Skip to main content

#JustCurious: How did the Melville Millionaires get their name?

Share

The Melville Millionaires of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) have a long and rich history.

The club was founded in 1908 and currently play their home games at the Horizon Credit Union Centre. Their colours are blue and white and their arch-enemy is the nearby Yorkton Terriers.

The city was named after Charles Melville Hayes, who was the general manager of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.

Mr Hayes had big plans for the community and actually called it home for a short time. Records show that Hayes was building his empire to compete with the Canadian Pacific Railway and Melville was to be the midway hub. The team's website itself says the team was named for Hayes.

Why didn’t it happen? Well, in April of 1912, Charles Hayes was returning from a trip to recruit investors, when he boarded the RMS Titanic. He died when the ship went down that fateful night.

A few years later, the railway failed and his grand plans went unrealized. The name Millionaires is a subtle nod to what might have been.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Stay Connected