page_title: W. A. Fry
section_title: Committee member
hierarchical_section_title: W. A. Fry / Amateur Athletic Union of Canada / Committee member
caption_attribution_description: English: Canada's gold medal winning 1928 Winter Olympic ice hockey team.
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 a standing committee member for the AAU of C from 1927 to 1934, and participated on the Canadian Olympic Committee and the British Empire Games committee. He regularly travelled to international sporting events at his own expense, on behalf of the CAHA and the AAU of C. At the 1927 AAU of C general meeting, he spoke against the intermingling of professionals and amateurs in baseball as proposed by Alberta, and wanted to keep amateurs separated. He accompanied the Toronto Varsity Blues men's ice hockey team won the gold medal representing Canada in ice hockey at the 1928 Winter Olympics hosted in St. Moritz, Switzerland. He was a committee member of the 1930 British Empire Games, hosted in Hamilton, Ontario.
  In November 1930, Fry gave a lengthy prepared speech in response to criticism of the management of amateur sport in Canada. He stated that, "I feel that we should reiterate our continued confidence and belief in our work, and our determination to pursue it to our objective". He further defended the CAHA and the AAU of C by stating, "There was never a time in the history of the world when civilization realized more its responsibility to our youth, to the unfortunates and underprivileged, and there is no nation in the world where more time and money is being spent in living up to that responsibility than in Canada".
  At the 1931 general meeting of the AAU of C, Fry was named to the legislation committee, and named chairman of the registration committee. He was also appointed as a member-at-large to the AAU of C executive committee.
  Fry served on the Canadian Olympic Committee's winter sports committee to prepare for the 1932 Winter Olympics hosted in Lake Placid, New York. When the 1931 Allan Cup champions Winnipeg Hockey Club were chosen to represent Canada in ice hockey at the 1932 Winter Olympics, Fry said the team was the "best bet" Canada had in team sports at the Olympics. He accompanied the team to the 1932 Winter Olympics in which they won the gold medal representing Canada.
  Fry was named to the Canadian Olympic Committee's summer sports committee to prepare for the 1932 Summer Olympics hosted in Los Angeles, California. He was part of the delegation that went to Ottawa to lobby Edgar Nelson Rhodes, the Canadian Minister of Finance, for funds to cover travel expenses for athletes. He travelled with the Canadian delegation to Los Angeles, and self-published his own book covering Canadian achievements at the winter and summer games. His 1933 book, Canada at the tenth Olympiad, 1932 : Lake Placid, New York, Feb 4 to 13 - Los Angeles, California, July 30 to Aug. 14, was printed by the Dunnville Chronicle presses and dedicated to Canadian sportsperson Francis Nelson who died in 1932.
  At the 1932 general meeting of the AAU of C, delegates discussed whether professionals in one sport could play as an amateur in another sport. The association upheld current ban against it, but agreed to further study as to how it relates to the Olympic Games and international sporting organizations. Fry called for maintaining the ideals of amateur sport and said, "it was a question of implanting proper ideals in the young generation", and "to play the game for the game's sake".
  In February 1933, Fry was named again as chairman of registration committee, and as a member-at-large on the executive committee. He recommended suspension of the Alberta branch due to breaking AAU of C principles, when five active "class A" professionals were reinstated as amateurs. He and fellow executives met with members of the Alberta branch regarding not waiting long enough to reinstate former professionals as amateurs. They agreed that a proposal would be submitted for the next AAU of C general meeting to reinstate a "class A" professional after a two or three-month trial. The AAU of C made no suspensions, and the players in question were expected to apply for reinstatement at the general meeting.
  At the AAU of C general meeting in November 1933, Fry urged for means to keep branch registrations committees in close touch with the national committee. 
caption: Fry accompanied the Toronto Varsity Blues team (pictured) which won the gold medal representing Canada at the 1928 Winter Olympics.
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