Charles Joseph Sylvanus “Syl” Apps

Captain Charles Joseph Sylvanus “Syl” Apps is probably the best known person to be born in Paris. He was born in 1916, the son of Ernest Overy Apps and Mary Swan Wrigley. He had an older sister and younger brother Ernest, and the family lived at 36 Banfield Street. Syl went to Paris High School and after graduation, he studied economics at McMaster University, where his football prowess caught the attention of Maple Leafs’ owner, Con Smythe. He won the gold medal in pole vault competition in the 1934 British Empire Games and represented Canada in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin before joining the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1936. In 1938, he married Mary Josephine Marshall (“Molly”) of Toronto. Before enlisting in the armed forces, he collected the Calder Trophy and the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.

At the height of his career as a hockey player, Syl Apps took a leave from the NHL to serve in Canadian Army in World War II. His military service from 1943 to 1945 is seldom mentioned in his long list of achievements – varsity football star, Olympic pole vaulter, captain of the Maple Leafs for six seasons and three Stanley Cups, business owner, member of the Ontario Legislature and Ontario Athletic Commissioner – but it is emblematic of his character.

When the war ended, he returned to the Maple Leafs for three more seasons and two more Stanley Cups. In 1963, at 48 years of age, he embarked on his second career as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing Kingston. He became Minister of Correctional Services in 1971. In 1977, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada. Syl Apps died of a heart attack at the age of 83 and is buried with Mary Josephine in Mountainview Cemetery in Cambridge, Ontario.