The J. Ross Robertson Cup was donated by
John Ross Robertson on November 19, 1910, to be awarded annually to the champion of the
junior ice hockey division in the
Ontario Hockey Association (OHA). Robertson served as president of the OHA from 1899 to 1905, had founded the
Toronto Evening Telegram in 1876, helped establish
The Hospital for Sick Children, and was a member of the
House of Commons of Canada for
Toronto East. He was against professionalism in sports, and felt that "sport should be pursued for its own sake, for when professionalism begins, true sport ends". The OHA first established a junior hockey division for the 1892–93 season, and the J. Ross Robertson Cup was first awarded during the 1910–11 season. The cup is a sterling silver bowl tall, engraved with a hockey-playing scene and interlaced maple leaves in bas-relief. The
Memorial Cup was founded in 1919, which gave the opportunity for each season's J. Ross Robertson Cup winner to partake in national playoffs arranged by the
Canadian Amateur Hockey Association for the junior hockey championship of Canada. The national playoffs culminated in an east-versus-west final, and the Eastern Canada junior champion was also awarded the
George Richardson Memorial Trophy from 1932 to 1971. In 1972, the Memorial Cup format changed to a
round-robin tournament and the J. Ross Robertson Cup winner received an automatic berth in the tournament along with the
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and
Western Hockey League champions. The J. Ross Robertson Cup remained the playoffs championship trophy for the top tier of junior hockey in the OHA. The cup was awarded to the OHA Major Junior A Series champion from 1972 to 1974, the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League champion from 1974 to 1980, and has been the championship trophy of the
Ontario Hockey League since 1980. The Ontario Hockey League established the
Bobby Orr Trophy and the
Wayne Gretzky Trophy in 1999, for the respective Eastern Conference and Western Conference champions which compete for the J. Ross Robertson Cup. The
Wayne Gretzky 99 Award was established in 1999, and is given to the
most valuable player of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs at the conclusion of the J. Ross Robertson Cup finals. ==List of cup winners==