Hats Off: Born on this date in 1895, when it was also Friday, Constantine Falkland Cary Smythe. “Young Constantine hated the name from the time he was old enough understand it,” Kelly McParland writes in his 2011 biography, The Lives of Conn Smythe, and soon he made a change. Conn he borrowed from an ancient Irish king, “hero of a hundred battles.” In 1927 Smythe headed the syndicated that bought the Toronto St. Patricks and re-invented them as the Maple Leafs. Here he’s seen at the age of 54 on the night of Saturday, April 16, 1949. That’s Leafs’ coach Hap Day with him, of course; the dressing-room salute follows their team having swept to a third successive Stanley Cup championship, the sixth of Smythe’s tenure to that point. Toronto defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens on the night to take the Cup in four games.

(Image: Globe and Mail Fonds 1266, Item 132809, City of Toronto Archives)