Stafford Smythe

Conn Stafford Smythe (March 15, 1921 – October 13, 1971) was the son of Conn Smythe and president of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. and the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team from 1961–1969 and from 1970 until his death.

Born in Toronto, Smythe played hockey for Upper Canada College and Runnymede Collegiate Institute in the 1930s and then went to the University of Toronto where he graduated with an engineering degree. He played one season with the Varsity Blues men's ice hockey team. In the 1940–41 season, he briefly played with the Toronto Marlboros, managed by Harold Ballard, whom Smythe had known since he was a young boy.

Smythe enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II. After the war, he became a partner in his father's gravel business. In the late 1940s, he was hired as coach of the Marlboros by Ballard, the team president. Smythe was later promoted to managing director.

In March 1957, Smythe became chairman of a seven-person committee appointed by his father to run hockey operations for the Leafs. He had been a critic of assistant general manager Hap Day, who had run the Leafs' hockey operations from 1955 to 1957 while Conn Smythe retained the title of general manager. Stafford accused Day of mismanaging younger players, especially those coming up from the Marlboros, and of sticking with an outdated defensive style of hockey. Smythe's committee became known as the Silver Seven. Initially, all members were in their 30s or early 40s, but before the end of the year, 54-year-old Ballard was appointed to the committee to fill a vacancy.

The committee hired Howie Meeker as general manager, but fired him before the start of the season, leaving the Leafs without a general manager for the 1957–58 season. Smythe, as committee chairman, was effectively the team's general manager that year. In 1958, they hired Punch Imlach to run the Leafs hockey team while the committee focused on the business side.

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