Had Arthur U. Chipman been present for his induction into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, it probably would have been with mixed emotions. While Chipman was proud of the many things he helped accomplish, he never craved the spotlight. “He never did anything to get his name in the papers. He took pride in it but he never looked for attention,” said his son, Arthur Chipman Jr.

The elder Chipman’s name was closely associated with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He was a member of the Canadian Football League club’s board of directors from the mid-1930’s until the early-1950’s and served as president of the organization between 1945 and 1948. Chipman was also closely involved with the CFL during its formative years. In 1952 and 1953, he was president of the Canadian Rugby Union, the precursor to the CFL, and was the first trustee for the Schenley Football Awards. In 1941, Chipman even got a taste of coaching when he filled in for Reg Threlfall who was unable to coach the team in the Grey Cup game. Chipman was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as a builder in 1969 and in 1984 was one of the inaugural inductees to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Hall of Fame.

He served as president of the Winnipeg Rangers junior hockey team during the 1940’s. The Rangers won the Memorial Cup national championship in 1943 with a team that included nearly a dozen players that would go on to play in the NHL. Chipman was part of the ownership group that brought the original Winnipeg Goldeyes franchise to the city in 1953. Five years later he became the first president of the Assiniboine Downs Turf Club, and was also active at the old Polo Park Race Track. Arthur Uniac Chipman served as vice-president of the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg in 1967, and was a board member and finance chairman of Winnipeg Enterprises during the 1970’s and ‘80’s.