Bill Fitsell

Canadian journalist, writer, and historian (1923–2020)

John Walter "Bill" Fitsell (July 25, 1923December 3, 2020) was a Canadian journalist, writer and historian. He was a columnist for The Kingston Whig Standard from 1961 to 1993, and was the founding president of the Society for International Hockey Research in 1991. He was involved with the International Hockey Hall of Fame from 1969 to 2005, serving as its curator and historian. He published five books during his career including four on the history of ice hockey, and helped organize the Historic Hockey Series to commemorate early ice hockey games played in Kingston, Ontario. He was inducted into both the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame and the Lindsay District Sports Hall of Fame, and received the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal.

John Walter Fitsell was born on July 25, 1923, in Barrie, Ontario, and moved with his family to Lindsay in 1927. He had three siblings, his father John Charles Fitsell was a baker, and his mother Beatrice Exell was a homemaker. The family home where he grew up included a large lot upon which an ice hockey rink was constructed each winter, where he and his friends played as youths. Fitsell was a lifelong fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs and stated his favourite player was Charlie Conacher, since they both played as a right winger. At age 17, he joined the Navy Cadets and departed for Victoria, British Columbia. He courted Barbara Robson on Cape Breton Island after the war, and they married in 1945. He was discharged from naval service in 1946 and they settled in Lindsay.

Fitsell began his journalism career with The Lindsay Post in 1946, He also helped organize the annual Carr Harris Cup competition, between the Royal Military College of Canada and the United States Military Academy.

Fitsell wrote five books during his career, He was made a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Club in 2005, and was given the Brian McFarlane Award in 2006 from the Society for International Hockey Research in recognition of his research and writing. Fitsell was inducted into the builder category of the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. The archives of Queen's University at Kingston keeps fonds of Fitsell's historical collections, research and writing on ice hockey.