G. Sydney Halter
Inducted: 1984
G. Sydney Halter (Photo courtesy the Canadian Football Hall of Fame)
Member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (Inducted 1966)
A Winnipegger, G. Sydney Halter was one of the great executives and leaders in Canadian sport. His career began as a manager of the University of Manitoba hockey team in 1924, and he later became president of the Winnipeg Amateur Athletic Association Track & Field Club, the Manitoba Athletic Union and Amateur Athletic Union of Canada.
He began his work in football with the Winnipeg Football Club in 1935, becoming president in 1942. After serving in World War II with the Royal Canadian Air Force, Halter returned to football and was named president of the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU) in 1953. In 1958, the WIFU and Eastern Football Conference merged to form the Canadian Football League and Halter was appointed as the first commissioner, a position he held until 1966.
Halter was the Vice-Chairman of the Manitoba Horse Racing Commission from 1972 to 1982. In addition to being inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, Halter is a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame and, in 1977, was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
