Balancing hockey, doughnuts and family
Broadcast Date: Feb. 2, 2001
In 1964, hockey star Tim Horton opened his first doughnut shop. But balancing business with a full-time hockey career wasn't always easy. "It was a physical and psychological commute — hockey, business, family — sometimes in that order," says the narrator in this excerpt from a 2001 Life & Times documentary. In this clip, his wife Lori and two of his four daughters discuss the toll this took on the Horton family, including Tim's heavy drinking and Lori's drug addiction.
Balancing hockey, doughnuts and family
• A year after opening his first doughnut shop in Hamilton, Horton sold the franchise for that location to former police officer Ron Joyce. By 1967, with three stores now in the chain, Horton and Joyce had become full business partners.• Tim and Lori Horton had four daughters: Jeri-Lyn, Tracy, Kim and Kelly.
• In his 2006 book Always Fresh: The Untold Story of Tim Hortons by the Man Who Created a Canadian Empire, Ron Joyce commented on the Hortons's marital troubles. Of Tim, he said, "Tim had always liked to party. He wasn't an alcoholic ...but his drinking was probably a contributing factor to the problems he faced in his marriage." And of Lori, Joyce said, "A player's wife can be an asset or liability. Lori was the latter, and you never knew when she'd explode."
• Lori Horton died of a massive coronary in December of 2000 at the age of 68.
Balancing hockey, doughnuts and family
Medium: Television
Program: Life & Times
Broadcast Date: Feb. 2, 2001
Guest(s): Lori Horton, Jeri-Lyn Horton, Tracy Horton, Eddie Shack
Narrator: Dion Luther
Duration: 6:45
A Co-production with Make Believe Media
Last updated:
May 28, 2008
Balancing hockey, doughnuts and family.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: May 28, 2008.
[Page consulted on Feb. 13, 2012.]