Sheldon Fairbanks

Last updated

Sheldon Hughes Fairbanks (September 29, 1893 - April 25, 1969) was an American exposition promoter and the first general manager of the Boston Garden.

Contents

Early life

Fairbanks was born on September 29, 1893, in Roxbury, Boston and attended Dorchester High School, where he was a noted athlete. [1] [2]

Journalism

By the age of 20 he was the New England manager of the United Press Associations - the youngest press association manager in the country. Two years later he became the managing editor of the Akron Press. Fairbanks then served as city editor of the Cleveland Press and later as the news editor of The Detroit News . He left Detroit during World War I to enter the first officers' training camp at Fort Sheridan. [2] After the War he worked for the North American Newspaper Alliance. [1] In 1923, Fairbanks went on special assignment aboard the Bowdoin to accompany Donald Baxter MacMillan on an Arctic exhibition. [1] [2]

Radio

In the spring of 1922, Fairbanks staged the world's first commercial radio exposition. Beginning in 1927, the Boston Radio Exposition was combined with the newly-formed New England Aero Show. Fairbanks also staged the first commercial radio expositions in New York City and Chicago, served as executive director of the Rhode Island Radio and Aero Show, the Hartford Home Progress Exposition, Norwich Progress Exposition, the Haverhill Pageant of Progress, and the Sportsmen's Show in Boston, Indianapolis, Detroit, and Chicago. He also served an advisory director for a number of exhibitions held in New York City's Grand Central Palace. [1] [2]

Fairbanks purchased the business of fellow promoter Chester I. Campbell following Campbell's death in 1933. This gave Fairbanks the opportunity to arrange boating, automobile, sporting, and electrical expositions across the country. [1]

Boston Garden

On June 6, 1928, Fairbanks was appointed the first general manager of the Boston Garden. [2] He resigned as general manager in 1930 due to his myriad other business responsibilities, but remained on the Boston Garden board of directors until the late 1950s. [1]

Thoroughbred and greyhound racing

In 1933, Fairbanks began racing thoroughbred horses. [3] One of his horses, Gold Step, was nicknamed "the inaugural horse" for winning many opening day purses at tracks throughout the country. [1]

Fairbanks was also involved with greyhound racing. He was the vice president and general manager of Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, Massachusetts. [1]

Football

In 1940, Fairbanks ran the Boston Bears of the American Football League. [4] [5] The team folded prior to the 1941 season. [6]

Later life

Fairbanks retired in 1954. In his later years, Fairbanks spent much of his time traveling and attended many sporting shows. He died on April 25, 1969, at Milton Hospital. At the time of his death, Fairbanks was residing in Milton, Massachusetts. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Garden</span> Indoor arena in Boston, Massachusetts, US between 1928–1997

The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" and outlived its original namesake by 30 years. It was above North Station, a train station which was originally a hub for the Boston and Maine Railroad and is now a hub for MBTA Commuter Rail and Amtrak trains.

Weston Woollard Adams was an American hockey executive with the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Streamline Moderne</span> Late type of the Art Deco architecture and design

Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design, it was used in railroad locomotives, telephones, toasters, buses, appliances, and other devices to give the impression of sleekness and modernity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Society of News Editors</span> Organization

The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) was a membership organization for editors, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, deans or faculty at university journalism schools, and leaders and faculty of media-related foundations and training organizations. In 2019, it merged with the Associated Press Media Editors to become the News Leaders Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Duggan</span> Canadian sports promoter

Thomas Joseph Duggan was a Canadian sports promoter with interests in horse racing, ice hockey, dog racing and arena management. He was the co-owner of the Mount Royal Arena and founder of the New York Americans of the National Hockey League (NHL).

William Patrick "Hiker" Joy was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Boston College from 1912 to 1913 and at Canisius College from 1933 to 1938, compiling a career college football record of 32–24–5.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. F. Nelson Pratt</span> American politician

Charles Forest Nelson Pratt was a Republican politician from Saugus, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyall Smith</span>

Lyall F. Smith was an American sports writer and editor. He was the sports editor and columnist for the Detroit Free Press from 1945 to 1965 and the president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America from 1955 to 1956. He later served as the public relations director and business manager for the Detroit Lions from 1965 to 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Fawcett (author)</span> English writer

William Claude Fawcett was an English journalist, editor, broadcaster, and prolific author on fox hunting, horse racing, and equestrianism.

The Boston Garden-Arena Corporation was an American corporation that oversaw the operations of the Boston Garden from 1934 to 1973. It was formed when the Boston Arena Corporation gained control of the Boston Garden from the Madison Square Garden Corporation in 1934. From 1946 to 1950 it owned the Boston Celtics. In 1951 it purchased controlling interest in the Boston Bruins from Weston Adams. In 1953 it sold the Boston Arena to Samuel M. Pinsly for $398,000. In 1973, the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation merged with Storer Broadcasting.

Rayleigh Weir Stadium was a speedway, greyhound racing and stock car stadium in Weir between Rayleigh and Thundersley in England.

Allan James Wilson was a Canadian-born American horse racing executive.

Henry G. Lapham was an American investment banker, oilman, philatelist, philanthropist, and sportsman. He was the founding president of the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation and a major sports promoter in Boston during the 1920s and 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chester I. Campbell</span> American politician

Chester I. Campbell was an American exposition promoter and politician who served as mayor of Quincy, Massachusetts, was a member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council, and was an unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.

Alexander C. Murray was an American engineer and politician who served as Mayor of Fall River, Massachusetts from 1935 to 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward C. Carroll</span> American politician

Edward Christopher Carroll (1893–1969) was an American politician who served in the Massachusetts Senate from 1933 to 1938.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jarvis Hunt (politician)</span> American politician

Jarvis Hunt was an American politician who served as President of the Massachusetts Senate from 1942 to 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Circuit</span> Group of harness racing stakes races

The Grand Circuit, also known as the "Big Wheel", is a group of harness racing stakes races run at various race tracks around the United States. Run on one-mile tracks, it is "the oldest continuing horse-racing series in the United States."

Robert Edwards Sheldon Jr. was an American automobile enthusiast, businessman, government official and politician. As a boy, Sheldon accompanied his father to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush and remained there the rest of his life. He built the first automobile in Alaska, was the first to drive an automobile from Fairbanks to Valdez, and championed the construction of roads in Alaska as the state road commissioner. Sheldon served in two sessions of the Alaska Territorial Legislature and two terms in the Alaska State Legislature. He was variously a power company engineer, the postmaster for Fairbanks, the general manager for the Mt. McKinley Tourist & Transportation Company, and the executive director of the Unemployment Compensation Commission of Alaska.

Richard George Dunn was an American sports promoter who was general manager of the Detroit Olympia and Boston Garden.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Rites Tomorrow in Milton For Sheldon Fairbanks, 75". The Boston Globe. April 27, 1969.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "S. H. Fairbanks to Manage Boston's Madison Garden". The Boston Daily Globe. June 7, 1928.
  3. ↑ Barry, John (June 25, 1933). "Races Draw 17,000 to Rockingham Park". The Boston Daily Globe.
  4. ↑ "Boston Sponsors Pro Grid Team". The Boston Daily Globe. August 6, 1940.
  5. ↑ "Fairbanks Backs Pro Grid Team for Boston Games". The Boston Daily Globe. September 12, 1940.
  6. ↑ Bob Carroll, Michael Gershman, David Neft, and John Thorn, Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (HarperCollins 1999) ISBN   0-06-039232-0
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.