Bobbie Rosenfeld
Fanny "Bobbie" Rosenfeld (December 28, 1904 – November 14, 1969) was a Canadian athlete, who won a gold medal for the 100-metre relay and a silver medal for the 100-metre at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. She was named "Canadian woman athlete of the half-century" in 1949, and a star at basketball, hockey, softball, and tennis. She was named Canada's Female Athlete of the First Half-Century (1900–1950). She also was called Bobbie for her "bobbed" haircut. The Bobbie Rosenfeld Award is named in her honour. She was also inducted into the Ontario Sports  Hall of Fame in 1996. Early life. Rosenfeld, who was Jewish, was born in Ekaterinoslav in the Russian Empire (now Dnipro, Ukraine). Rosenfeld immigrated to Ontario, Canada with her parents and older brother when she was still a child; they settled in Barrie, Ontario. Her father Max Rosenfeld operated a junk business and her mother Sarah, who gave birth to three more girls, ran the home. Fanny attended Central School and Barrie Collegiate Institute, where she excelled in sports. In 1923, the Rosenfeld family moved to Toronto, where Fanny worked at a chocolate factory in 1923. For leisure, she joined  Toronto's Young Women's Hebrew Association (YWHA) and was a center for their basketball team. That year, they won both the Toronto and Ontario championships. Her legend would grow in 1923 at a picnic in Beaverton. She entered a dash and defeated the Canadian champion, Rosa Grosse. Later that year, she competed in a track meet at the Canadian National Exhibition. Athletic career. At the 1925 Ontario Ladies Track and Field championships, in a single day performance, Rosenfeld placed first in discus, shot put, dash, low hurdles, and long jump, and placed second in the javelin and dash. In  the mid-1920s, she held national records in the open relay with a CNE relay team, as well as in the standing broad jump, discus, javelin, and shot put. In addition to track and field, Rosenfeld played basketball on Toronto's Young Women's Hebrew Association (YWHA) team that twice went to the finals of the national championship. She played on city championship teams in ice hockey, fastball, and softball. In 1924, having only just taken up the sport, Rosenfeld claimed the title of the Toronto Ladies Grass Court Tennis championship. She also competed in lacrosse, golf, and speed skating. In  the spring of 1939, Rosenfeld was the manager of Langley's Lakesides softball team. The team played an exhibition game in front of 14,000 fans at Madison Square Garden. Hockey. Rosenfeld was a hockey player in the 1920s and was dubbed superwoman of ladies' hockey. During the 1920s and 30s, she was one of Canada's most famous female hockey players. Rosenfeld was a centre on the 1927 and '29 Ontario champion Toronto Patterson Pats. The Pats were part of the North Toronto Ladies' City League. Rosenfeld helped form the Ladies Ontario Hockey Association (LOHA) in 1924. Rosenfeld was president  of the LOHA from 1934 to 1939. By late 1936, Rosenfeld was not only the LOHA president, but served as the secretary and the treasurer. She was considered the most outstanding women's hockey player in all of Ontario during 1931–32. Rosenfeld served as president of the Dominion Women's Amateur Hockey Association for three seasons from 1937 to 1939, following Myrtle Cook-McGowan and succeeded by Mary Dunn. Olympics. During the Olympic trials for the 1928 Games, Rosenfeld set numerous Canadian track and field records. These records included the running broad jump, standing broad jump and the discus. Her  time in the 100 metres was four-fifths of a second slower than the world record at that time. She would go on to compete in the 1928 Summer Olympics and claim a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay. In the dash, Rosenfeld earned a silver medal. Retirement. Rosenfeld developed severe arthritis, and the condition forced her to stop competing in 1933. A year later she was coach of the Canadian women's track and field team at the British Commonwealth Games in London, England. During the 1930s, she was an administrator and official in women's  softball and ice hockey in Ontario. In 1936, Rosenfeld would turn her attention to journalism. She worked as a sports columnist for The Toronto "Globe and Mail" newspaper for roughly twenty years, advocating for greater participation of women in sports and more girls physical education programs in schools. In 1937, she introduced a column called "Feminine Sports Reel" and was a staunch advocate of women's sport. For 18 years, Rosenfeld covered women's sports. In 1955, she was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. Her last column appeared on December 3, 1958 but she continued to work  for the newspaper until 1966. Fanny "Bobbie" Rosenfeld died on November 13, 1969 in Toronto and is buried at Lambton Mills Cemetery in Humber Valley Village. Quotes. "Athletic maids to arms! ... We are taking up the sword, and high time it is in defense of our so-called athletic bodies to give the lie to those pen flourishers who depict us not as paragons of feminine physique, beauty and health, but rather as Amazons and ugly ducklings all because we have become sports-minded." – Fanny Bobbie Rosenfeld (Jewish Women's Archives)