Broadcaster Gary Dalliday was a local sports legend
Veteran sportscaster and athlete dies after third cancer battle
For decades Gary Dalliday brought the faces of Peterborough’s sports scene into thousands of homes.
And in telling the stories of Bob Gainey or George (Red) Sullivan or a next-door neighbour’s 10year-old figure skater or a young Special Olympian, Mr. Dalliday became the face of Peterborough sports.
The local broadcasting legend and sports icon died Friday morning at 76.
Known to friends and family as The Diller, he succumbed to cancer after a nine-month battle, his third bout with the disease.
He was sports director at CHEX-TV for nearly 35 years but he was a fine athlete in his own right. He is an inductee to the Peterborough and District Sports Hall of Fame for his sports life and Peterborough’s Pathway of Fame for his media work.
“The Diller was one of a kind,” said Peterborough Lakers president Ted Higgins, a close friend for 60 years. “He probably put more bums in seats than anybody I recall. He went above and beyond to give a personal touch whether it was the passing of somebody in the community or whatever, he stood up and did a wonderful job for the folks involved. He wasn’t just a guy who was on TV and read the script. He went out and met the people and had a real personal touch.”
The Petes named their media/ scouts room in Mr. Dalliday’s honour. In recent years he and Don Barrie hosted the room.
“Gary was the face of sports in the city for 30-plus years,” Barrie said. “He was a broadcaster but he was also a sports figure himself. He had so many contacts and he maintained those contacts going to events often outside of his job and certainly well after he was no longer involved in the media. I found Gary was the source of more nostalgia about sports in the city than anybody I experienced. All sports. He covered everything.”
Mr. Dalliday played junior and senior hockey and got, as he often put it, “a cup of coffee” with the Petes when Scotty Bowman was coach. One of the highlights of his career was getting to work alongside his son Pete as the radio
voices of the OHL team for 15 years.
“I don’t know that it had ever been done before to have a fatherson,” said former Petes GM Jeff Twohey. “They were great at it because they were passionate. You could see how proud he was when the two of them were together.”
“We did over a thousand games,” said Pete Dalliday. “It certainly made things easier for me having him on board. He could have had that job (of playby-play) but he let me have that gig. It was a team effort.”
Pete knows his father was proud of their teamwork.
“You don’t really realize it at the time but now I have my own kids and realize what it would be like.”
Twohey said he’ll never forget Mr. Dalliday’s upbeat personality, saying he never seemed to have a bad day. “He had a passion for everything Peterborough,” Twohey said.
Family was his other passion. He and Donna were married 54 years and in addition to Pete had son Tim and daughter Krista who was looking after her father almost around the clock in his final days. She was at his side when he died shortly before 7 a.m. at Peterborough Regional Health Centre. He and Donna had six grandchildren.
“He was Peterborough through and through,” said Tim Dalliday. “When he went into the Pathway of Fame last year that was his ultimate recognition that it wasn’t just all about sport, it was about contributing to the Peterborough community as a whole.”
Funeral arrangements are to be announced. Tim said rather than visitation, a funeral mass will be held with a public reception to follow.