Toronto Legends

World-renowned concussion/brain/spinal injury Neurosurgeon Dr Charles Tator talks about being a lifelong ‘local yokel,’ his mother being the original ‘helicopter mother,’ the era when the Maple Leafs won Stanley Cups ALL the time, why the BRAIN [not the heart] is your soul, why we need to focus on the front end of the concussion problem [PREVENTION], the good that came from the Steve Montador trag...

Toronto radio personality turned Host of NPR’s World Cafe Raina Douris talks about interviewing Springsteen/Neil/Questlove/Shatner/Streisand, the career advantages of being a loudmouth and not asking for permission [as well as being annoying but not TOO annoying], her adventures exploring Philadelphia/attending Eagles games, working for an Ivy League institution, CBC vs NPR, Junos vs Polaris, why...

Maple Leafs/NHL veteran Kris Versteeg talks about winning TWO Stanley Cups in Chicago, sharing drinks with Vince Vaughn, rooming with fan lightning rod Phil Kessel while Leafs fans tossed Eggo waffles, attending his high school graduation instead of the NHL draft [and learning he got drafted lying in the grass at 6am], going from selling rollerblades at SportChek to the Western Conference playoffs...

Big brother Tom Farley talks about the ‘Farley Magnetism’ and shares stories about Dana Carvey & David Spade’s 5hr tribute podcast, Chris NOT auditioning for Saturday Night Live, his ‘ogre with a heart’ being the basis for Mike Myers’ Shrek character [which was the 3RD recording of that part!], why he did NOT end up being The Cable Guy [Jim Carrey did], confirms there is an ACTUAL Matt Foley [alth...

NHL veteran Robert Picard shares stories from the Forum [‘The Flower blew right past me first shift of my NHL career!’], Maple Leaf Gardens [‘it was a circus...ringleader: Mr Harold Ballard’], fighting his way through the ‘Q’ [‘John Wensink was a crazy guy’], getting drafted by teams in TWO different professional hockey leagues, being traded to Toronto for ‘The Popcorn Kid’ Mike Palmateer, on and...

Original MuchMusic VJ Christopher Ward checks in from ‘temperate’ Santa Monica to talk about being chosen AHEAD of Mike Myers for the Second City touring company, Mike’s iconic Wayne Campbell character making his TV debut on City Limits, kicking off the inaugural broadcast of The Nations’s Music Station at 6pm on Aug 31 1984 with current Fox News anchor John ‘JD’ Roberts, an inspirational Greyhoun...

White Ash Group Managing Partner Graydon Welbourn talks about building his cannabis industry recruitment/staffing agency, why he moved from Calgary to Toronto, how he recalibrated his North Star, always carrying business cards [even without an actual business], transferring his networking/people skills to recruitment, why Canada has an opportunity to be a global leader in cannabis ahead of the US,...

NHL/Toronto Maple Leafs veteran defenseman Todd Gill talks leaving home for hockey after grade 10, his first games as a Toronto Maple Leaf against Montreal [back to back at the Forum & the Gardens!], learning the ropes from The King Borje Salming, the magical playoff run of 1993 [THREE game 7s!], running into the buzzsaw known as ‘Wayne Gretzky with something to prove’ in that fateful conference f...

Veteran Professional Sports Executive Bob Nicholson shares stories from TWO Toronto Blue Jays championships, THREE Toronto Argonauts championships, transitioning the Montreal Expos to the Washington Nationals, bringing Doug Flutie & Ricky Ray over to the Argos, setting unprecedented pro sports attendance records, the challenge of selling baseball seats at Exhibition Stadium [some grandstand seats...

NHL veteran/St Louis Blues Legend Gino ‘The Tank’ Cavallini talks about having the body of a man at sixteen, scoring the NCAA championship-winning goal in 4th overtime for Bowling Green, his first roommate Lanny McDonald [“I WAS Lanny in road hockey”], Mama Cavallini’s favourite player rankings [#3 Gino Cavallini; #2 Paul Cavallini; #1 Wendel Clark], great memories of the 1986 & 1987 playoff battl...

Radio veteran/record label rep/bestselling hockey author Kevin Shea shares his music & sportswriting experiences with Borje Salming, the Parachute Club, Eddie Shack, Blue Rodeo, Matthew Barnaby, Weird Al, the Hockey Hall of Fame, Steven Tyler/Joe Perry, Slash, Honeymoon Suite & Don Henley...and in a worldwide exclusive he reveals his radio DJ on-air ‘nom de plume’ [spoiler: ‘Sky Kelly’]! TORONTO L...

Strategic Performance Optimizer/Strength & Conditioning Coach Matt Nichol talks about working with Mats Sundin in Stockholm & Toronto, his first boss Pat Quinn [somewhat surprisingly] being a health & fitness innovator, Gary Roberts making it easy to get the other Maple Leafs on board, the humility of Wayne Simmonds/Andre De Grasse/Joel Anthony/Jordan Binnington, doing the simple things SAVAGELY w...

Driftscape Co-Founder/COO Dan Pronovost talks about the single app platform being a combination encyclopedia + Pokemon Go for both residents & tourists, developing a discovery app that does NOT monetize eyeballs, why coding by itself is worth nothing, why you can’t afford ‘elegant coding,’ the entire company working remotely even pre-pandemic, measuring employees NOT by hours but by performance, t...

Co-Author of 'Hockey Moms: The Heart of the Game' Theresa Bailey shares some stories from Auston's and Connor’s mothers, talks about how even NHL moms never stop being mothers FIRST, how both the kids AND the parents are growing/learning at the SAME time, why no child really wants to hear from their parents, the epiphany experienced when her 7 year old got a single shift after driving 3hrs to a ga...

Founder/Frontman of The Box Jean-Marc Pisapia talks about being Men Without Hats keyboardist pre-Safety Dance [and meeting Ivan at German language class], the influence of spending a month in the Soviet Union as a teen, the origin of L’Affair Dumoutier, opening for The Spoons on their first tour, the confusion around Sass Jordan’s membership in the band, filming Closer Together in the Dominican Re...

Hockey Pro/CBD recovery entrepreneur Kevin Tansey talks about playing for the Herning Blue Fox in Denmark [handball over hockey!], eating all the fresh fish he can handle, changing the stigma around CBD use, educating about the topical application of CBD [no, your leg won’t get ‘high’!], turning a horrible incident into a business opportunity to use CBD as the substitute for painkillers in the loc...

Toronto Argonauts Former Co-Owner/K2 Pure Solutions Co-Founder David Cynamon talks about gaining the entrepreneurial spirit selling 50 cent foot longs [fully loaded!] at Edmonton Eskimos games, the business mentorship of his father [sweat the details] and his father-in-law [balancing Happiness=Reality/Expectations], why the 2004 Argos Grey Cup championship is etched in his memory, posits that Rick...

Dragons’ Den Entrepreneur & Nuba Tisane Co-Founder [with her mom Amal!] Gina El Kattan talks about moving from Egypt to Oakville, jumping right into Business studies at University of Toronto, the lockdown power of the Clubhouse social networking app, FINALLY listening to her Dad’s plea to audition for Dragons’ Den, what REALLY happens during DD taping [no do-overs!], working on her MBA at Duke Uni...

Chalk Circle’s lead singer & co-founder Chris Tait talks about getting grounded for playing ‘God Save The Queen,’ the band’s friendship with Blue Peter, breaking out with the support of CFNY & MuchMusic, touring with Rush/Crowded House/Tears for Fears, Geddy Lee convincing them to try playing wireless [spoiler: so much fun it was a fail!], Geddy restringing his bass for Brad Hopkins to play upside...

Toronto Life’s Editor-in-Chief Malcolm Johnston talks about managing the Toronto Life ‘brand,' coming up with the annual list of the 50 most influential Torontonians, serving as ‘an anchor for Toronto residents,’ digging deeply into Canada’s most famous cold case, his concern about the ‘war on journalists & journalism,’ being in awe of Andre De Grasse & Josh Donaldson, his respect for The New York...

2 x World Juniors Gold/’92 Olympics Silver/Toronto Maple Leaf Kent ‘Mandy’ Manderville talks about the magical ’93 playoffs run, Wendel & Dougie’s leadership on AND off the ice, sharing a taxi with Pat Burns after 2 big losses, the Notre Dame Hounds, Cornell University, how he learned he was the 24th overall draft pick in 1989, his unique roommates/landlord living in the Annex, winning double Gold...

WHA/NHL ‘Hot Line’ hockey star Anders Hedberg [the 'Swedish Express'] talks about Borje Salming, 3 Swedes [and a Finn!] representing 70% of this year’s Hockey Hall Of Fame induction class, why Ornskolsvik has produced so many hockey stars, transitioning from Sweden to Winnipeg and finding out he’d be playing with Bobby Hull, moving with Ulf Nilsson from Winnipeg/WHA to New York City/NHL, playing w...

Broadcast Journalist turned Podcaster Wendy Mesley talks about her partnership/friendship with Maureen Holloway, not being retired but rather ONLY being retired from the CBC, pivoting to podcasting, wanting to BE Barbara Frum, the slight quantitative discrepancy on her Ryerson transcript, and recognizing the importance of words! TORONTO LEGENDS is hosted by Andrew Applebaum. TORONTO LEGENDS is pow...

Blue Rodeo bassist Bazil Donovan talks about learning the ‘guitar boogie shuffle,’ growing up in the Junction, Tiny’s beeper leading to his first gig for $30, listening to/learning from/eventually opening for John Fogerty, cutting his teeth on the baptism/confirmation circuit, answering the famous ‘bassist wanted’ ad in NOW magazine, the bandname origin story transitioning from the The Hi-Fi's, pl...

Chef Rob Rainford talks about choosing between cooking and basketball camp, how the Food Network ‘changed everything,’ whether you should wash your chicken [spoiler: does more harm than good], shooting 18 hours of content for 22 minutes of a TV show, what the 'Rainford Method' encourages, how his skill set allows him to ‘hit for the cycle in cooking,’ his embrace of Tik Tok and Instagram, being Ro...