{"id":6904,"date":"2025-05-13T10:04:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T17:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/?p=6904"},"modified":"2025-05-13T10:04:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T17:04:40","slug":"mcgill-rugby-award-celebrates-enduring-tale-of-canada-u-s-friendship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/mcgill-rugby-award-celebrates-enduring-tale-of-canada-u-s-friendship\/","title":{"rendered":"McGill Rugby Award Celebrates Enduring Tale of Canada-U.S. Friendship"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Neil D. Stephenson,\u00a0Special to National Post<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a Canadian with an education in political science and a former executive of a major American
\nnews organization, I am dismayed by the ongoing economic tensions between Canada and the
\nUnited States. This conflict \u2014 which Canada neither instigated nor desired \u2014 has been
\nmanufactured by U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Despite political rhetoric on both sides of the border assuring us that Canadians love Americans,
\nand vice versa, it is essential for ordinary citizens to take tangible steps to maintain and
\ndemonstrate this friendship \u2014 and to remind ourselves of the many thousands of past instances in
\nour lives where that friendship has manifested itself without us consciously thinking about it.
\nIn that spirit, and given the recent federal election, I wanted to share two stories: first, of a new
\nvarsity sports award; and second, of a historic, 151-year-old cross-border sports rivalry.
\nThe first story begins with its two inspirations, a woman named Marie Evelyn Moreton (better
\nknown as Lady Byng, wife of Canada\u2019s 12th governor general, Lord Julian Byng) and Winston
\nChurchill. The former was a hockey fanatic who wanted to encourage gentlemanly conduct and
\ngood sportsmanship, and the latter famously quipped that, \u201cRugby is a hooligan\u2019s game played by
\ngentlemen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other lead characters in the story include a rugby team founded in 1872, an American rugby
\nplayer from McGill\u2019s 1955 squad and a newly endowed sports award.
\nThroughout its storied history, the McGill University Rugby Football Club (MURFC, which is
\nknown today as the McGill Redbirds) has emphasized the importance of how its players conduct
\nthemselves on and off the field.<\/p>\n

In keeping with the dicta expressed by Churchill and Byng, MURFC has officially announced the
\nDr. Joseph Hanaway McGill Rugby Gentleman\u2019s Award. This award annually recognizes a McGill
\nrugby player who consistently exemplifies gentlemanly conduct on and off the field for a
\nminimum of two playing seasons.<\/p>\n

The idea for a non-endowed award was first proposed to McGill Athletics in late 2020 to formally
\nrecognize the qualities of integrity, sportsmanship and respectfulness that are integral to rugby
\nculture worldwide. After just five months of fundraising, we surpassed the $80,000 threshold
\nrequired for an endowment and the newly endowed award was formally announced to the team at
\na ceremony on April 10.<\/p>\n

As of today, McGill has received $107,000 in contributions, with additional pledges still coming.
\nBeginning in December, the award will confer a $3,500 cash prize to the named recipient.
\nJoseph Hanaway, now 92 and residing in St. Louis, expressed his gratitude: \u201cI am deeply honoured
\nthat this rugby gentleman\u2019s award will encourage gentlemanly conduct by McGill\u2019s young rugby
\nplayers both on and off the field for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Joseph Hanaway 2025<\/p><\/div>\n

Hanaway arrived at McGill from New York in 1953 as an undergraduate arts student. Initially
\njoining the McGill football team as a kicker \u2014 earning him the nickname \u201cJoe the Toe\u201d \u2014 he later
\ntransitioned to rugby, where his team became the 1955 Dominion national rugby champions of
\nCanada. He subsequently earned his medical degree in 1960, completed his post-doctoral studies
\nat Harvard and enjoyed a distinguished medical career in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Hanaway\u2019s contributions to McGill extended beyond athletics. Upon retiring in 2008, he
\nspearheaded the restoration of McGill\u2019s iconic Roddick Gates clocks and bell tower on Montreal\u2019s
\nstately Sherbrooke Street and authored several books on the history of medicine at McGill.
\nGiven his lifelong commitment to McGill and his embodiment of the new award\u2019s core values, I
\nfelt that Hanaway was the natural choice to be its namesake and ambassador.
\nThe second story involves a historic sporting relationship that has had a massive cultural impact,
\nparticularly in the U.S. During the fundraising campaign for the endowment, many donors were
\nmotivated by a desire to honour last year\u2019s 150th anniversary of the landmark rugby matches of
\n1874 between Harvard and McGill in Cambridge, Mass. These matches planted the seed for the
\ncreation and growth of modern American football.<\/p>\n

In honour of this cross-border camaraderie and sports history, any annual income from the
\nendowment exceeding $3,500 will go to support the Covo Cup \u2014 the annual rugby game between
\nMcGill and Harvard, which symbolizes the enduring bond between these two institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an American, I am hopeful that this award will stand as a living testament to the unbreakable
\nbrotherhood between America and Canada,\u201d said Hanaway.<\/p>\n

This new McGill rugby award named after an American alumnus, as well as the long-standing
\nfraternity between McGill and Harvard rugby players, are just two small examples of how
\nteamwork, co-operation and respect have defined the relationship between the peoples of our two
\ncountries for well over 150 years.<\/p>\n

David Johnston \u2014 former McGill principal and governor general of Canada, who was elected to
\nHarvard\u2019s Athletic Hall of Fame as a former hockey player for the Crimson and later was the first
\nnon-U.S. citizen to serve as chair of Harvard\u2019s board of overseers \u2014 observed that, \u201cThe Hanaway
\naward is very special and unique. To my mind, this gentleman\u2019s award makes a powerful
\nstatement not just about this rugby team, but is the very quintessence of the Canada-U.S.
\nfriendship.\u201d<\/p>\n

— National Post<\/p>\n

Neil D. Stephenson is the creator and lead fundraiser of the Dr. Joseph Hanaway McGill Rugby<\/em>
\nGentleman\u2019s Award. He is a former Atlanta-based CNN executive, a former corporate aviation lawyer<\/em>
\nand a McGill rugby alum.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Canadian Rugby Foundation was one of the many donors to the new Hanaway McGill Rugby<\/em>
\nGentleman\u2019s Award<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Neil D. Stephenson,\u00a0Special to National Post As a Canadian with an education in political science and a former executive of a major American news organization, I am dismayed by the ongoing economic tensions between Canada and the United States. This conflict \u2014 which Canada neither instigated nor desired \u2014 has been manufactured by U.S. President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[6,5,1,15],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6904"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6904"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6908,"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6904\/revisions\/6908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}