Lionel Conacher, the 'Big Train', was voted Canada's All-Round Male Athlete of the Half-Century in 1950. He excelled at six professional sports. Particularly gifted in football and lacrosse, he was a key participant in many championships including the 1921 Grey Cup. Between 1925 and 1937 Conacher concentrated on a career in the National Hockey League during which he pioneered many modern defensive techniques and was a member of two different Stanley Cup-winning teams. On his retirement from sports in 1937 Conacher was elected to the Ontario Legislature and in 1949 to the House of Commons.