Gordon Allan "Phat" Wilson (December 29, 1895 – July 26, 1970) was a Canadian 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 ...

forward who won the

Allan Cup The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the senior ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. It was most recently won by the Wentworth Gryphins ...

three times as a member of the

Port Arthur Bearcats The Port Arthur Bearcats (Bear Cats) were a senior amateur ice hockey team based in Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada – now part of the city of Thunder Bay – from the early 1900s until 1970. Before settling on the nickname of Bear ...

. Regarded as one of the top amateur players of his time, Wilson was inducted into the

Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and National Hockey Le ...

in 1963.

Hockey career

A native of

Port Arthur, Ontario Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario, Canada, located on Lake Superior. In January 1970, it was amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay. Port Arthur became the district seat ...

, Wilson did not even know how to skate when he joined the town's church league in 1914. Serving as a substitute, he improved his skating enough that he earned a full-time role on his team the following year and played two seasons of junior hockey before joining the Port Arthur War Veterans senior team at the age of 18. Wilson moved to

Iroquois Falls, Ontario Iroquois Falls is a town in Northern Ontario, Canada, with a population of 4,418 at the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census. The town centre lies 11 km east of Ontario Highway 11, Hwy 11 on the banks of the Abitibi River, west of Lake Abitibi. ...

for a season to play in the

Northern Ontario Hockey Association The Northern Ontario Hockey Association (NOHA) is an ice hockey governing body for minor, junior and senior ice hockey. The NOHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation and Hockey Canada. The major league run by the NOHA is the Northe ...

(NOHA) in 1921–22 before returning to Port Arthur a year later to play for the

. He was a top player in the NOHA, leading Port Arthur to an

championship in 1925 as Canada's national senior champions. Wilson and the Bearcats repeated as champions the following year and won a third Allan Cup in 1929. Professional teams took note of his play; teams from Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto all offered him but he declined, preferring to remain in his hometown. He was an outstanding offensive defenceman who won several scoring titles during his career. He retired as a player in 1932 at the age of 37 and took on the dual role of coach and manager of the Bearcats. In recognition of his career in Port Arthur, Wilson was inducted into the

in 1963 and the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in its inaugural class of 1982.

Off the ice

In addition to hockey, Wilson played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

and served as a volunteer and executive in both sports. He was named the first president of Port Arthur's little league when it was founded in 1952 and helped found the community's girls hockey league, serving also as a coach and referee. His son Gord would also play hockey, appearing in two playoff games with the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

during the 1954–55 season.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Phat 1895 births 1970 deaths Canadian ice hockey forwards Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ice hockey people from Thunder Bay 20th-century Canadian sportsmen