Hockey, war and a train wreck were big parts of Walter Miller’s life
Top player had a growing career before heading off to battle in Europe
Peterborough has produced some interesting sports characters over the years. None has a more diverse and colourful legacy than Walter Miller.
Walter was the uncle of Doug Miller, a great local sportsman and the man behind the building of Miller Bowl, the local lacrosse venue used from 1947 to ’56. Nephew Doug’s son, Doug Jr., played and coached some lacrosse locally before going on to work in the design of protective sports equipment, especially for lacrosse, for CCM. After retiring, he completed a biographical paper on his greatuncle Walter.
Walter was born in Peterborough in 1887. He was the 11th child and sixth son born to Firth, a bandmaster and shoemaker, and Mary Miller.
Walter went to Central School and played hockey for the Charlotte Street Methodist Church from 1904 to ’06. In ’06, as a 19-year-old, he made the local intermediate team and led it to an Ontario championship.
The next year, he was on the Peterborough Senior team and played hockey as he completed his trade as a master lather and roofer. He started the 1908-09 season again with the Peterborough Seniors but he was sold to Brantford of the Ontario Professional League.
The Examiner of ’09, reprinting an article from the Brantford Expositor, read: “Walter Miller is now playing centre or rover; looks to have struck his gait. Thursday night he was cheered to the echo for spectacular rushes. If Walter improves his checking a little, he will be a star.”
A few days after this article appeared, Walter again made the news. A headline in the Examiner read “Local Hockey Player was in smash-up with the Brantford Team: Was returning from a game in Guelph.”
Newspaper reports stated
Miller was in a train wreck on the Grand Trunk Railroad and “was badly hurt.” The story had him losing a finger, being cut from head to foot and sustaining a serious injury to his hip.
His father, Firth, unable to ascertain the extent of his son’s injuries, rushed to Brantford. There he was relieved to find his son to be in pretty good shape. He had an eight-stitch cut on his hand and a bruised hip. A few days later, Walter received a cash settlement of $500 from the railroad. The incident did end his hockey season, though.
The next year, 1911, Walter headed west, playing with Grand Forks in the British Columbia Pro Hockey League. The following season, his travels took him across the country to New Glasgow, N.S. By Christmas of that year, he was playing for the Toronto Tecumsehs.
Walter, then 24 years old, standing six feet and weighing 185 pounds, was getting himself a good reputation as a hockey player. In the fall of 1912, he signed with the Montreal Maroons of the National Hockey Association, the forerunner to the National Hockey League.
After completing his second season with the Maroons, he embarked on a new career. With the First World War raging in Europe, Walter returned to Peterborough to take infantry training.
He was assigned to the Fourth Battalion, First Canadian Division and saw action in the famous battles of Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele.
After the war, no longer able to skate because of his war injuries, the 33-year-old gave up hockey and was hired by the Canada Customs office. For the next 32 years, Walter was a common sight walking to his job at the customs office at the corner of Charlotte and George streets. He died in 1959.
Walter Miller was another great athlete as well as a heroic figure in Peterborough’s past. In 1994, he was inducted into the Peterborough and District Sports Hall of Fame.