Tom Pashby

Thomas Joseph Pashby (March 23, 1915August 24, 2005) was a Canadian ophthalmologist and sport safety advocate.

He spent 46 years improving the safety of hockey helmets to prevent injuries in ice hockey, by developing visors and wire face masks, and advocating for neck protection on goaltender masks.

He served two decades as chairman of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), setting standards for manufacturers of hockey and lacrosse helmets.

Pashby compiled Canadian data on hockey-related spinal cord injuries and visual impairment, while pushing for changes to ice hockey rules to prevent injuries.

Thomas Joseph Pashby was born on March 23, 1915, in Toronto, Ontario.

He was the only child of Norman and Florence Pashby, and attended Riverdale Collegiate Institute.

He grew up in the Danforth and Pape area, and his family operated a butcher shop in East Danforth.

While playing high school football, he recalled losing consciousness due to a concussion, despite feeling fine before falling on his face at the hospital.

Pashby graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in 1940, and received his certificate of registration with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario on August 22, 1940.

He married Helen Christie in 1941, ten days before he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

During his World War II military service, he conducted eye examinations on prospective pilots, bombers and gunners; which led to his interest in ophthalmology.

Pashby earned ophthalmology specialist credentials from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in January 1948.

He established his own practice in Leaside in 1948, He later had offices in North Toronto and Don Mills, and treated patients at Toronto Western Hospital and Centenary Hospital.

He also served a consulting physician for the Toronto Maple Leafs, was the senior staff ophthalmologist at the Hospital for Sick Children, and spent time as a professor at the University of Toronto.

In 1959, Pashby's son was playing minor ice hockey without a hockey helmet, and struck his head on the ice resulting in a concussion.

Pashby then forbade his sons from playing without a helmet.

When only cardboard helmets were available in Canada at the time, Bert Olmstead of the Toronto Maple Leafs helped Pashby import a polycarbonate helmet from Sweden.

Pashby then spent the next 46 years of his life to improve the safety of helmets to prevent injuries.

He pioneered the development of visors and wire face masks to prevent eye injuries, and pushed for neck protection on goaltender masks.

After Pashby improved the design and function of helmets, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) made helmets mandatory in minor hockey as of 1965.

Pashby began working with the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) in 1969, to assess the safety of helmets.

In 1972, he conducted research on behalf of the Canadian Ophthalmological Society by writing to 700 ophthalmologists across Canada, and compiled data on hockey-related eye injuries.

During the 1972–73 season, Pashby reported there were 287 eye injuries in hockey players, including 20 blind eyes.

He also reported that since 1972, there were 309 players at either the minor, junior or professional hockey levels who had lost eyesight, but that none of them wore a CSA-approved facemask.

During the 1974–75 season, he reported 258 eye injuries and 43 blinded eyes.

Pashby became chairman of the CSA in 1975, serving for two decades to set standards for manufacturers of hockey and lacrosse helmets, while pushing for changes to ice hockey rules to prevent dangerous play and injuries.

His work resulted in the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) making CSA-approved helmets mandatory in 1976, and the National Hockey League requiring helmets for all new players as of 1979.

He succeeded in facial protection requirements for amateurs players in Canada, and rule changes against checking from behind enacted by Hockey Canada, USA Hockey, and the International Ice Hockey Federation.

In 1976, the CAHA mandated that all amateur players were a CSA-approved helmet.

The CSA soon set standards for full-face protection.

He reported 150 spinal cord injuries since 1976, and that 30 players were in wheelchairs as of 1990.

He sought to reduce injuries in the game with a four-point plan; for existing rules to be enforced, for players to wear certified protective equipment, for the size of the ice hockey rink to be enlarged to international standards; and for education in prevention of injuries be given to players, coaches, and trainers.

He also stressed the need to start education at an early age.

By 1978, no players who wore a CSA-approved helmet and face mask had suffered a blinded eye.

In 1979, helmets were made mandatory for all new players to the National Hockey League.

In 1980, the CAHA mandated that players in all age groups wear facial protection.

Pashby continued to compile statistics for eye injuries, and began researching data spinal cord injuries.

He was named a member of the Order of Canada in 1981, inducted into the builder category of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2000, and was posthumously inducted into the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1985, Pashby was a member of the Committee for the Prevention of Spinal Cord Injuries Due To Hockey, and lobbied for rules to stop checking from behind.

Pashby received multiple awards, including the Ontario Hockey Association Distinguished Service Award, the Gordon Juckes Award from the CAHA, and was named man-of-the-year by The Hockey News in 1990.