Cecil Duncan

rdf:langString Cecil Duncan

rdf:langString Cecil Duncan

rdf:langString Cecil Duncan

rdf:langString Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

rdf:langString Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

rdf:langString Black and white sketch of Cecil Duncan

rdf:langString

rdf:langString Ottawa District Hockey Association secretary-treasurer

rdf:langString Canadian Amateur Hockey Association president

rdf:langString Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace vice-president

rdf:langString Civil servant, accountant

rdf:langString Cecil Charles Duncan (February 1, 1893 – December 25, 1979) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator. He served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) from 1936 to 1938 and led reforms towards semi-professionalism in ice hockey in Canada. He served as chairman of the CAHA committee which proposed a new definition of amateur to eliminate what it called "shamateurism", in the wake of Canada's struggles in ice hockey at the 1936 Winter Olympics. He negotiated a series of agreements to protect the CAHA's interests, and to develop relationships with all other areas of the world where hockey was played. The agreements allowed the CAHA to become independent of the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada which wanted to keep the old definition of pure amateurism. Duncan's reforms also returned the CAHA to affluence after four years of deficits during the Great Depression and increased player registrations in Canada. Duncan was the first Canadian to be elected to the executive of the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace and served as a board member of the Ottawa District Hockey Association for 51 years. He oversaw and arranged senior ice hockey in the Ottawa Valley and used local leagues to experiment with changes to the ice hockey rules to reduce offside infractions. Duncan and National Hockey League rules committee chairman Frank Boucher introduced the centre red line to the ice hockey rink in the 1943–44 season. Duncan also managed an Ottawa team in the Ontario Rugby Football Union and served as vice-president of Quebec Rugby Union. He was posthumously inducted into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame in 2006, in the builder category for ice hockey.