Interesting Facts about Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld, a Canadian Female Athlete of the First Half-Century

Google celebrates the 118th birthday of Canadian athlete Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld, who was named “Canadian woman athlete of the half-century” or “Canada’s Female Athlete of the First Half-Century” in 1949, with a Google Doodle on December 28, 2022. Here are some interesting and fun facts about Bobbie Rosenfeld.

Who was Bobbie Rosenfeld?

Personal

• Birth name: Fanny Rosenfeld
• Birth date: December 28, 1904
• Birthplace: Ekaterinoslav, Russian Empire (now Dnipro, Ukraine)
• Died on: November 13, 1969 (aged 64)
• Death place: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Father name: Max Rosenfeld
• Mother name: Sarah
• Honours:
  • Canada’s Female Athlete of the Half-Century (1950)
  • Inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame (1955)
  • Canadian Press establishes Bobbie Rosenfeld Award for Female Athlete of the Year (1978)
  • Inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (1982)
  • Bobbie Rosenfeld Park was dedicated in Toronto (1991)
  • Canada Post issues stamp featuring Rosenfeld (1996)
  • Inducted into Ontario Sports Hall of Fame (1996)

Interesting Facts about Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld

1. Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld, who was Jewish, was born on December 28, 1904, in Ekaterinoslav, which is now Dnipro, Ukraine, in the Russian Empire.
2. When Bobbie Rosenfeld was still a young child, she and her older brother immigrated to Ontario, Canada; They settled in Barrie, Ontario.
3. Bobbie Rosenfeld excelled in sports while attending Barrie Collegiate Institute and Central School.
4. Fanny Rosenfeld worked at Patterson Chocolate Factory as a stenographer after graduating from Harbord Collegiate when the Rosenfeld family moved to Toronto in 1923.
5. Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld joined Toronto’s Young Women’s Hebrew Association (YWHA) and was a center for their basketball team for leisure. They won both the Ontario and Toronto championships that year.
6. During a picnic in Beaverton in 1923, her legend would grow. She entered a 100-yard (91 m) run and defeated the Canadian champion, Rosa Grosse. She participated in a track meet at the Canadian National Exhibition later that year.
7. Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld likewise played on the Hind and Dauche softball team, one of the strongest in the Toronto Sunnyside women’s leagues.
8. What’s more, Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld kept on playing for the YWHA hockey and basketball teams, and was a member of the Toronto Ladies Athletic Club; She also won the women’s grass court tennis championship in the city in 1924. Her name was regularly appearing in the city’s sporting pages by the middle of the 1920s.
9. At the 1925 Ontario Ladies Track and Field championships, in a single-day performance, Bobbie Rosenfeld placed first in discus, shot put, 220-yard (200 m) dash, low obstacles, and long jump, and set second in the javelin and 100-yard (91 m) dash.
10. With a CNE relay team in the middle of the 1920s, she set national records in the standing broad jump, discus, javelin, and shot put as well as the 440-yard (400 m) open relay.
11. Rosenfeld competed in track and field as well as basketball for Toronto’s Young Women’s Hebrew Association (YWHA) team, which twice reached the national championship finals.
12. Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld was a member of ice hockey, fastball, and softball teams that won city championships. Rosenfeld won the Toronto Ladies Grass Court Tennis Championship in 1924, despite only just starting out in the sport. She also competed in speed skating, lacrosse, and golf.
13. Rosenfeld was in charge of Langley’s Lakesides softball team in the spring of 1939. At Madison Square Garden, the team played an exhibition game in front of 14,000 fans.
14. Bobbie Rosenfeld was dubbed the “superwoman of ladies’ hockey” when she played hockey in the 1920s. During the 1920s and 30s, she was one of Canada’s most famous female hockey players.
15. Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld was a center for the Toronto Patterson Pats, who won the 1927 and 1929 Ontario championships. From 1934 to 1939, Bobbie Rosenfeld served as president of the LOHA. By the end of 1936, he was also secretary and treasurer of the LOHA.
16. During the years 1931–1922, Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld was considered the most outstanding female hockey player in all of Ontario.
17. Rosenfeld followed Myrtle Cook-McGowan and was succeeded by Mary Dunn as president of the Dominion Women’s Amateur Hockey Association for three seasons, from 1937 to 1939.
18. Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld broke numerous Canadian track and field records during the Olympic trials for the 1928 Games. The running broad jump, standing broad jump, and discus was among these records.
19. Bobbie Rosenfeld’s 100-meter time was four-fifths of a second slower than the previous world record. She went on to win a gold medal in the 4100 m relay at the Summer Olympics in 1928. Rosenfeld won a silver medal in the 100-yard (91 m) dash.
20. In 1933, Rosenfeld had severe arthritis, which forced her to stop competing. She was the Canadian women’s track and field team’s coach at the British Commonwealth Games in London, England, a year later.
21. Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld worked as an administrator and official in Ontario for women’s softball and ice hockey in the 1930s. Rosenfeld would devote herself to journalism in 1936.
22. Bobbie Rosenfeld spent roughly twenty years as a sports columnist for The Toronto Globe and Mail, where she advocated for more girls participating in school-based physical education programs and increased female sports participation.
23. She started a column in 1937 called Feminine Sports Reel and was a staunch advocate of women’s sports.
24. Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld covered women’s sports for 18 years. She was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame of Canada in 1955. Although she worked for the newspaper until 1966, her last column appeared on December 3, 1958.
25. On November 13, 1969, Fanny Bobbie Rosenfeld died in Toronto. She is buried at Lambton Mills Cemetery in Humber Valley Village.
26. Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld was a Canadian athlete who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. She won a gold medal in the 100-meter relay and a silver medal in the 100-meter race.
27. In 1949, Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld was named “Canadian woman athlete of the half-century” and was a star at tennis, basketball, hockey, and softball. She was named Canada’s Female Athlete of the First Half-Century (from 1900 to 1950).
28. She was also known as Bobbie because of her “bobbed” haircut. In her honor, the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award is named. In addition, in 1996, she was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
29. Generations of young female athletes continue to be inspired by Bobbie Rosenfeld because they see her legacy as a reminder that they, too, can achieve the impossible and overcome obstacles on their way to greatness.
30. On 28th December 2022, Google featured a Google Doodle on its homepage for celebrating Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld’s 118th Birthday.