William Cecil Christmas (February 19, 1879 – March 25, 1941) was an amateur

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player for the

Montreal Hockey Club The Montreal Hockey Club of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was a senior-level men's amateur ice hockey club, organized in 1884. They were affiliated with the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (MAAA) and used the MAAA 'winged wheel' logo. The team ...

, the

Montreal Lacrosse Club The Montreal Lacrosse Club was a lacrosse club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The club is notable in the history of lacrosse as it was responsible for establishing the first set of written rules of the game. The club was established in 1856 by the ...

, and the Britannia Football Club respectively. As a lightweight, he also won a gold medal in

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

in 1899.

Athletic career

Billy Christmas was the third of eight sons born to Thomas Henry "Harry" Christmas and Jane "Jennie" Christmas (née McCaughey). Christmas began his athletic career with the Westmount Lacrosse Club in the City and Suburban Junior League. Christmas soon graduated to the intermediate and senior teams of the

Montreal Amateur Athletic Association Montreal Amateur Athletic Association is Canada's oldest athletic association, located in Montreal, Quebec. It was renamed as the ''Club Sportif MAA'' or just ''MAA'' (Montreal MAA) in 1999 after a brush with bankruptcy, but is still widely known ...

(MAAA), nicknamed the Winged Wheelers for their unique logo that would later be adopted by the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

. With the MAAA, Christmas played for two teams: the

and the

. He also played halfback for the Britannia Football Club. In 1899 the MAAA sponsored the Amateur Boxing Championships of Canada. Christmas entered the competition as a lightweight. On April 24 he defeated Ben Haynes in the semifinals. Then two nights later he defeated Ed Outlet for the title. During the 1899–1900 season of the

Canadian Amateur Hockey League The Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL) was an early men's amateur hockey league founded in 1898, replacing the organization that was formerly the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) before the 1898–99 season. The league existed for ...

(CAHL), Christmas was the top scorer for the Winged Wheelers and the league's third leading scorer posting 12 goals in 8 games. The only hockey players to outscore Christmas were two of his friends–Harry Trihey of the Montreal Shamrocks and Russell Bowie of the Montreal Victorias, both future Hockey Hall of Fame members.

Family life

In 1902 Christmas was expected to captain the Britannia Football Team. Instead, he met and fell in love with Ellen "Hattie" Harriet Turk. Though admiring Billy's athleticism, Hattie did not want him to get hurt. As a result, she convinced him to retire from contact sports. They would subsequently marry at Owen Sound, Ontario in 1905. Billy and Hattie Christmas had four children. Their elder daughter Doris died of a brain tumor at age fifteen. Hattie Christmas died at age 51 from breast cancer.

Later life and death

Using his business and medical connections, Christmas worked to develop a group hospitalization scheme, whereby the poor and middle class could receive health care. Before he could get the project off the ground, however, Christmas, age 62, died of a massive heart attack. Three days after his death, fellow MAAA member Percy Roberts said Christmas "was the greatest exponent of Canadian sport: rugby, hockey and lacrosse of his time." In 2015, Christmas was awarded the

Order of Sport The Order of Sport is a national level award established in 2019 by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. It is awarded alongside induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, and regarded as Canada's highest sporting honour. Overview Canada’s Sp ...

, marking his induction into the

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canada, it serves as a hall of fame and mu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christmas, Billy 1879 births 1941 deaths Canadian ice hockey players Canadian lacrosse players Players of Canadian football from Quebec Canadian male boxers Ice hockey people from Montreal Anglophone Quebec people Burials at Mount Royal Cemetery Lightweight boxers Montreal Hockey Club players