MEDIA – FOOTBALL – INDUCTED IN 2009
Dan Ralph developed a love for football while playing the sport in high school and covered his first Grey Cup while he was still a student at Durham College.
After graduation, he made stops in Timmins and Stratford before joining the Georgetown Herald as sports editor in 1984. After three years at the Herald he moved to the Georgetown Independent where he continued to cover the local sports scene until 1990.
While working in Georgetown, Ralph did some freelance work for the Canadian Press. When a reporter’s position opened up, Ralph was hired and a year later took over the football beat for the national newswire.
Over the next three decades, Ralph built an extensive network of contacts, established himself as an one of the most knowledgeable and respected reporters covering the Canadian Football League. Since that first Grey Cup as a student, Ralph has covered the league’s championship game more than 30 times.
Ralph has also covered the NFL, Canadian university football and horse racing extensively. But it is his work covering the CFL where he really made a name for himself.
In 2012, Ralph was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
Ralph did more than cover football, though. He began coaching in the Halton Hills Minor Football Association in 1999. In 2006, he guided the Halton Hills Wildcats to the Ontario Minor Football League (OMFL) junior varsity title.
Ralph eventually took on the role of Halton Hills Minor Football president in 2009 and later became the Ontario Minor Football League president in 2011.