Northern Star Award

Lou Marsh

Louis Edwin Marsh died on 5 March 1936 after 43 years as a journalist. At the time, he was regarded as the dean of Canadian sports journalism. In his youth, he was an excellent all-around athlete. He played on the Toronto Senior Argonaut football team and was a good sprinter and strong swimmer. He was credited with some 15 rescues in the water. He raced iceboats and small speedboats, for which he coined the term "sea fleas," and was a highly regarded referee in boxing and ice hockey. His daily sports column, called “With Pick and Shovel,” appeared in the Toronto Star from 1925 to 1936.

At various points in its history, the trophy was called either the Lou Marsh Trophy, the Lou Marsh Memorial Trophy or the Lou Marsh Award. However, in more recent years, calls grew to rename the award, due to Marsh’s long, documented history of promoting racist, anti-Semitic and discriminatory attitudes in his column. In February 2021, Dr. Janice Forsyth, associate professor of sociology at Western University, published a study of Marsh’s body of work that shows, in her words, “just how hostile his sports reporting was.” As Global News’ Mike Drolet put it, “What [Marsh] routinely wrote about the great [Onondaga] runner Tom Longboat, among others, is unprintable today.” (See Tom Longboat.) Marsh also opposed calls for Canada to boycott the 1936 Olympic Summer Games in Berlin, Germany, and referred to Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jewish people as “an internal German matter.”

In November 2021, the Toronto Star agreed to assess “whether it is appropriate and fitting to continue to have his name associated with the award.” In November 2022, the Star announced that the trophy would be renamed the Northern Star Award.

Notable Winners

Track athlete Dr. Phillip Edwards was the inaugural winner in 1936. Hockey star Wayne Gretzky received the award the most times (four), followed by figure skater Barbara Ann Scott (three). A number of athletes have twice received the trophy: golfer Marlene Streit, skier Nancy Greene, jockey Sandy Hawley, sprinter Ben Johnson, auto racer Jacques Villeneuve, hockey player Sidney Crosby, and baseball player Joey Votto. The award has been shared on three occasions: between skier Ken Read and swimmer Graham Smith in 1978; between Gretzky and wheelchair racer Rick Hansen in 1983; and between soccer player Alphonso Davies and football player Laurent Duvernay-Tardif in 2020.

The trophy is made of black marble and stands about 75 cm high. The words “With Pick and Shovel” appear above the engraved names of the winners. The trophy is kept on exhibit at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.

Northern Star Award Winners