Bob Abate
Canadian amateur sports coach (1893–1981)
title: "Bob Abate" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["baseball-people-from-ontario", "basketball-people-from-ontario", "canadian-sports-coaches", "gridiron-football-people-from-ontario", "ice-hockey-people-from-ontario", "1893-births", "1981-deaths", "place-of-birth-missing"] description: "Canadian amateur sports coach (1893–1981)" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Abate" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Canadian amateur sports coach (1893–1981) ::
Robert "Bob" Abate (25 November 1893 – 22 January 1981) was a Canadian sports coach and the driving force behind the Elizabeth Playground sports teams in Toronto. The "Lizzies", as they were known, won more than 200 titles at the city, provincial, and national levels in baseball, basketball, football, and hockey. | title = Hall of Famer Bob Abate | url = https://www.sportshall.ca/hall-of-famers/hall-of-famers-search.html?proID=90&lang=EN | website = Canada's Sports Hall of Fame | access-date = 19 April 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230331184014/https://www.sportshall.ca/hall-of-famers/hall-of-famers-search.html?proID=90&lang=EN | archive-date = 31 March 2023 | location = Calgary | date = 2024 | url-status = live}}
Among the players who competed for the Lizzies were Lionel Conacher, Nig Eisen, Goody Rosen and Alex Levinsky. | author = Star Staff | title = Bob Abate guided Lizzies | work = Toronto Star | page = D3 | date = 24 January 1981 | url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-bob-abate-guided-lizzie/157043037/ | access-date = 19 April 2024 | via = Newspapers.com
1929 Fatal car crash incident
On 7 September 1929, Abate and six members of the boys bantam baseball team were in a car heading to a playoff game in Peterborough, Ontario when the car crossed the highway's median and collided head-on with another car near Bowmanville, Ontario. | author = Star Staff | title = Double tragedy overtakes over ball team on way to game | work = Toronto Daily Star | page = 16 | date = 9 September 1929 | url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-double-tragedy-overtake/157043085/ | access-date = 19 April 2024 | via = Newspapers.com | author = Star Staff | title = Driver of car blamed but identity in doubt | work = Toronto Daily Star | date = 17 September 1929 | page = 5 | url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/930781773/ | access-date = 19 April 2024 | url-access = subscription | via = Newspapers.com | author = Express Staff | title = Driver of auto fatal to two is fined $1,000 | work = Buffalo Courier-Express | page = 5 | date = 21 November 1929 | url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/976939042/ | access-date = 19 April 2024 | url-access = subscription | via = Newspapers.com | author = Standard Staff | title = Not good for a city | work = The Standard | location = St. Catharines, Ontario | page = 59 | date = 11 December 1929 | url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/1018035609/ | access-date = 19 April 2024 | url-access = subscription | via = Newspapers.com
Coaching philosophy
During an interview in April 1963, with the Toronto Star, Abate stated that his coaching style was not a "win-at-any-cost attitude," but said, "I liked my guys to play as hard as they could, battle every inch of the way. If they won, so much the better. But I expect them to forget the game once the final out was made or the final whistle blown." | last1 = Burnett | first1 = Red | title = Testimonial for Bob Abate | work = Toronto Daily Star | page = 17 | date = 26 April 1963 | url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-bob-abate/145648327/ | access-date = 19 April 2024 | via = Newspapers.com
When he started working at the Elizabeth Playground, the area was mainly Jewish immigrant families, and other nationalities and races. Abate saw sports as way to bring all the kids from all over the world together, as he said:
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Recognition
Before Abate retired as a supervisor for the City of Toronto's Parks and Recreation department, in November 1963, his former players and opponents paid tribute to him at a special diner on 2 May 1963. | last1 = Cauz | first1 = Louis | title = Ex-Lizzies Players Honor Former Coach At Testimonial Dinner | work = The Globe and Mail | location = Toronto | date = 3 May 1963 | page = 44 | url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/1283118375 | access-date = 19 April 2024 | id = | url-access = subscription | last1 = Burnett | first1 = Red | title = 400 On Hand To Honor Abate And $3,000 Shows Their Esteem | work = Toronto Daily Star | date = 3 May 1963 | page = 44 | url = https://www.newspapers.com/image/941688410/ | access-date = 19 April 2024 | url-access = subscription | via = Newspapers.com
Abate was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1976.
In 1990, the Elizabeth Recreation Centre in Toronto was renamed the Bob Abate Community Recreation Centre.
Personal life and death
Abate was married to Patricia Abate (1930–2018) they had two daughters Anne Abate and Laura Abate. He is survived by his oldest daughter Anne, his grandchildren Adele Newton, Chrisanne Newton and Terrence Abate as well as his great grandchildren Luca Angelino, Malachi and Iliyanna Yorke-Abate.
References
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::