Charles Joseph Sylvanus Apps (January 18, 1915 – December 24, 1998), was a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1936 to 1948, an Olympic pole vaulter and a Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament in Ontario. In 2017 Apps was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
Athletic career
thumb|left|1940s action shot of Apps against four [[Chicago Blackhawks|Chicago Black Hawks players and goalie]]
Apps was a strong athlete, six feet tall, weighing 185 pounds, and won the gold medal at the 1934 British Empire Games in the pole vault competition. Two years later he represented Canada at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he placed sixth in the pole vault event. After watching him play football at McMaster University (where Apps was majoring in Economics), Conn Smythe signed Apps to play hockey with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Apps played centre position with the Toronto Maple Leafs for his entire professional hockey career. His jersey number was 10. He was the winner of the first Calder Memorial Trophy in 1937, and the 1942 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy. Apps served as the Maple Leafs captain during the first National Hockey League All-Star Game October 13, 1947, at Maple Leaf Gardens. He also played for an all-star team competing in Montreal on October 29, 1939, to raise money for Babe Siebert's family.
thumb|Apps in 1942|alt=man in hockey uniform holding trophy
Apps was in the prime of his career when he joined the Canadian Army during World War II at the end of the 1943 season. He served two years until the war was over, whereupon he returned to captain the Leafs, winning two more Stanley Cups in 1947 and 1948.
Apps contemplated retirement following the 1947 Stanley Cup win, but returned in order to reach the 200 career goals milestone. With 196 career goals heading into the final weekend of the regular season, Apps scored five goals in the two weekend games to surpass his goal. Unveiled by the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame on January 13, 1998, the Syl Apps Award is emblematic of Ontario's Athlete of the Year.
In 2001, Canada Post included Apps in a series of NHL All-Star 47-cent postage stamps.
The National Hockey League itself listed Apps as one of the 100 Greatest Players to ever play in the league as part of the league's centennial celebrations in 2017.
Family
Apps and wife Mary Josephine had five children, Joanne, Robert, Carol, Janet and son Syl Apps Jr. (the latter also played in the NHL). His granddaughter (and daughter of Syl Jr.) Gillian Apps won the gold medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics, the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the 2014 Winter Olympics for Canada's women's ice hockey team, and his grandson Syl Apps III was a college hockey star at Princeton University and played four years in the minor leagues. His grandson Darren Barber won a gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in the men's 8 in rowing. Barber is now a family doctor in Peterborough, Ontario.
Another cousin, whose grandparents had settled in Manitoba, was Murray Dryden; his sons Dave Dryden and Ken Dryden were NHL Goalkeepers.
NHL awards and achievements
- Calder Memorial Trophy winner in 1937.
- Selected to the NHL Second All-Star Team in 1938, 1941, and 1943.
- Selected to the NHL First All-Star Team in 1939, and 1942.
- Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winner in 1942.
- Stanley Cup champion in 1942, 1947, and 1948.
- Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.
- Inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1975.
- In 1998, he was ranked number 33 on The Hockey News list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
- #10 jersey retired by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
- In January 2017, Apps was part of the first group of players to be named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.