NHL #1 draft pick has Ingersoll roots
News
Posted By DON MCNIVEN FOR THE INGERSOLL TIMES
Updated 1 month ago
What a small world.
During an appointment with Dr. Craig Hunt in Ingersoll, it was learned that Taylor Hall, a standout forward for the eventual Memorial Cup-winning Windsor Spitfires, has roots in Ingersoll
Few Ingersoll natives were aware that the late Lloyd Hall's son Steve, is the father of Taylor, who was selected number one overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL draft last month in Los Angeles. Lloyd owned and operated a GM dealership on King Street East in the 1960s and 70s. Fittingly, Lloyd loved sports and was very close to the Ingersoll Marlands junior hockey team as a corporate sponsor.
At that time, the Marlands were a powerful organization managed by Les Feldman and Bob McNiven. They had the honour of seeing a number of their graduates advance to the professional ranks, including the NHL.
The Hall family -Lloyd, wife Sadie and sons Steve, Andrew, Peter-John and daughter Julie- Ann and stepson Ivan -called Ingersoll home for 12 years.
Terry McNiven enjoyed a casual friendshp with the Hall boys.
"While I was a bit younger than Steven and Andrew, I always accepted an invitation to join them in their outdoor pool, said Terry.
And just a few doors down the street, Dr. Hunt, the son of Marg and Barry, has many memories of Andrew and Steve.
"We grew up together while they were here," said Hunt. "We knocked the ball around in the backyards and played high school football on the same team. Steve was an all round good athlete."
It's been said that genetics play a role in athletes' accomplishments. Perhaps the father and son heredity of Steven and Taylor Hall proves the point.
Born in Australia in 1960, Steve's family moved to Canada shortly after his birth to settle for a short time in Toronto before a permanent location was set up in Ingersoll for Lloyd Hall Motors.
"Ingersoll was an important part of my life at a young age," said Steve, who now operates a business in Kingston, Ont. "I was only around three when dad and mom settled there and as I grew up, I knew athletics and a good education was my thing."
At an early age, Hall said he particularly loved baseball and would spend a lot of time hitting balls into the backyards of neighbours such as the late lawyer Warwick Marshall.
"I was an avid Pittsburgh Pirate fan but in high school at IDCI, I played a lot of basketball."
Steve conceded he never played hockey, although watching the games and being with his dad at Marland games.
It was in 1975 the Halls pulled up stakes to move to London, where Lloyd took over Oakridge Ford dealership.
"I was attending Lucas secondary school when I started to get hooked on football and eventually took a course at University of Guelph." Steve said when he was offered teachers' college, he was drafted by the Edmonton Eskimos in the Canadian Football League and turned down a 30year teaching career to play professional football for four years with Edmonton, Winnipeg and Ottawa.
Steve's other credentials in the sporting world included bobsledding.
"I was a daredevil, so did a lot of bobsledding at Lake Placid and Calgary on and off for 12 years where I was part of the Canadian team as a driver and brakeman." It was in Calgary where Steve's wife of 1990 gave birth to a baby boy to be named Taylor Hall, in 1991.
Nineteen years later, this Taylor Hall was selected as the number one in all of the World Junior Hockey draft by the NHL.
Familiar to the early days in Brantford when Walter Gretzky built a backyard rink for son Wayne, the Halls did the same for Taylor at their Calgary home.
"When Taylor was old enough to wear a pair of skates, every winter we would build and outdoor rink," said Steve.
"When he was about five years old, mother would hike him to the arena to play minor hockey." Steve said it was at that time when they realized their only child had nothing on his mind but hockey when he won bantam championships in Calgary.
"When we moved to Kingston in 2006 while playing major midget, Taylor was drafted second overall by the Windsor Spitfires where he won a rookie of the year award and two Memorial Cups with the powerhouse Spirtfires.
"I had the pride to be able to teach our son a set of moral principles and rules of behaviour to be a sports athlete because of my own experiences as a pro."
Perhaps a bit of irony, father Steve's first fling as a professional was with the Edmonton Eskimos. Taylor is returning to his province of birth to another Edmonton team, the hockey Oilers.
How about stipend?
When Steve signed with the Eskimos in 1983, he received $34,000 plus $1,000 signing bonus.
Taylor recently signed for a base salary of $900,000 a season plus easily obtainable bonuses that could surpass $3 million per season for three years.
The late Lloyd (2006) and Sadie's (2007) grandson was recently quoted as saying, "I'm excited to get started. This is my first step."
