Edward J. Livingstone

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Edward J. Livingston was born in Toronto, Ontario, on September 12 1884, as the youngest of three children. He played junior and intermediate hockey with the St. George's Club in Toronto, before taking up the bell as a OHA referee. Livingstone's ambition was such that he sought an OHA ownership position through the formation of the Toronto Rugby and Athletic Association (TR & AA). The TR & AA club won the John Ross Robertson Trophy in consecutive years, 1913 and 1914. The success in amateur hockey prompted Livingstone to make the jump to the professional game by buying the struggling Toronto Ontarios of the National Hockey Association. He eventually took over the Toronto Blueshirts when its owner, Frank Robinson joined the Canadian Army for World War One. He was an ongoing source of controversy among fellow NHA owners, he was often accused of exploiting loopholes in league regulations to create what some viewed as unfair advantages. Livingstone had particularly incited the wrath of owners when he merged his two Toronto teams (the Ontarios and the Blueshirts) after the Blueshirts had been deprived of its top players.

Livingstone sometimes offered contracts to other teams' members to not play hockey, and once campaigned to kick the Wanderers out of the league after the team tried to lure two of his top Toronto Blueshirts players. Throughout his battles with owners, Livingstone repeatedly threatened to start a rival league in the United States.

He was forced out of the league when the other teams owners decided to form a new league in 1917 without Livingston, the National Hockey League.