- Scott Young
Scott Young (
April 14 ,1918 –June 12 ,2005 ) was aCanadian journalist ,sportswriter ,novelist and the father of musicianNeil Young . Over his career, Young wrote 45 books, including novels and non-fiction for adult and youth audiences.Early life
Born in
Cypress River, Manitoba , Young grew up in nearby Glenboro where his father, Percy Young, owned a drug store. His mother, Jean Ferguson Paterson, had been a schoolteacher before her marriage. After his father went broke in 1926, the family moved toWinnipeg but were unable to afford to stay there. His parents separated in 1930, and Young went to live with an aunt and uncle inPrince Albert, Saskatchewan for a year before moving back to Winnipeg to live with his mother. He left high school at 16 and began working for a tobacco wholesaler.Young began writing while in his teens, submitting stories to various publications, most of which were rejected. At the age of 18, in 1936, he was hired as a copyboy at the "
Winnipeg Free Press " and was soon made sports reporter. He met Edna "Rassy" Ragland in 1937, and the two were married in 1940.Moves to Toronto
Unable to get a raise at the "Free Press", Young moved to
Toronto in 1941, covering news and sports for theCanadian Press news agency. His first son, Bob Young, was born in 1942 and five months later, Young was sent to England to help coverWorld War II for CP. He came back a year later and joined theRoyal Canadian Navy , where he served until his release from the service when the war ended in 1945. Young returned to CP and soon joined "Maclean's " magazine as an assistant editor. His second son,Neil Young , was born in Toronto in November 1945.Young began to sell fiction to publications in Canada and the United States including the "
Saturday Evening Post " and "Collier's ". He quit his job at "Maclean's" in 1948 to write short stories full-time.In 1949, Young bought a house in
Omemee, Ontario near Peterborough. One of the two [http://www.tldsb.on.ca/Schools/ScottYoungPS/ schools] in Omemee was named after Young. The family's finances would vary with Young's success in selling his stories and he began taking assignments from "Sports Illustrated ." His first novel "The Flood" was published in 1956. Young moved toPickering, Ontario and spent a year working in public relations for a jet engine company before joining "The Globe and Mail " as a daily columnist in 1957 and moving back to Toronto. In 1959, Young met Astrid Read while on assignment in British Columbia and, soon after, he and his wife separated. Following Young's divorce in 1961, he and Read were married. They had a daughter,Astrid Young , in 1962.He was also a host on
Hockey Night in Canada until getting on the wrong side ofToronto Maple Leafs co-ownerJohn Bassett . The Leafs threatened HNIC's sponsor and advertising agency until they agreed to fire Young.Life on the farm
In 1967, Young bought a convert|100|acre|km2|sing=on farm near Omemee in Cavan Township and built a house there. In 1969, he asked to be transferred to the "Globe"'s news bureau in
Ottawa . Shortly after arriving in Ottawa, he got into a dispute with his paper over the publication rights to excerpts from a book he had just written withPunch Imlach . The rights had been acquired by the "Toronto Telegram ", but the "Globe" wouldn't allow Young's writing to appear in a competing newspaper. He quit the "Globe" and accepted a job offer from Bassett to become sports editor and columnist at the "Telegram", moving back to Toronto within weeks of his move to Ottawa. Young remained at the "Telegram" until the paper folded in 1971. He then re-joined the "Globe and Mail". Young and his second wife separated in 1976, and in the fall of 1977, he moved in with fellow "Globe" writer Margaret Hogan. The two married in 1980. At the same time, Young had a falling out with the "Globe" over stories critical of Imlach written by Donald Ramsay and quit. He worked with formerToronto Maple Leafs ownerConn Smythe on Smythe's autobiography, which would be published after Smythe's death in November 1980.In 1988, Young received the
Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award from theHockey Hall of Fame as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, and was also inducted into theManitoba Hockey Hall of Fame . Young and his wife sold the farm in the late 1980s and moved to the well sought after suburb of Howth, situated on the outskirts of Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland. In 1990, Young received an honorary doctorate fromTrent University and donated many of his papers to the university's archives. The Youngs returned to Peterborough in 1992 and repurchased their old farm, which Young owned for the rest of his life. Scott Young Public School in Omemee was named in his honour in 1993. His autobiography, "A Writer's Life", was published in 1994.He and Margaret moved to
Kingston, Ontario in 2004, where Young died the following year at the age of 87.External links
* [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-74-1728-11881-11/that_was_then/people/scott_young CBC Profile on Young]
* [http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/leg_writers.htm Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award winners]
* [http://www.tldsb.on.ca/Schools/scottyoungps/ Scott Young Public School]
* [http://www.trentu.ca/admin/library/archives/90-003.htm Scott Young papers at Trent University]
* [http://www.mbhockeyhalloffame.ca/honoured/media.html?category=15&id=281 Scott Young’s biography] at [http://www.mbhockeyhalloffame.ca/index.html Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame]References
* Scott Young, "A Writer's Life", Doubleday Canada, 1994
* Scott Young, "Neil And Me", McClelland and Stewart, 1984
* Michael Power, "Scott Young recalled as a 'gentleman'", "Peterborough This Week",June 15 ,2005
* "Writer Scott Young dies at 87; Covered all major sporting events; Wrote 45 books during career", "Toronto Star ",June 14 ,2005 . pg. E03
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.