Background
Bionda was born in Huntsville, Ontario.
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Jack Bionda
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He was a lacrosse superstar, dominating the sport throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. From the time he was eleven years old he loved lacrosse, practicing for four to five hours per day. He played some games in 1955 and returned to the team in 1957, taking his second scoring title.
After being held scoreless in the first game, Bionda scored eight goals and eight assists in the next three games to lead his team to the Cup.
He was again named the series Most Valuable Player. In 1970, Bionda played for the Huntsville Hawks senior team in the Ontario Association. Outside of sports, he ran a restaurant in Huntsville.
At the same time that Bionda was establishing himself as Canada"s greatest lacrosse player, he also had a full career in hockey. He played junior hockey for the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Association from 1951 to 1954, and was signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National League.
Bionda played 13 games with the Leafs in the 1955-1956 season, but spent most of the year with the Pittsburgh Hornets, the Leafs" affiliate in the American League.
He led the AHL in penalty minutes with 190, despite playing only 46 games of the league"s 64-game schedule. Bionda was claimed by the Boston Bruins in the intraleague draft in June 1956, and would split the next three seasons between the Bruins and their AHL affiliates, the Springfield Indians and the Providence Reds. Over four seasons in the National Hockey League, Bionda played 93 games, with three goals, 12 points, and 113 penalty minutes.
Bionda then played eight seasons in the minor professional Western League: one year with the Victoria Cougars (1959-1960) and seven years with the Portland Buckaroos.
Bionda was the biggest and most popular defenceman of the Buckeroos during those first seven years of the team"s existence. They made it to the league championship in six of those seven years, winning twice: 1960-1961 and 1964-1965.
Bionda retired in 1967.
Achievements
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Bionda has been inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame (1974), Canada"s Sports Hall of Fame (1982), and the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame (1998). Bionda died in London, Ontario at age 66. In June 2001, Huntsville, Ontario named its arena the Jack Bionda Arena. After the arena got a major overhaul in 2010 for the G8 Summit, the new building was named the Summit Centre and a new, Olympic size ice pad was placed alongside the old ice surface. The old ice surface has kept the Jack Bionda name, and a permanent display showcasing historical pictures, newspaper and magazine clippings, old lacrosse sticks used and designed by Jack, and some other memorabilia is on display.
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Born
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Died
November 3, 1999 (aged 66) -
Nationality
Canada