William Franklin Taylor (May 16, 1877April 12, 1945) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator. He was the founding president of both the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) and the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association in 1914, and also served as president of the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League. He sought for the Allan Cup to be symbollic of the amateur hockey championship of Canada, and to establish a national authority to oversee competition for the trophy. He allied the CAHA with the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada against professionalism and to promote amateur sport and expand hockey in Canada. He supported a desire by the players to govern their own affairs, to standardize ice hockey rules and ice hockey rink dimensions, and recognition of the authority and judgment of on-ice officials. Taylor assisted with patriotic fundraising to contribute to the World War I effort in Canada, and served the community in Winnipeg as a leading member of the Elks and the Shriners. He sat on the board of governors for The Children's Hospital of Winnipeg and the local Children's Aid Society, and was posthumously inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992.
Early life and education
William Franklin Taylor was born on May 16, 1877, in Campbellford, Ontario. He grew up in a family that included four boys and two girls, to parents Jane Fraser and dentist John Taylor. Taylor graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry and was admitted to the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario.
Taylor relocated to Winnipeg in 1898, and practiced dentistry there for the remainder of his life along with his brother J. F. Taylor. Taylor was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the ruler of the Winnipeg lodge. In January 1908, he was appointed deputy supreme exalted ruler for Western Canada.
Early Winnipeg hockey career
Taylor was elected president of the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League on November 14, 1912, as a compromise to have an outside person settle internal disagreements. The Winnipeg Monarchs led by Fred Marples had made their own arrangements to play and practice at the Winnipeg Amphitheatre, whereas the league had an agreement for teams to use the Winnipeg Auditorium which was preferred by the Winnipeg Hockey Club and the Winnipeg Victorias. Teams also disagreed on the cost of ice time, the amount of practice time and heating for the spectators in the seating area. Taylor cast a tie-breaking vote to uphold a decision by the previous executive to play all league games at the Auditorium.
Taylor was re-elected president in November 1913 by acclamation, and thanked all players in the league who had declined professional contracts to remain as amateurs. Disagreements persisted between the teams over the location of games and the league agreed to allow teams to choose their own home ice location. Taylor released the 1913–14 season schedule which included games at both the Amphitheatre and Auditorium, and reached an agreement where season tickets were sold to give spectators access to both rinks.
In January 1914, the league debated whether players from leagues from elsewhere in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario were eligible to be a reserve player in the Winnipeg league. Debate focused on whether these leagues were an equal level of senior hockey, or a lower level of intermediate hockey. The issue was temporarily resolved by asking permission from the other league for the player to be a reserve in another league. The issue resurfaced again in the national playoffs for the 1914 Allan Cup. Trustees for the Allan Cup struggled to determine player eligibility since there was no authoritative national body to classify leagues by the level of play, and determine who was a senior level player compared to an intermediate level player.
Founding of a Manitoba hockey body
Members of the Winnipeg Amateur Hockey League met on June 23, 1914, and agreed to form a commission to oversee hockey in Manitoba. Taylor was appointed chairman of the provisional Manitoba Hockey Commission, which sought to merge into a national commission when such a body became established.