This accession consists of one photocopy of the diary of Sammy Luftspring, recounting an aborted trip to Barcelona, Spain for a competition during his boycott of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Sammy Luftspring (1915–2000) was a professional boxer and Canadian welterwight champion. Luftspring married Elise and together they had two children, Brian and Orian.
Scope and Content
Sammy Luftspring was fourteen years old at the time of this photograph.
Name Access
Luftspring, Sammy, 1916-2000
Subjects
Boxers (Sports)
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
Sammy Luftspring was born on 14 May 1916 in Toronto's Ward neighbourhood. His parents were working-class Jews who emigrated from eastern Europe. Sammy began training as a youth at the Brunswick YMHA. He lived in Kensington Market and attended B'nai Brith summer camp as a youngster. In 1932 he started entering boxing matches. He competed in 105 fights and only lost five bouts, capturing the Golden Glove tournaments in weight classes ranging from bantamweight to welterweight. Sammy became famous for his fighting prowess and Jewish pride, always sporting a Star of David on his boxing shorts.
By 1933, he became the Ontario lightweight champion, representing the Elm Grove Athletic Club. That same year, he took part in the Christie Pits riot. Because of his accomplishments in the ring and his contribution to his community, he became a highly respected athlete within the Jewish community.
In 1936, he was selected for the Canadian team to take part in the Berlin Olympics that year. Although he was eager to compete, his parents and the community pressured him to boycott the games in protest over the Nazis' treatment of Jews in Germany. Luftspring and "Baby Yak," another famous local Jewish boxer, decided to participate instead in the alternate games in Barcelona, Spain, called the People's Olympics. After making the trip to Europe by ship, the two faced the disappointment of having the event cancelled after the Spanish Civil War broke out on the eve of the opening ceremonies.
After his return to Toronto, Luftspring began to box professionally. In 1938, he won the Canadian welterweight championship after a fifteen-round fight where he defeated Frank Genovese. He held the title for two years. During a fight in New York against Steve Belloise, Luftspring was poked in the eye, resulting in a detached retina. This injury left him blind in one eye, ending his boxing career.
By 1948, he began a new career as a boxing referee. He refereed for several decades, overseeing some of the most celebrated fights of that time. He also ran a nightclub in Toronto called the Mercury Club with three partners. It attracted famous entertainers such as Henry Youngman, Vic Damone, and Tony Bennett. He subsequently ran other nightclubs such as the Tropicana.
In addition to his boxing career, Sammy was also a devoted family man. He married his wife, Elsie, in 1938 at the McCaul Street synagogue. Three hundred and fifty people attended and hundreds waited outside of the synagogue to wish them well. They had two children: Brian and Orian.
His biography, Call Me Sammy, was published in 1975. Luftspring was given the great honour in 1985 of being inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. He passed away on 27 September 2000.
Custodial History
The scrapbooks were created by Sammy Luftspring. He kept them at his house and when he passed away they were safeguarded by his son Brian.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of two scrapbooks that reflect Sammy Luftspring's personal life and various careers as a boxer, referee, author, and nightclub manager/owner. Scrapbooks contain correspondence, ephemera, newspaper clippings, brochures, autographs, coins, and approximately seven hundred photographs.
Personal records include photographs of Sammy and his family during his childhood, family weddings, trips and vacations, and other family events, such as birthday parties and his son's bar mitzvah. There are also letters and cards from Sammy's wife, children, grandchildren and friends, and other ephemeral items Sammy collected, such as ticket stubs from baseball games.
Professional records include images of Sammy training for upcoming boxing matches, portraits of Sammy posing in his boxing attire, images from the grand opening of the Mercury Club, photographs of Sammy as a referee, as well as photographs of Sammy at various celebrity boxing matches. There is also correspondence and a brochure documenting Sammy's incorporation into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and some correspondence regarding the publication and promotion of his book. Finally, there are numerous newspaper clippings relating to all of Sammy's professional endeavours.
Name Access
Luftspring, Sammy, 1916-2000
Subjects
Boxers (Sports)
Physical Condition
The scrapbooks are in poor condition. Many of the photographs, documents and clippings were glued to the pages and the pages have almost all fallen out of the bindings.
Related Material
1981-1-7
Arrangement
The scrapbooks have been kept intact and no arrangement has been done. However, some of the key images have been scanned and item level descriptions have been completed for them.
Item is a photograph of members of the Luftspring family at the Slipia Synagogue Section of Dawes Road Cemetery in Scarborough, Ontario. Sammy's mother, Bella Luftspring, passed away on 24 March 1940. The family is standing around her grave stone. Sammy Luftspring is seen on the left side of the image.
Notes
Image is located on page 35 of the 65 x 48 cm scrapbook.
Subjects
Sepulchral monuments
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
Sammy Luftspring (b.1915-d.2000) was a professional boxer and Canadian Welterwight Champion. Luftspring married Elise and together they had two children, Brian and Orian.
Name Access
Luftspring, Sammy, 1916-2000
Subjects
Boxers (Sports)
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
Group photograph of Sammy Luftspring and his campers while Sammy was a junior counsellor at Camp B'nai Brith in Orillia, Ontario. Also pictured is Neddie Adler, another counsellor.
Notes
Image is located on page 50 of the 65 x 48 cm scrapbook.
Name Access
Camp B'nai Brith (Orillia, Ont.)
Subjects
Camps
Portraits, Group
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
Item is a tintype of Sammy Luftspring and Elsie Goldman (m. Luftspring) at Sunnyside Beach. This photograph was taken while they were still dating. They married in 1938. Item would have been produced as a souvenir.
Notes
Image is located on page 13 of the 65 x 48 cm scrapbook.
Subjects
Couples
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
The People's Olympics, in Barcelona, Spain was intended as a protest event against the 1936 Summer Olympics planned for Berlin during the period of Nazi rule. The newly-elected, left-wing Popular Front government in Spain decided to boycott the Berlin Olympics and host its own games following its election in February 1936. Invitations were made to the nations of the world. Buildings built for the 1929 World's Fair were supposed to be used for an Olympic Village. The games were scheduled to be held from 19 July to 26 July and would have therefore ended six days prior to the start of the Berlin games.
A total of 6,000 athletes from twenty-two nations registered for the games, including boxers Sammy Luftspring and Norman "Baby" Yack from Canada.
Many of the athletes were sent by trade unions, workers' clubs and associations, socialist and Communist parties, and other left-wing groups rather than by state-sponsored committees. Sammy Luftspring and Norman "Baby" Yack were sent with donations from the Canadian Jewish Congress.
With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War just as the games were to begin, the alternate games were cancelled.
Scope and Content
Photograph of Sammy Luftspring mid-ocean aboard the SS Alaunia on route to Barcelona and the People's Olympics.
Notes
Image is located on page 2 of the 65 x 48 cm scrapbook.
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
Item is a photograph of Sammy Luftspring, Muhammed Ali, and Murray Pezim in Vancouver. Murray Pezim was a Vancouver business person and promoter. He had organized the fight between Muhammad Ali and George Chavulo, the event at which the photograph was taken.
Notes
Image is located on page 29 of the 65 x 48 cm scrapbook.
Name Access
Ali, Muhammad, 1942-2016
Pezim, Murray, 1921-1998
Subjects
Businesspeople
Repro Restriction
Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.
Jack "Spider" Armstrong was born in Glasgow, Scotland, but he made Toronto his home. He became the featherweight chamption of the world in 1940. He died in 1990.
Scope and Content
Photograph of Sammy and Jack "Spider" Armstrong play-boxing at the Palliser Hotel in Calgary while on a boxing tour.
Notes
Image is located on page 50 of the 65 x 48 cm scrapbook.
Name Access
Armstrong, Jack
Fairmont Palliser Hotel (Calgary, Alta.)
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
The People's Olympics, in Barcelona, Spain was intended as a protest event against the 1936 Summer Olympics planned for Berlin during the period of Nazi rule. The newly-elected, left-wing Popular Front government in Spain decided to boycott the Berlin Olympics and host its own games following its election in February 1936. Invitations were made to the nations of the world. Buildings built for the 1929 World's Fair were supposed to be used for an Olympic Village. The games were scheduled to be held from 19 July to 26 July and would have therefore ended six days prior to the start of the Berlin games.
A total of 6,000 athletes from twenty-two nations registered for the games, including boxers Sammy Luftspring and Norman "Baby" Yack from Canada.
Many of the athletes were sent by trade unions, workers' clubs and associations, socialist and Communist parties, and other left-wing groups rather than by state-sponsored committees. Sammy Luftspring and Norman "Baby" Yack were sent with donations from the Canadian Jewish Congress.
With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War just as the games were to begin, the alternate games were cancelled.
Scope and Content
Photograph of Sammy Luftspring aboard the SS Alaunia on route to the People's Olympics in Barcelona.
Notes
Image is located on page 22 of the 65 x 48 cm scrapbook.
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
Item is a photograph of Sammy Luftspring at Niagara-on-the-Lake when he was serving with the reserves as a trainer. He was a member of the Toronto Scottish Regiment. He was unable to enlist for active duty because of the injury to his eye and resulting blindness. As a result, his only participation in the World War II was as a trainer in Ontario.
Notes
Image is located on page 15c of the 65 x 48 cm scrapbook.
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
Accession consists of three items. The first item is a Beth El Synagogue Sisterhood scrapbook for the years 1962–64. The second item is a commemorative book released on the occasion of the 1938 dedication of Holy Blossom Temple. The third item is a Holy Blossom Temple bulletin dated 26 November 1939.
Use Conditions
Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
File consists of a letter and a memo concerning a charge by Mr. Stutz that while making a delivery he was attacked by the superintendent of a building who yelled antisemitic remarks.
Accession consists of material documenting Goel Tzedec Synagogue in Toronto. Included are a script of a sisterhood play; copies of the religious-school newsletter Keren Ami; a program for Beth Tzedec's First Congregational (1955); a certificate for charter members of the North Toronto YMHA awarded to the law firm of Singer and Kert; a Young Judaea publication The Leader (1938), which includes a prize-winning address by Shelton Kert; and a menu from Old Ed's, one of Ed Mirvish's restaurants.
Administrative History
The Singer and Kert law partnership lasted from 1920-1965. Joseph Singer was a gold metalist at Osgoode Hall in 1911. He was the first Jewish Controller in Toronto, and legal adviser to the Primrose Club. At the time of his death in 1967 he had practiced law for 56 years.
Lawrence Kert helped organize the Associated Hebrew Schools and the Oakdale Golf and Country Club. He was on the board of Goel Tzedec Synagogue. When he passed away in 1976 he had been a lawyer for 56 years.
Accession consists of a United Jewish Appeal 1954 campaign pin and letter and a programme for a fashion show at the 1954 Hadassah Bazaar presented by the Scopus Chapter.
This accession consists of a Phi Sigma Epsilon Fraternity certificate declaring the creation of the Zeta Chapter in Toronto. The certificate is sealed by the Grand Secretary and signed by Horace Cohen and D. Blumenthal. Also included in this accession is a life membership certificate granted to Lawrence Kert, Q.C. from the Law Society of Upper Canada.
Davey Paul (né Peters) was born in 1916. He was a Canadian featherweight boxer who boxed from 1935 to 1938. Paul won Canadian Golden Gloves flyweight title in 1935. He is a member of the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame and had over fifty professional fights in his career. He also was a physical training officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. After the war he went into the retail business. He died in 1998.
Scope and Content
Item is of three boxers photographed together.
Notes
Image is located on page 32 of the 65 x 48 cm scrapbook.
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
Photograph is of Sammy Luftspring in what is known as a "ready pose" in boxing: he has one foot behind him and his fists up. He is pictured in the backyard of his family home on Nassau Street in Toronto.
Notes
Image is located on page 50 of the 65 x 48 cm scrapbook.
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
Item is a photograph of Phil Givens meeting with Brian Mulroney at a breakfast event. Identified in the photograph are (foreground, left to right): Brian Mulroney, Paul Godfrey, and Phil Givens.
Notes
Photograph is by Mike Peake (The Toronto Sun)
Name Access
Canada. Prime Minister (1984-1993 : Mulroney)
Subjects
Prime ministers--Canada
Repro Restriction
Copyright is not held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
Sammy Luftspring (b.1915-d.2000) was a professional boxer and Canadian Welterwight Champion. Luftspring married Elise and together they had two children, Brian and Orian.
Scope and Content
Item consists of a copy of an advertisement for Adam Hat, featuring Welterweight Champion of Canada Sammy Luftspring.
Name Access
Luftspring, Sammy, 1916-2000
Subjects
Boxers (Sports)
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
The People's Olympics, in Barcelona, Spain was intended as a protest event against the 1936 Summer Olympics planned for Berlin during the period of Nazi rule. The newly-elected, left-wing Popular Front government in Spain decided to boycott the Berlin Olympics and host its own games following its election in February 1936. Invitations were made to the nations of the world. Buildings built for the 1929 World's Fair were supposed to be used for an Olympic Village. The games were scheduled to be held from 19 July to 26 July and would have therefore ended six days prior to the start of the Berlin games.
A total of 6,000 athletes from twenty-two nations registered for the games, including boxers Sammy Luftspring and Norman "Baby" Yack from Canada.
Many of the athletes were sent by trade unions, workers' clubs and associations, socialist and Communist parties, and other left-wing groups rather than by state-sponsored committees. Sammy Luftspring and Norman "Baby" Yack were sent with donations from the Canadian Jewish Congress.
With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War just as the games were to begin, the alternate games were cancelled.
Scope and Content
Photograph features Sammy Luftspring with an unknown child on his way to Barcelona to participate in the People's Olympics aboard the SS Alaunia.
Notes
Image is located on page 17 of the 65 x 48 cm scrapbook.
Subjects
Children
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
9 photographs : b&w (7 negatives) ; 20 x 25 cm and 28 x 28 mm
Scope and Content
File consists of nine photographs and seven negatives depicting a meeting of the Women's Division for Orientation Day. Identified in the first photo are (L to R) Marvelle Koffler, chairman; Bryna Hyman, education coordinator; and Renata Somers, community education chairman; with their backs to the camera are Ruth Schwartz, canvasser education chairman, and psychologist Dr. Harvey Silver.
Notes
Photos by Graphic Artists Photographers, Toronto.
Availability of other formats: Also available as digital images.
File consists of correspondence, educational materials, schedules and evaluation forms for the York Faculty of Education's Holocaust and Race Relations Orientation.
Item is a photograph of the Luftspring family. Picture was taken at the Cecil Street Synagogue to mark the wedding of Max Lightstone and Goldie Grossman.
Front row (left to right) are: Jean, Freida, Sammy. Back row (left to right) are: Annie, Bella Luftspring (Sammy's mother), Pearl, Sammy's grandfather, Molly, Sammy's grandmother, Clara, Yossel Luftspring (Sammy's father), Rose.
Notes
General: Image is located on page 28 of the 34 x 30 cm scrapbook.
Subjects
Families
Portraits, Group
Weddings
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.
The People's Olympics, in Barcelona, Spain was intended as a protest event against the 1936 Summer Olympics planned for Berlin during the period of Nazi rule. The newly-elected, left-wing Popular Front government in Spain decided to boycott the Berlin Olympics and host its own games following its election in February 1936. Invitations were made to the nations of the world. Buildings built for the 1929 World's Fair were supposed to be used for an Olympic Village. The games were scheduled to be held from 19 July to 26 July and would have therefore ended six days prior to the start of the Berlin games.
A total of 6,000 athletes from twenty-two nations registered for the games, including boxers Sammy Luftspring and Norman "Baby" Yack from Canada.
Many of the athletes were sent by trade unions, workers' clubs and associations, socialist and Communist parties, and other left-wing groups rather than by state-sponsored committees. Sammy Luftspring and Norman "Baby" Yack were sent with donations from the Canadian Jewish Congress.
With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War just as the games were to begin, the alternate games were cancelled.
Scope and Content
Sammy Luftspring and Norman "Baby" Yack aboard the SS Alaunia en route to Barcelona and the People's Olympics.
Notes
Image is located on page 24 of the 65 x 48 cm scrapbook.
Repro Restriction
Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.