[1] It was also on the sports field that Conacher died: He suffered a heart attack twenty minutes after hitting a triple in a softball game played on the lawn of Parliament Hill.

[4] His middle name was given after the South African city of Pretoria, where British Empire troops including Canadians were fighting the Boer War at the time of his birth.

[10] All ten children were encouraged to participate in sports by the principal of Jesse Ketchum School, who felt that such pursuits would keep his students from getting into trouble.

[20] Named captain in 1922, Conacher led the Argonauts to another undefeated season in IRFU play, finishing with five wins and one tie, as he rushed for about 950 yards.

Determined to improve his game, he closely watched the top players from the bench and sought to emulate what made them successful.

[21] He joined the Toronto Canoe Club Paddlers, a team of all-star calibre players in 1919–20, and with them won the Memorial Cup, Canada's national junior championship.

He and Billy Burch were accused of deliberately throwing a game in 1922, but were absolved of guilt by the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada.

[23] That summer, he received an offer from Roy Schooley, the manager of the Duquesne Gardens and owner of the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets of the United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA), to play for his team.

While he would retain his amateur status, Schooley set Conacher up with a job in the insurance business and paid his university tuition so that he could improve his education.

[27] He brought many of his teammates with him to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, all of whom received jobs in the community, and he attended school at Bellefonte Academy for a year before enrolling at Duquesne University.

[28] He played football for both schools in the fall,[17] and served as the Yellow Jackets' captain in the winter where he led the team to consecutive USAHA titles in 1924 and 1925.

[29] The Yellow Jackets turned professional in 1925 when they were renamed the Pittsburgh Pirates and joined the National Hockey League (NHL).

[23] Conacher finally chose to turn professional with the team, a decision that surprised fans and teammates in Toronto, who knew of his favouritism for the game of football.

[7] Conacher scored the first goal in Pirates history on American Thanksgiving Day Thursday November 26, 1925, against the Boston Bruins.

[30] An outfielder on the team, Conacher and the Maple Leafs won the International League championship then defeated the Louisville Colonels to win the Little World Series.

[31] He returned to Pittsburgh for the 1926–27 NHL season, but was dealt early in the year to the New York Americans in exchange for Charlie Langlois and $2,000.

He scored 8 goals in 1926–27 and improved to 11 in 1927–28,[32] but playing for a team owned by notorious bootlegger Bill Dwyer resulted in his becoming a heavy drinker.

Two events in that off-season saved Conacher: he swore off alcohol completely upon the birth of his first child, and his playing rights were sold to the Montreal Maroons.

Immediately following the Chicago trade, Conacher was sent back to the Maroons, along with Herb Cain, in exchange for the rights to Nelson Crutchfield.

That final year he was runner-up to Babe Siebert in the 1937 Hart Trophy voting and was placed on the NHL second All-Star team.

At one point he was offered a position as coach of the Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers, but disappointed the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union club when he turned down the job due to his other commitments.

[20] He captained the team, based out of Toronto, which was known as the Crosse and Blackwell Chefs following a sponsorship with a local food products company.

[45] The field variant of the sport had been in decline in Canada as the popularity of baseball and football grew, and it was hoped that lacrosse played in the confines of a hockey rink would create a faster, more exciting game.

Several NHL players who had played the field game before abandoning it to turn professional in hockey signed with the teams, including Conacher, who joined the Maroons.

[47] When the Maroons went to Toronto, the Maple Leafs hosted a "Lionel Conacher Night" to celebrate the city's native son.

[54] Conacher also served as the sports director for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) during World War II.

[56] Conacher came to be influenced by the gangster Johnny Papalia as the police informer Marvin Elkind recalled in 2011: "In those days, getting a liquor license was like printing money.

On May 26, in the sixth inning, in his last at-bat-ever, he hit a long drive into left field, stretching a single into a triple, when he sprinted to third base.

His namesake, Lionel Jr., was a first round draft pick in 1960 and played a season with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.

His son Brian Conacher represented Canada at the 1964 Winter Olympics and played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, winning a Stanley Cup with them in 1966–67 NHL season.