page_title: W. A. Fry
section_title: Canadian Amateur Hockey Association
hierarchical_section_title: W. A. Fry / Canadian Amateur Hockey Association
caption_attribution_description: English: Allan Cup Trophy, honouring the senior amateur ice hockey champion of Canada, on display in the Hockey Hall of Fame
context_page_description: William Alexander Fry was a Canadian sports administrator and newspaper publisher. Fry founded the Dunnville Chronicle in 1896, a weekly newspaper serving Dunnville, Ontario. He managed local hockey and baseball teams in the 1910s, then became president of the Ontario Hockey Association from 1922 to 1924. At the national level he was president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association from 1928 to 1930, was a Canadian Olympic Committee member and British Empire Games committee member from 1927 to 1938, and served as president of the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada from 1934 to 1936.
  He sought better working relationships with the National Hockey League and the American Amateur Athletic Union, to compensate Canadian teams for developing senior ice hockey players. He aimed to implement standardized ice hockey rules for all leagues under CAHA jurisdiction. He recommended control of the Allan Cup be transferred from its trustees to the CAHA, who then reinvested profits into minor ice hockey in Canada. This coincided with growing interest in the playoffs for the Allan Cup and Memorial Cup.
context_section_description: Fry was elected vice-president of the CAHA on March 26, 1926, and served in the role for two years. In November 1926, he recommended profits from Allan Cup playoff games exceeding $5,000 be turned over to the CAHA whose work had earned the money, instead of Allan Cup trustees dictating how the money was spent. At the CAHA general meeting in March 1927, he formally requested to have the CAHA take control of the Allan Cup and its profits from the trustees, and use the funds to build amateur hockey in Canada. He felt the move justified as the CAHA had evolved and was able to manage its own affairs. His motion asked for H. Montagu Allan to donate the cup to the CAHA, and establish an Allan Cup committee which included current trustee William Northey. Fry was re-elected vice-president on March 28, 1927. He presided over the 1928 general meeting of the where commercial team names were discussed again, and the handling of expenses for the Canada men's national ice hockey team.
  Fry succeeded Frank Sandercock as president of the CAHA on March 29, 1928, and the Maritime Amateur Hockey Association was welcomed as a new branch of the CAHA. He was re-elected as CAHA president and AAU of C governor on March 29, 1929. During his tenures as president, he set up a separate finance committee to oversee income and expenditures Allan cup profits. He aimed to implement standardized ice hockey rules for all leagues under CAHA jurisdiction. He was also part of the AAU of C group which selected the first members of its committee to choose which teams would represent Canada at the Olympics.
  In response to the Trail Smoke Eaters being disqualified in the 1929 Allan Cup playoffs for an unsigned player, Fry motioned for any active professional athletes being banned from holding management positions on am amateur team. The CAHA executive set aside 5 percent of profits from Allan Cup and Memorial Cup games for a minor ice hockey development fund. At the end of his term as president, Fry stated that "remarkable progress" was made in Canadian amateur hockey with respect to growing interest in the playoffs for the Allan Cup and Memorial Cup, and loyalty to amateur principals of the AAU of C.
  On March 29, 1930, Fry was succeeded as CAHA president by Jack Hamilton. Fry was immediately named to a committee to establish a better relationship with the professional leagues. In May 1930, Fry and W. A. Hewitt attended the 1930 general meeting of the National Hockey League (NHL) asking for a better working agreement. The CAHA recommended players remain in amateur hockey until a year after graduating from junior hockey, and offered to sanction its players to attend NHL practices, and standardize playing rules with the NHL. The CAHA continued negotiations after the NHL appointed Conn Smythe and James Strachan to a working agreement committee. Results of the negotiations where discussed at the 1933 general meeting of the CAHA, and Fry recommended that players who unsuccessfully tried out for a professional team would still retain amateur status.
caption: Fry sought to have control of the Allan Cup (trophy pictured) transfer from its trustees to the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association.
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