Johnny Buss
Inducted 1989
Primary Outlet
Winnipeg Tribune
Born in the early 1900s in Gladstone, Man., Johnny Buss attended school in Winnipeg, where he eventually started working as a telegraph messenger for the Canadian Pacific Railway.
That experience led the way to Buss joining the Western Associated Press, the forerunner to The Canadian Press. He worked as an office boy there during the First World War.
Buss became a member of the Winnipeg Free Press sports staff in 1921. He joined the Winnipeg Tribune in 1925, becoming the sports editor in 1932 and continuing in that role until 1939.
In a tribute to Buss after death, Free Press legend Maurice Smith called Buss the “dean of active sports writers” and “a jack-of-all sports.” Buss covered baseball, basketball, bowling, boxing, curling, football, golf, hockey, horse racing, lacrosse, soccer and softball.
“All respected and admired him,” Smith wrote.
Later in his career, Buss took such a special interest in curling that the Manitoba Curling Association presented him with a gift in “recognition of his contributions to the roaring game.”
“No curling function in the city was complete without the presence of Johnny Buss with the inevitable cigar in his mouth,” Smith wrote.
Buss was one of eight local sports journalists to start the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association in 1955. He died after a lengthy illness on Feb. 8, 1955, at age 52.
Johnny Buss was inducted into the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Media Roll of Honour in 1989.
That experience led the way to Buss joining the Western Associated Press, the forerunner to The Canadian Press. He worked as an office boy there during the First World War.
Buss became a member of the Winnipeg Free Press sports staff in 1921. He joined the Winnipeg Tribune in 1925, becoming the sports editor in 1932 and continuing in that role until 1939.
In a tribute to Buss after death, Free Press legend Maurice Smith called Buss the “dean of active sports writers” and “a jack-of-all sports.” Buss covered baseball, basketball, bowling, boxing, curling, football, golf, hockey, horse racing, lacrosse, soccer and softball.
“All respected and admired him,” Smith wrote.
Later in his career, Buss took such a special interest in curling that the Manitoba Curling Association presented him with a gift in “recognition of his contributions to the roaring game.”
“No curling function in the city was complete without the presence of Johnny Buss with the inevitable cigar in his mouth,” Smith wrote.
Buss was one of eight local sports journalists to start the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association in 1955. He died after a lengthy illness on Feb. 8, 1955, at age 52.
Johnny Buss was inducted into the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Media Roll of Honour in 1989.