Conacher retired as an athlete in 1937 to enter politics. He won election to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1937, and in 1949 won a seat in the House of Commons. Many of his political positions revolved around sports. He worked to eliminate corruption in boxing while serving as a Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in Ontario, also serving as the chairman of the Ontario Athletic Commission. Additionally, he served a term as director of recreation and entertainment for the Royal Canadian Air Force. It was also on the sports field that Conacher died: He suffered a heart attack twenty minutes after hitting a triple in a softball game played on the lawn of Parliament Hill.\n', '

Numerous organizations have honoured Conacher\'s career. In addition to being named Canada\'s athlete of the half-century, he was named the country\'s top football player over the same period. He was inducted into Canada\'s Sports Hall of Fame in 1955, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1964, the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1965, the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. Additionally, the Canadian Press gives the Lionel Conacher Award to its male athlete of the year.\n', '

Conacher was born in Toronto, Ontario on May 24, 1901. His middle name was given after the South African city of Pretoria, where British troops were fighting the Boer War at the time of his birth. He was the eldest son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Conacher, and the third of ten children overall. He had four brothers and five sisters. The family grew up in the neighbourhood of Davenport, which his brother Charlie described as "one of Toronto\'s higher class slums".\n', 'His father was a teamster, and struggled to earn enough money to support the family. In the winter, he ploughed the snow off outdoor skating rinks to earn additional money. Conacher left school after the eighth grade to go to work and help support his siblings. For ten hours a day, he hauled sod, earning an extra dollar a week for his family.\n', '

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