Journalist
Born in Cobourg, Ontario, Hewitt moved to Toronto when he was four years old and later attended Jarvis Collegiate Institute. Hewitt and his three brothers all worked as journalists in their careers. While still in school, he began working for the Toronto News as a copyboy. At age 15 he was made a reporter and left school. In 1895, he became sports editor of the News and later supplemented his income as press agent for the Grand Opera House in Toronto.
In the fall of 1899, he was lured to the Montreal Herald as sports editor by Joseph E. Atkinson, the paper's managing editor, whom Hewitt had known and admired from Atkinson's days as a reporter in Toronto. A year later, Atkinson became editor-in-chief (and, eventually, majority owner) of the Toronto Star, and Hewitt followed him back to Toronto as the paper's sports editor. Hewitt remained in that role for 31 years, before accepting a job in 1931 as the first attractions manager of the new Maple Leaf Gardens. He passed the reins at the Star over to his long-time colleague, Lou Marsh. Over a 36-year career as a journalist, Hewitt never used a typewriter and wrote all his stories by hand.
Read more about this topic: W. A. Hewitt
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