran ambitious programs and brought everyone together every summer for a provincewide gymnastics festival. In the 21st century, Asian immigrants did the same with kabaddi, sepak takraw and Chinese volleyball. Sometimes, the skill and élan of outstanding athletes from marginalized groups helped them overcome prejudice, enter the mainstream and legitimize their entire group. One such story is that of Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld, after whom the annual Canadian female athlete of the year trophy is named. In the early 1920s, Rosenfeld was a poor, Russian, Jewish immigrant living in Barrie before her accomplishments in ice hockey, softball and track and field took her to Toronto and ultimately an influential journalism career at The Globe and Mail.