Canadian athletes who fought in the War

Many Canadian athletes fought in the war. Here are five of them.

He was called one of the best rugby players in Canada, winning a national championship with his team in Dundas, Ont., before moving to Toronto and joining the Argonauts football team. He led the Argos in scoring in 1910 and 1911, served as a captain, and in 1913 set a team field-goal record while also coaching. He enlisted with the infantry but later transferred to the machine-gun division to be with two of his friends. He was killed at Ypres in April 1915, age 31.

Allan “Scotty” Davidson

A star with his hometown Kingston Frontenacs of the OHA junior hockey league, Davidson was signed by the Toronto Blue Shirts of the National Hockey Association, a precursor to the NHL, in 1912. The right-winger scored 19 goals in 20 games in his first season and 23 goals the next, leading the team to the 1914 Stanley Cup. Davidson enlisted later that year and was killed in battle in France in June 1915, age 24. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1950.

Tom Longboat

He was a legendary longdistance runner who won the 1907 Boston Marathon and competed for Canada at the 1908 Olympics. Longboat, an Onondaga from Six Nations, enlisted in 1916 and became a dispatch carrier with the 107th Pioneer Battalion in France, running messages between units. He was wounded twice during the war — once so badly he was officially declared dead — but survived and returned to Canada in 1919. He died in 1949 at age 62.

Percival Molson

A scion of the famous brewing family, Molson was a multi-sport star in Montreal. He set a world record in long jump in 1900, raced in the 400-metre dash for Canada at the 1904 Olympics, captained the Montreal Football Club from 1902 to 1906, and played hockey and rugby at the top levels. He was badly wounded at the Battle of Mount Sorrel in June 1916 but recovered and returned to action. In July 1917, he was shot and killed in an artillery attack at Pas-de-Calais, near Vimy Ridge. He was 36. In his will, he left $75,000 to his alma mater, McGill University, to build a stadium, which was named in his honour. Today it’s the home of the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes.

Tom Longboat won the 1907 Boston Marathon and competed for Canada at the 1908 Olympics

Bobby Powell

Robert Branks Powell was born and raised in Victoria. From 1900-04, he balanced his job as private secretary to the lieutenant-governor of British Columbia with his tennis career. He was a repeat provincial champion and founded the North Pacific International Lawn Tennis Association in 1904, when he was 23. He then went to Britain to study law and won more championships there.

In 1908, he represented Canada at the Olympics, and also made it to the men’s semifinals at Wimbledon — a record for Canadian men that stood until Milos Raonic matched it in 2014. He also captained Canada’s first Davis Cup team in 1913. Powell became a lieutenant in Canada’s army in September 1914. He died at the battle of Vimy Ridge on April 28, 1917, age 36.