James Thomas Sutherland (October 10, 1870 – September 16, 1955) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator, and founding father of the game in Canada.

[4][5] The family owned a custom shoemaking business at the lower end of Princess Street, that made boots for troops at Fort Henry.

[4][5] At age 15, Sutherland attempted to follow his father's military footsteps, and volunteered for service with the Midand Regiment for the North-West Rebellion, but was rejected for being too young.

[12] In 1904, he resigned as a commissioned lieutenant officer, then began refereeing ice hockey throughout Ontario, and travelled as a shoe salesman as far as Florida and Georgia.

[5][13] Sutherland coached the Frontenac team which included future Hall of Famers Scotty Davidson, and George Richardson, that won OHA junior championships in 1910, and 1911.

[20] In 1916, Sutherland enlisted for the World War I effort with the Canadian Army Service Corps, and later rejoined Kingston's 14th Regiment after a 12-year absence.

Sutherland encouraged Canadian hockey players to join the war effort, and used his position with the CAHA to issue a recruiting message across the nation.

[28] Sutherland was in Paris on Armistice Day, and made sure to visit the grave of George Richardson, before he returned to Canada, the CAHA, and the Frontenacs after the war.

[10] He worked to create a trophy to honour all of the soldiers who died during World War I, many of whom played junior hockey, and responded to Sutherland's call to arms.

[21][32] Sutherland, with the help of businessman Liam Carr purchased a trophy, which was donated by the Ontario Hockey Association.

[35] He recommended rule changes in the amateur levels to improve player safety, and spoke in support of the ban against bodychecking in junior ice hockey.

[2] Historians are said to differ considerably on the place in which the great Caesar first saw "the light of day," and similarly in respect to the birthplace of Canada's national winter sport, Hockey.

Sutherland spent much of his retirement campaigning for Kingston to be recognized as the birthplace of hockey, and its rightful place in history as for the early development of the game.

[41] He followed up with a full-page 1925 article in the Whig titled, "Hockey Heroes of Former Days Made Game Famous in Kingston".

[44] Sutherland's claims were disputed by other places in Canada, including Montreal, Quebec, two cities in Nova Scotia, and Deline, Northwest Territories.

[18] His claim for the birthplace of hockey was based on a report of a game played on Christmas Day, 1855, in Kingston Harbour, which predated the 1886 match between Queen's University and the Royal Military College.

[45][50] Scholars have agreed instead that Kingston, Sutherland, and the OHA, played an important role in developing hockey from Montreal, westward into Ontario, and southward into the United States.

[51][53] Sutherland began a local committee for planning the Hall of Fame, raised funds, and convinced the CAHA and the NHL to contribute money.

Sutherland desired "to perpetuate the memories of the men who have done so much to develop nationally and internationally Canada's great winter sport.

[51] Sutherland donated $1,000 of his own, and raised more with the help of Kingston's Mayor Crawford, but due to World War II, fundraising was slow and difficult.

[2][9][18] Other interests lobbied to relocate the Hall of Fame, and by 1955 the NHL withdrew financial support for Kingston's plans, and approved a site at the Canadian National Exhibition place in Toronto.