Paul Dumont (June 15, 1920 – April 9, 2008) was a Canadian ice hockey administrator. He was associated with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) from its founding in 1969 to 1984. He served as the general manager of the Quebec Remparts, then as the league's executive director and president. He established the first league office, and oversaw the development of its policies and procedures. He previously co-founded the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament and managed the junior Quebec Aces. He is the namesake of the Paul Dumont Trophy, and was inducted into both the Hockey Québec, and the QMJHL Halls of Fame.
In 1973, the World Hockey Association (WHA) signed Remparts player Jacques Locas, and Dumont felt that Locas should be eligible to continue playing junior hockey despite signing a professional contract, until the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) ruled otherwise.[9] In February 1975, Dumont was one of the QMJHL representatives at a meeting with the CAHA, the OHA, and the Western Hockey League (WHL), which discussed the use of overage players, and its effect on Memorial Cup play.[10] He resigned as the Remparts general manager in 1975.[11] On May 21, 1975, he was announced as the secretary treasurer of the new Canadian Major Junior Hockey League.[12]
Later hockey career
Dumont became the first executive director of the QMJHL in 1975, established a league office in Quebec City, and served in that role until 1983.[2][7][13] In 1977, Dumont hired Gilles Courteau from the Trois-Rivières Draveurs, and made him the league statistician.[7][14] Courteau credits Dumont as the architect of the QMJHL's structure, policies, procedures and regulations.[7][2] Dumont later instituted the first midget-age player draft in the league,[3] and assisted in transforming the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association into the modern Hockey Québec organization.[2] He spoke out against the WHA having signed at least 17 junior-aged players to professional contracts by 1978, calling it "real violence" and disagreed that the Canadian junior ice hockey structure with players aged 16 to 20 year olds in the same league was irresponsible.[15] During the 1980–81 QMJHL season, Dumont implemented rules for facemasks on hockey helmets for player safety.[16] In 1982, he stated that eight of the nine teams lost money during the 1981–82 QMJHL season, due to decreasing attendance, and competition with professional hockey, for 18 and 19 year old players.[17]
Dumont became the sixth president of the QMJHL following the death of Jean Rougeau,[7][13] and served in that role from August 1983 to June 1984.[1] During that time, he participated on the committee which oversaw the Canada men's national junior ice hockey team in 1984.[18] In 1984, Dumont commented on the financial state of the league by saying that "there will always be junior ice hockey in some form because the people want it".[19] He also felt that owning a junior ice hockey team was not a business venture for a quick return on investment, and that most owners were involved for the love of the game, and hoped to break even on expenses.[19]
