THE DRESSING ROOM TOMBSTONES

"If you looked east (in the Leafs' dressing room), you would see, on the wall above the players' equipment, plaques listing the players and management of the Leaf teams since 1931"
-Former Leaf, Billy Harris.

Like any room in a building, the owners take time to pay special attention to the decorations. And in the game of hockey, there is no greater room in the home rink than the dressing room. When the Leafs moved into their new building, Maple Leaf Gardens, in November 1931, they decided the room should be decorated in manner to reflect the team concept. The Leafs won the Stanley Cup in their first year in Gardens and to honour the accomplishment, they had a plaque or tombstone as they became known as due to their shape, made and placed it on the dressing room wall. This became a tradition which lasted until the early 1990s.

"Gardens lore is that Conn Smythe was the originator of the tombstones," recalled former Maple Leaf Gardens Building Manager, Wayne Gillespie.  He pointed out the tombstones measured 20 by 41 inches. "The frames were built by the Gardens carpenters and the script was done by McNeill Signs. Larry McNeill had a sign shop directly across the road from Maple Leaf Gardens."

In a 1993 interview, Larry McNeill reflected on his craft and career, which began in 1930.

 He opened up his own shop in 1936. It was located on Adelaide Street East in downtown Toronto. Then, after one year, he packed up his equipment and moved to a room above Lion Sporting Goods on Yonge Street close to Carlton Street.

"The space was unheated, I dragged in sacks of coal for the Quebec heater, but the rent was just twenty dollars a month. I stayed there ... until the building was torn down in 1969, then moved to my present quarters (above the Bank of Commerce building at Church and Carlton). I haven't strayed very far in 57 years."

One benefit McNeill offered gave him an edge over his competition. "Our shop is one of the last to turn out hand lettered signs," McNeill noted of the trend to use computers.

McNeill's work enabled him to meet one the worlds greatest entertainers.

"Bob Hope was in Toronto for a TV special, and I went down to his suite at the Royal York Hotel to discuss the making of his cue cards. We spent about half an hour together, discussing the wording and lettering."

Gillespie noted "the tombstones hung in the Leaf room until the renovations in the early 1990s." In addition to the dressing room being remodelled, a weight room was constructed under the Hot Stove Club. Also, Gillespie pointed out "there was a small rectangular brass plaque that hung in the directors Room with the corresponding names and dates from the tombstones."

The original 1931-32 tombstone and brass plaque. Courtesy of Wayne Gillespie.

Although the tombstones are a thing of the past, one individual has taken an interest in creating replicas of these important pieces of Leaf history.

"I guess it started with the purchase of Glory Years, the book by Billy Harris," began hockey fan Gary Tobin. "In his book, he writes of these plaques. Until then, I really didn't know they existed. At the time, I thought that one day I'd try to make a few. I had never seen one, even in a picture, so I couldn't even guess at their size. I didn't realize they made one for each year played. I had only thought Cup winners were made."

In the fall of 2018, Tobin decided it was time to tackle a new project.

"I pulled out the book again and the thought of these came back from several years earlier. Being a guest at the Original Six Alumni lunches, I thought I might get a little insight into them and if I made a few that were nice enough, maybe I'd try to honour some of the former players who were my heroes at a young age."

Next came the research and planning.

"Studying one of the few pictures of a real plaque that I'd seen, and ones in the background of a few pictures from the 50s, I realized these appeared to be hand painted. I could only guess at the size so I decided to make mine roughly proportionate. I picked up a couple of sheets of 2ft. by 4ft. 1/4 inch hardboard and laid a couple out, settling on 24 inches high and 10 inches across. I looked at various means of lettering before realizing the only way to do these would be by hand. I played with font sizes and the type of script before coming to what I use. A few years ago, I did a fair bit of calligraphy, enough to have sold a few hand made wedding invitations and birth announcements, so I knew I had the hand and eye to make them look respectable."

One problem Tobin encountered was the order in which to list the names on the plaque. He consulted with hockey historian Paul Patskou and former Toronto Maple Leaf great Frank Mahovlich. But Patskou and Mahovlich didn't have the answer. For the sake of continuity, Tobin devised a plan to proceed using the same layout for each season.

"I decided to use a simple approach - management at the top, goalies, captains, remaining players in alphabetical order, trainers and the team records."

Armed with the necessary tools and a vision, Tobin got down to business.

"After a few dry runs, I made my first complete version. It took a while to align the names properly, and I had to check that the spelling was correct. A couple of draft versions were unusable. But the first  couple came out looking more passable in my eyes. The original took about 15 hours each, but through repetition, I've now dropped that to about 5 hours per plaque."

Once satisfied with the final product, Tobin was ready to show his work, beginning with the first Original Six lunches in 2019.

"The test was former Leaf Ron Hurst. One of the plaques I had done was for him with his year, 1955-1956. I couldn't have imagined a better reaction. I could tell Ron liked it and I had him pose for a picture with it. Ron had come to the lunch with one of my boyhood heroes, Bobby Baun. I gave him one from his first Cup win in 1961-62. Again, I was floored by his reaction. He seemed quite happy with his, which made my heart soar."

Also, Tobin has gifted several others with plaques. In particular, Suzanne Primeau, who is the granddaughter of Leaf legion "Gentleman Joe" Primeau (1931-1932) and Craig Stanowski, the son of Wally Stanowski (1941-1942).

Clockwise: Gary Tobin with...Bob Baun, Suzanne Primeau and Ron Hurst.

Top: Wally Stanowski (left) and the 1945-1946 tombstone. Bottom: Craig Stanowski with the 1941-1942 replica tombstone.

"Shortly after the lunch, orders started coming in. The first, a 1931-32, came from Graham MacLachlan, who is a relative of J.P. Bickell." Hockey fans will know Bickell as one of the most important individuals in Toronto Maple Leaf history. His efforts kept the NHL team in Toronto when the St. Pats were on the market in 1927 and was a driving force behind the construction of Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931.

Thanks to Gary Tobin, the tombstones live on.

NOTE: Since writing this piece, hockey historian and author Kevin Shea has advised the player's are listed according to their time of service with the Leafs.