Conn Smythe, John Bassett, Stafford Smythe, Harold Ballard The Leafs owners and the turbulent times ahead

Reuniting the Maple Leafs’ Power Trio: Smythe, Ballard, and Bassett

On a walk that took me through three cemeteries across Ontario, I revisited one of the most turbulent chapters in Toronto Maple Leafs history—through the final resting places of the team’s three most powerful owners of the 1960s and early ’70s: Stafford Smythe, Harold Ballard, and John Bassett.

My first stop was Christ Church Anglican Cemetery in Minett, Muskoka, where Stafford Smythe—son of Leafs founder Conn Smythe—is buried. With puck and Leaf sock in hand, I stood by the grave of the man who wrestled the team away from his father in 1961. It was a bitter power struggle. Stafford raised the $2.3 million needed to buy Conn’s shares, but in a controversial move—without his father’s knowledge—he secured the bulk of the funds from none other than Harold Ballard. First mistake.

That decision forged an uneasy partnership, which would eventually devolve into one of the most infamous ownership triangles in Canadian sports history. Alongside John Bassett, the trio took the Leafs into a new era—one that delivered results early but quickly turned chaotic behind the scenes.

Stafford’s original grave marker reportedly read:

“He was dearly loved by his wife, children, and many friends, he was persecuted to death by his enemies. Now he sleeps peacefully in the quiet north country that loved him for the person he was.”

A bold epitaph—later replaced with a more subtle inscription:

“Never-ending inspiration.”

Smythe died young, at just 50, in 1971—amid charges of fraud and tax evasion that were dropped only after his death. His passing marked the beginning of Ballard’s rise to full control, and a new, polarizing chapter for the Leafs.

Stafford Smythe died on October 13, 1971. He was only 50.

Stafford Smythe’s final resting place, Minett, Muskoka Region, Ontario.