The trophy was named in honour of Clarence (Tubby) Schmalz (1915-1981), a longtime hockey administrator who first got involved with organized sports in his adopted hometown of Walkerton, Ontario. He and his brother, his partner in a Walkerton hotel called the Hartley House, sponsored an intermediate softball team that won four consecutive provincial championships in the 1950s. Tubby Schmalz also operated a hockey team called the Capitols, who competed in the OHA Intermediate B ranks. He became an OHA director in 1956 and remained an active member of the organization for the next 22 years.