Loyola-Ed Meagher Sports Tournament

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Loyola-Ed Meagher Sports Tournament
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Ed Meagher was born on January 6, 1926. At the age of ten, he entered Loyola's Junior Preparatory class, the start of a 55 year association with Loyola as a student, athlete, teacher, coach, administrator, alumni director and friend.

The legacy of Ed Meagher lives on at Loyola, especially in the annual Winter Sports tournament. The tournament began in 1971, when Senior hockey coaches Jim Ruddy and Ed Meagher were determined to find a way to showcase the wonderful talents of those who played high school hockey in Montreal. The inaugural tournament, which featured four Senior hockey teams, was not very successful. Due to a massive snowstorm that weekend, one of the teams could not make it, and the four-team tournament was reduced to only three. The tournament lost money. But Fr. Ken Casey, the school principal at the time, was determined not to let a great idea die and kept the tournament flame alive with his foresight and financial generosity.

Over the years, the tournament has grown into one of the highlights of the Montreal winter sports-scene. In 1974, Senior basketball, today called Juvenile basketball was added to the tournament, followed by Bantam hockey in 1981 and Midget basketball a year later. The tournament remained a four- division, hockey/basketball tournament for the next thirteen years, when the sport of wrestling was added in 1995. In 1998, Bantam basketball was added, followed by PeeWee hockey in 2003 and Pee Wee basketball in 2006.