Ken Moore

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games • Competed in Olympic Games (non-medal events)
SexMale
Full nameKenneth Strath "Ken"•Moore
Used nameKen•Moore
Born17 February 1910 in Balcarres, Saskatchewan (CAN)
Died8 December 1981 in Winnipeg, Manitoba (CAN)
AffiliationsThe Winnipegs, Winnipeg (CAN)
NOC Canada
Medals OG
Gold 1
Silver 0
Bronze 0
Total 1

Biography

One of Canada’s earliest First Nation Olympians, Ken Moore had a long career in ice hockey, of which the 1932 Winter Olympics was a significant part. He was the third of eight children, but only three of his siblings survived into adulthood. His older brothers died while part of the Canadian Indian residential school system, a tragedy that caused his family to move from Balcarres to Regina, Saskatchewan. It was there that he began playing hockey and, at a young age, he won the Eilers’ Medal, given annually to the player in the Regina Junior Hockey League who puts on the best display of sportsmanship. In addition to hockey, he also played baseball, lacrosse, rugby, and basketball. He eventually attended Campion and Regina Colleges on athletic scholarships and captained their hockey and rugby teams. He was a member of the 1929-1930 Regina Pats that won that year’s Memorial Cup, given to the Canada junior men’s ice hockey champions and scored the winning goal with 40 seconds left in the match. The following season he joined the Winnipeg Hockey Club and won that year’s Allan Cup, the senior-level version of the Memorial Cup, and was therefore invited to represent Canada at the following year’s Olympic ice hockey tournament. He played in one game, in the match against Poland, and scored one of Canada’s 10 goals in the shutout, helping his team win that year’s gold medal.

The Olympics, however, were not the end of Moore’s career. He was a member of the Kimberley Dynamiters in 1936 when they won the Allan Cup and he was invited to tour with them for the 1937 World Championships. Before he could leave, however, he was dropped as a member of the team for unknown reasons. He then shifted to coaching, first the St. Boniface Athletics of the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association, then the St. James Canadians. As a member of the 1931 Winnipegs, he was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. As a member of the 1936 Dynamiters, he was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 1976. Despite being the first First Nations indivudal to both attend the Winter Olympics and win an Olympic gold medal in any sport, petitions from his descendants to induct Moore into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame have, as of 2015, been unsuccessful. Renewed attention was given to his application, however, after Sharon and Shirley Firth were inducted into the Hall in 2015 and erroneously listed as the nation’s first indigenous Winter Olympians.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1932 Winter Olympics Ice Hockey (Ice Hockey) CAN Ken Moore
Ice Hockey, Men (Olympic) Canada 1 Gold
Ice Hockey Exhibition, Men (Olympic (non-medal)) Canada 2 2
Ice Hockey Exhibition, Men (Olympic (non-medal)) Canada/United States 1

Special Notes