James Stuart Rayside

Stuart Rayside was born in Martintown in 1874, on the farm of his father, “Big Jim” Rayside, and his wife Janet Grant. First attending school in the village, he continued in Lancaster after his family moved to the bustling waterfront harbour. He then attended high school in Williamstown before furthering his educational and athletic career at Queen’s University in Kingston.

At Queen’s, Stuart quickly became a leader with the hockey organization, having mastered the rudiments of skate and stick handling on the frozen Raisin River. By graduation year, his stellar conduct on and off the ice elevated him to the position of coach and manager of the Golden Gaels. Football, however, had up until then been a mystery to Stuart Rayside. When the football coaches took one look at the 6’3” 250lber, they quickly attempted to draw him onto the gridiron. The talented youth quickly mastered the plays of the full-back (or backfielder).

In 1899 Stuart Rayside  was rated one of the all-time Canadian University football greats as he was among the leaders who brought the intercollegiate championship to Queen’s and Kingston. Graduating that year, he moved to Ottawa where he was welcomed at the Rough Riders training camp. Rayside became an over-night luminary of the Canadian Rugby Union (now the CFL), lining-up beside such outstanding players as D’Arcy McGee, Bouse Hutton and Harvey Pulford. The 1900 Rough Rider team won the Dominion of Canada Championship, today’s Grey Cup.

The next year Stuart took up residence in Montreal to pursue business interests. Once more, the Winged Wheeler MAAA football grounds accepted him, and Montreal went on to win the Dominion Championship. Stuart Rayside thus has the unique record of playing with three different Dominion champions in as many years.

Though he and his wife Isabella McIntyre had no children, Stuart himself came from a very illustrious Glengarry family. His father “Big Jim” Rayside was a successful lumber industrialist who also served for twelve years as Glengarry’s Member of the Legislative Assembly at Queen’s Park. His youngest sister, Edith Rayside, was Canada’s first matron-in-chief of nurses during World War One. His other sister, Isabella, married prominent Lancastrian Jim McGillis, and their son Buster McGillis (inducted 1985) was a prominent hockey player. His brother, Dave Rayside, became Montreal divisional manager for Bell Telephone, and was also a football star with Montreal MAAA.

A jovial sportsman always keen to help those in need, Stuart Rayside died in Montreal on March 21st, 1951, and was buried in South Lancaster’s St. Andrew’s cemetery.