Constantine Falkland Cary Smythe MC (/ˈsmaɪθ/; February 1, 1895 – November 18, 1980) was a Canadian businessman, soldier and sportsman in ice hockey and horse racing.

Smythe remembered his mother Mary, who was known as Polly, as pretty, a drinker, and troublemaker, while Albert was quiet, a vegetarian, and a devoted member of Madame Blavatsky's Theosophical movement.

[2] Albert Smythe was a charter member of the Theosophical Society of Canada in 1891, and edited its newsletter until the final years of his life.

[5] Smythe first attended high school at Upper Canada College, but disliked it and transferred to Jarvis Collegiate Institute after a year and a half.

[7] At the age of 16, Smythe met Irene Sands, his future wife, after a football game against Parkdale Collegiate Institute, which she attended.

[8] Albert Smythe wanted his son to attend university, but Conn defied his father, bolting at age 17 to become a homesteader on 150 acres (61 ha) in Clute Township, near Cochrane, Ontario.

A week after winning the OHA championship in March 1915, Smythe and his eight teammates enlisted in the armed forces during World War I.

[13] After securing a provisional rank of lieutenant with the 2nd (Ottawa) Battery, 8th Brigade, on July 17, he headed to the Royal School of Artillery in Kingston, Ontario, in August for five weeks of training.

Not long after, the St. Pats were put up for sale, and majority owner Charles Querrie agreed in principle to sell the club for CA$200,000 ($3.45 million in 2023 dollars)[29] to a group headed by C. C. Pyle, which would have moved the team to Philadelphia.

However, when the Leafs promoted a public share offering to raise capital, they announced that "one of the most prominent hockey coaches in Toronto" would be taking over management of the club.

[40] Smythe first became interested in horse racing as a boy, when he would take stories his father wrote at the track to the newspaper office downtown.

The day of the race, both the trainer and his partner gave the horse some brandy, unknown to Smythe, who bet over $100 on Rare Jewel.

She won the race, a 100–1 longshot paying $214.40 on a $2 bet, besting future Queen's Plate winner Froth Blower.

[42] Three weeks later, he put his windfall to work for the Maple Leafs by purchasing star defenceman King Clancy from the depression-strapped Ottawa Senators for $35,000.

The purchase was only possible because of his gambling winnings, as the other Maple Leafs owners refused to pay the Senators' then-high price, and only agreed when Smythe volunteered to use his own money.

Smythe learned about the business and went into breeding, buying mares in foal from top thoroughbred lines, and hiring future Hall of Fame trainer Yonnie Starr.

[53] After being stationed in England for nearly two years, Smythe and his unit were sent to France in July 1944, where within three weeks he was badly wounded when the Germans bombed an ammunition depot.

[54] His spinal cord injury would mean that for the rest of his life he would walk with a limp and suffer bowel and urinary tract problems.

King had developed an official government policy of voluntary service for political reasons and Smythe saw the detrimental effect it had on the Army.

[55] From his bed in the Chorley Park Hospital, Smythe dictated a statement to The Globe and Mail newspaper, which printed it on its front page on September 19, 1944: The need for trained reinforcement in the Canadian Army is urgent.

These officers are unaniminous in stating that large numbers of unnecessary casualties result from this greenness, both to the rookies and to the other soldiers, who have the added task of trying to look after the newcomers as well as themselves.

However, even King saw the need to send troops for the Canadian Army and he ordered 17,500 reserve troops to Europe in November 1944, which started to arrive in January 1945[59] While Smythe was away, a committee, headed by Ed Bickle, Bill MacBrien, and Selke ran Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd., with Selke as acting general manager.

Smythe suspected that MacBrien, a member of the board of directors, wanted to succeed Bickle as president and make Selke general manager in his own right.

[60][61] Two months later, Selke became head of hockey operations for the Canadiens and manager of their home arena, the Montreal Forum, succeeding Tommy Gorman.

Acknowledging this, Andy Lytle, sports editor of the Toronto Star, said the appointment "simply makes official what he has been for years in actuality ... Smythe and the Gardens are synonymous terms.

"[71] Initially, all members were in their 30s or early 40s, but that changed before the end of the year when 54-year-old Harold Ballard, president of the Toronto Marlboros, was appointed to the committee to fill a vacancy.

At Stafford's instigation, the board then granted Smythe a $15,000 annual allowance, an office at the Gardens, and a car and driver for the rest of his life.

In 1964, Smythe opposed the plan of Liberal Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson to replace the traditional Canadian flag with a completely new design.

He gave generously of his time, expertise and treasure to aid in the organization's success, even housing its offices and storing its incoming batches of wheelchairs for his fellow veterans, at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Stafford became involved in the Smythe sand and gravel business and Maple Leaf Gardens before dying of complications from a bleeding ulcer in 1971.