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Create AccountWalter Hamilton Ewing, trapshooter (born 11 February 1878 in Montréal, QC; died 25 June 1945 in Montréal). Ewing won the gold medal in individual trap shooting at the 1908 Olympic Games in London, England.
Walter Knox, track and field athlete (b at Listowel, Ont 1878; d at St Petersburg, Fla 3 Mar 1951). Knox was one of the most versatile and successful performers in Canadian sport. From 1896 to 1933, he obtained 359 firsts, 90 seconds and 52 thirds in competition.
Waneek Horn-Miller, athlete, activist, broadcaster (born 30 November 1975 in Montreal, QC). Horn-Miller, a Mohawk from Kahnawake, Quebec, was co-captain of Canada’s first Olympic women’s water polo team and a gold medallist in water polo at the 1999 Pan American Games. She is a well-known activist for Indigenous rights and a prominent role model, mentor and advocate for youth involvement in sports. The Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity named her one of the country’s most influential women in sport in 2015.
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC, hockey player, coach, entrepreneur (born 26 January 1961 in Brantford, ON).
Carrol Wayne Harris, football player (b at Hampton, Ark 4 May 1938). Many regard Harris as the greatest ever to have played the position of centre linebacker in the CFL.
IT WAS NEARLY MIDNIGHT when the post-Masters dinner finally broke up.
Behind many a successful celebrity is a ‘ghost tweeter,’ keeping him out of trouble
William J. "Torchy" Peden, cyclist (born 16 April 1906 in Victoria, BC; died 26 January 1980 in Chicago, Illinois). One of the greatest cyclists of his era, Peden was particularly successful on the six-day racing circuit in the 1930s. In his first four years of six-day racing, he won 24 of 48 races. In total, he won 38 of 148 races between 1929 and 1948, a record that stood until 1965. Peden was one of the top-paid athletes of the Depression era, alongside Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees. He is a member of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, BC Sports Hall of Fame, Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame and the Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame.
William Arnold Durnan, hockey player (b at Toronto 22 Jan 1915; d there 31 Oct 1972). He was the greatest goaltender of his day. Tall but quick, he had a rare ability to catch and block shots with either hand. He joined MONTREAL
In 1867 he campaigned to have lacrosse accepted as Canada's national game. Though unsuccessful, his efforts helped raise the number of clubs from 6 to 80 that year, as did a national convention he organized in Kingston, Ontario.
William Watson, "Whipper Billy," professional wrestler (b at Toronto 25 June 1915; d at Orlando, Fla 4 Feb 1990). It is claimed that he won 99% of his 6300 matches during a 30-year career. He was popular in the Toronto area and frequently drew capacity crowds.
William T. (Willie) deWit, boxer, lawyer, judge (born 13 June 1961 in Three Hills, AB).
Willie O’Ree, CM, ONB, hockey player (born 15 October 1935 in Fredericton, NB). Willie O’Ree became the first Black hockey player to play a National Hockey League (NHL) game on 18 January 1958. He played professional hockey for more than 20 years, including 45 games with the NHL’s Boston Bruins. Since 1998, O’Ree has been the NHL’s Director of Youth Development and ambassador for NHL Diversity, and has led the Hockey is for Everyone program. He received the Lester Patrick Trophy in 2003 for his outstanding service to hockey in the United States. In 2018, the NHL established the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award in his honour. O’Ree is a Member of both the Order of Canada and the Order of New Brunswick. He has been inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame and the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was named to Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame as a Builder on 27 May 2020 and will be formally inducted in 2021. The Boston Bruins will retire his No. 22 jersey in 2022.
Winnie Roach-Leuszler, swimmer (b at Port Credit, Ont 3 Feb. 1926; d at Surrey, BC 1 May 2004). Leuszler was the first Canadian to swim the English Channel. As a child she excelled in a wide range of sports both on land and in water but swimming soon emerged as her special talent.
This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on February 1, 1999. Partner content is not updated.
Hockey fans have long since become accustomed to the mercenary nature of modern professional sports: players whose seven-figure salaries are not enough to anchor them to a team or a town, and even teams themselves that abandon those towns for newer arenas and sweet tax concessions elsewhere.
