By Tia Goldenberg
Not everyone has the skill, determination and drive to excel at seven sports. Gordon Perry, however, did.
Until he died at 100 on Sept. 19, Perry was a sportsman of all trades: Championship Grey Cup games, amateur boxing in Quebec City, a term as president of the Ottawa Curling Club and so much more.
He was a respected athlete in football, baseball, hockey, boxing, track, swimming, and curling.
When Perry moved to Centretown in 1941, he began curling, where he met former secretary treasurer of the Ottawa Curling Club, Bob Martin.
“Gordon was a pillar of the curling community. He was very well known,” Martin said.
Perry mastered the sport, although he was sometimes laughed at for his short slides. He won the Royal Jubilee Trophy both in 1953 and 1956.
“He was deadly on draws,” says Martin. “He could put a rock wherever he wanted it.”
Martin recalled a game the two played at the club where Perry’s two final stones landed on the centre, amazing the crowd.
Claude Bennett, now the chairman of the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame, curled with Perry. He remembers Perry’s competitive — but always friendly manner — on the ice.
“He would challenge us to games, but always put some money down because he knew he would win.”
Bennett’s team once won a snake’s river — or a score of eight-to-zero — while competing against Perry’s. After enduring gloating from the winning team, Perry took the victors out for drinks.
Before Perry settled in Centretown, he had sporting stints in his hometown of Moncton, N.B. and Quebec.
On his westbound journey to Ottawa, he gained experience in the sports he loved to play.
Perry was a four-time Eastern all-star during his career in the old Canadian Rugby Union, the predecessor of today’s Canadian Football League, with the Montreal Winged Wheelers.
He easily dodged tacklers with agile strides down the field as a running back, earning him the nickname “Galloping Ghost.”
“You can run like hell when you’re scared,” said Gordon Perry Jr., describing his father’s reaction to the nickname.
Perry’s football skills with the Winged Wheelers earned him the Jeff Russel Trophy, which celebrated his successful intermingling of sportsmanship and athletic ability.
Perry Jr. knows how much his father deserved the trophy. He said Perry Sr. played on both the offensive and defensive sides of the Winged Wheelers. More importantly, Perry says he learned a valuable lesson from his father.
After Perry Sr. lost a curling game, he approached his son who looked upset in the viewing area.
“He told me that no matter how many games you win, you have to know how to lose too,” said Perry Jr. “That was his credo.”
Perry also played goaltender in the Montreal Forum with the Bankers’ Hockey League.
He loved every sport he played, and had trouble choosing one over another. He relinquished an opportunity to run the 100-yard dash in the Olympics, which he could run in under 10 seconds, because he was too busy playing other sports.
Perry Jr. said his father preferred baseball but declined a tryout invitation from the International Baseball League’s Syracuse Chiefs.
Perry has a spot in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, Quebec Hall of Fame, New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame and Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame.
Perry’s close friend and Ottawa Curling Club past president Elwyn Macdonald said his sporting skills “will be referred to in years to come.”
He said although the new generation of curlers may not remember him personally, today’s competitors will certainly remember his unique achievements.
“He would tell the athletes of today not to be prima donnas when they lose,” said Perry Jr.
Emile Tougas, 34, has been on staff at the Ottawa Curling Club for three years. He said Perry’s name is commonly mentioned at the club.
Although he never worked with Perry, Tougas has been inundated with tales of Perry’s career at the club. Tougas described the curling champion the same way his close friends did: a friendly and prominent member of the club.
“He played hard — and partied hard.”