Sports world honors North Bay sports legend Jack Dominico, owner of the Maple Leafs baseball team

Jack Dominico, a North Bay native who owned the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball club, died this week at the age of 82.

Dominico is a member of the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame, among many other honors he has received over several decades. He died on Tuesday.

The Leafs, which are part of the Intercounty Baseball League, were owned by Jack and his wife Lynne for the first 40 years of their existence, the IBL said in a post after Dominico’s death. The 2021 season was his 53rd as a team owner.

“Passion, longevity and competitiveness are just some of the attributes that have made Jack Dominico,” the post reads.

“Jack was passionate about supporting youth baseball and the community surrounding Christie Pits. He hosted many weekend baseball clinics for those involved with the Toronto Playgrounds House League baseball program, where young players can learn skills from talented players on his Toronto Maple Leafs team.”

The IBL named its championship the Jack and Lynne Dominico Trophy, which the Leafs have won eight times, the first in 1972.

“In their 2002 championship season, the Leafs were undefeated at home, a league first,” the IBL said.

Dominico was inducted into the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. Hall said he came from a well-known North Bay family and had played minor ball and hockey in the city before. to leave town to pursue a career in journalism.

He worked in Sault Ste Marie, Gravenhurst and Etobicoke before starting his own marketing business in Toronto in 1969 and acquiring the Ontario Hockey League as a key client.

Dominico bought the Leafs in 1969 and under his ownership the team won numerous championships while playing their home games (no admission fee) at Christie Pits in Etobicoke.

“Training over the years has included some former Blue Jays and Damon Topolie of North Bay captured for the club for a number of seasons and later becoming a coach,” North Bay Hall said.

Dominico was inducted into the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 along with Frank Orr, Red Kelly and Frank Selke Jr.

In 2010, Christie Pits’ main diamond was named in honor of Jack and his late wife Lynne who worked with him, with the team and at the stadium every step of the way.

No funeral arrangements have yet been announced.