Donald Angus McGillis
Donald Angus was born into a family of 13 children in the 5th Concession, Lancaster in 1887. At 15 he left home and moved to Winnipeg where he began working for the CPR. After a few years with the CPR, he purchased the Bell hotel in Winnipeg. Leaving Winnipeg, he built a hotel in the rugged Red Lake area of Manitoba. When gold was discovered near Uchie Lake in Northern Ontario, he moved his family there and built a hotel and business there. Besides hotel rooms, his business also included a restaurant/bar, a barbershop, an ice cream parlour, bowling alley, grocery store and post office. A decade later with the mine closing down, he searched for and found a hotel for sale in Peterborough, Ontario. In 1943 he purchased the Champlain Hotel and renamed it the McGillis Hotel. It was a beautiful hotel, in its era, with a lobby filled with antiques and a dining room that was popular to locals during holidays such as Christmas.
In 1943 he moved with his wife and two sons, Donald Edward and Gerald. For the next three decades, the McGillis Hotel was the centre of Peterborough as a hotel, diner and drinking establishment. Donald became a prominent businessman in the city becoming active in the sporting life of the community serving on the Racing Committee of the Expedition Board and briefly the Chairman of the Memorial Centre Board. He served as well for many years on the St. Joseph’s Hospital Board. Noted for his generosity, both in time and money to sporting organizations, charities and other deserving causes, he was named Peterborough’s Citizen of the Year in 1950, the first year the award was given.
In the 1950s, cities followed their OHL Sr. B. teams as they follow their Jr. B teams today. The caliber of Senior hockey was very good. With only six NHL clubs, many talented players came home to work in their home cities and played Senior hockey. Two teams played in Peterborough at the time, the Swartz Petes and the McGillis Eagles owned by Donald. The Eagles had a large following and the rivalry was intense; in the city you were either a fan of one or the other team. The old Civic Arena was filled to capacity (1500), the action was fast and on many occasions blood was spilled.
In the late 50s or early 60s, the Petes bought the OHA Jr A franchise which then was sponsored by the Montreal Canadians. Donald kept his team dominating the Senior hockey loop as he believed senior hockey was a better product and the Eagles vs the Petes rivalry ended.
Not content with owning and operating a Senior hockey team, Donald also was a key sponsor and director of the Peterborough Orfuns Football Club, a very good football club playing Senior football in a league that was semi-pro back then. McGillis was named honorary president of the club in 1952. His own two sons played on this team. The Orfuns , a good club with a large following, were very successful . They were Canadian finalists in 1952 and 1954, losing the National Championship in 1952, ironically, to a Manitoba team in front of 7,000 fans in Winnipeg. They were also Ontario Football Champions in 1952-55, Eastern Canada champions in 1952, 1954 and 1955. As well they won the Dominion Football Championship in 1955.
NFL football fans may be surprised to know that the Buffalo Bills played in Ontario many years before their recent games at Skydome. In August of 1955, five years before the present Bills entered the American Football League that later joined with the National Football League, the Orfuns played the Buffalo Bills who at that time were a semi-professional team in a New York/Pennsylvania League in Peterborough. The teams played one half under Canadian rules and the other half under American rules. The game ended very diplomatically in a 14-14 tie.
On Nov. 12, 1955, the Orfuns football team won the Canadian intermediate title in front of over 3,000 shivering Peterborough fans. A heavy snowfall days before the event followed by rain made for some field conditions that contributed to only two touchdowns being scored, one by each team. The game was won by Peterborough on a field goal late in the game.
As well as these semi-pro teams, D.A. sponsored many other athletic teams in the community ranging from kids’ hockey to baseball. He always had a helping hand, whether from the use of autos to carry players or financially supporting teams of youngsters learning sports. Many Peterborough youngsters were able to afford equipment and to play organized sports because of his generosity.
D.A. died after a brief illness in January, 1961.
In 1980, Donald Angus McGillis was recognized for his many contributions large and small to sports in the Peterborough area by being in the first group to be inducted into the newly founded Peterborough and District Sports Hall of Fame. This year we welcome him home to Glengarry as a 2011 Inductee into the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame.
