Silver Quilty | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Sylvester Patrick Quilty (1891-02-08)February 8, 1891 Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | December 2, 1976(1976-12-02) (aged 85) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Resting place | Notre-Dame Cemetery, Ottawa |
| Occupation(s) | Insurance executive, civil servant |
| Known for | Canadian Amateur Hockey Association andOttawa District Hockey Association president |
| Children | Johnny Quilty (son) |
| Awards | Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame |
| Football career | |
| Profile | |
| Position | Flying wing |
| Career information | |
| College | University of Ottawa McGill University |
| Career history | |
| 1913 | Ottawa Rough Riders |
| Awards and highlights | |
1907Yates Cup champion | |
Canadian Football Hall of Fame (Class of 1966) | |
Sylvester Patrick "Silver"Quilty (February 8, 1891 – December 2, 1976) was a Canadianfootball player, referee, coach and sport administrator. As a player, he won theYates Cup in 1907 with theOttawa Gee-Gees football team, and was credited as the first man to play theflying wing position. He also played with theOttawa Rough Riders, and theMcGill Redmen football team. After his playing career, he became a football referee and officiated the10th Grey Cup, and also coached the Ottawa Rough Riders.
Quilty was later involved in buildingice hockey in theOttawa area, then served as president of theCanadian Amateur Hockey Association from 1924 to 1926. He sought to implement uniform playing rules across Canada, and helped bridge disagreements between the provincial hockey associations. He was the father ofNational Hockey League playerJohnny Quilty, was inducted into theCanadian Football Hall of Fame in 1966, and intoCanada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1975.
Quilty was born February 8, 1891, nearRenfrew, Ontario.[1][2][3] He detested his birth name Sylvester, and preferred to be known as Silver.[4] He began playing football while attending theRenfrew Collegiate Institute.[1][4][5]
At age 16, Quilty enrolled at theUniversity of Ottawa,[2][3] and joined theOttawa Gee-Gees football team coached by Father William Stanton.[6] Quilty went on to play with the Gee-Gees football team from 1907 to 1912.[7] In the1907 season, Quilty played the outside wing position on the team which won theintercollegiate football championship, and the 1907Yates Cup title. In the1908 season, Quilty became the first man to play in theflying wing position, when it was created by Father Stanton that season. Quilty was also the team's kicker and main ball carrier for the 1908 and1909 seasons.[1][5][7]
Quilty served as the captain of the Ottawa team for the1911 season.[1][8] He graduated from University of Ottawa in 1912 with aBachelor of Arts degree.[9] On September 12, 1912, it was announced that Quilty would study to become apriest at theMontreal Seminary.[8] On September 23, 1912, Quilty returned to play in Ottawa for the1912 season, instead of studying at the seminary.[10] Later that month,Queen's University denied a statement that it had offered Quilty free tuition to play for theQueen's Gaels football team.[11]
Quilty played the1913 season with theOttawa Rough Riders under his old coach Father Stanton, but his team failed to reach the playoffs.[2][5][6] He joined theMcGill Redmen football team for the1914 season, who were the defending intercollegiate champions.[12] Quilty also enrolled atMcGill University to study medicine.[3] In the 1914 Yates Cup championship game, Quilty scored two touchdowns. The second touchdown included 109 yards gained in seven consecutive plays from his own one-yard line, but McGill lost the game to theToronto Varsity Blues football team on a last-minute fumble in its end zone.[4][5]
In 1912, theWinnipeg Free Press called Quilty "one of the greatest line plungers in the game".[8] In 1930,The Globe and Mail said that. "in his playing days beforethe war, Quilty was theLionel Conacher of his time".[1] In a 1966 interview withThe Canadian Press, Quilty recalled his playing days by saying, "we often used to make up our plays on the spur moment, right on the field during a game. The coach directed the team in practice and set up some basic plays but he didn't have much to do once a game started". Quilty also felt that modern football was more of a coaches' game, and said "but one thing hasn't changed with the years, to play football well you've got to have your heart in it".[4]
Quilty worked as aCanadian football referee for five seasons after his playing days.[3] He officiated football for two seasons with theCanadian Interuniversity Athletic Union (CIAU), and then three seasons with theInterprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU).[1] He is credited with officiating one or twoGrey Cup games depending on the source. TheCanadian Press states that he was the referee in control of the10th Grey Cup played in 1922,[3] whereas an interview with Bob McKenzie specifically mentions that he refereed two Grey Cup games in the 1920s.[4] Canada's Sports Hall of Fame credits him with occasional refereeing "well into the 1920s", and being requested by various teams.[1]
Quilty also served on the rules committee for the CIAU and the IRFU.[3] He later served as the president of a local Ottawa football organization.[13]
Quilty coached theOttawa St. Brigid's team in theOntario Rugby Football Union from 1917 to 1919, then coached theOttawa Rough Riders in the IRFU during the 1920 and 1923 seasons.[1] Quilty chose to remain in a coaching role only, despite requests to be a player-coach.[1]
| Regular season statistics as a head coach[14] | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Division | Games | Won | Lost | Tied | Points for | Points against | Standing | Playoffs |
| 1920 | Ottawa Rough Riders | IRFU | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 49 | 52 | 3rd | n/a |
| 1923 | Ottawa Rough Riders | IRFU | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 54 | 60 | 4th | n/a |
| Totals | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 103 | 112 | ||||
Quilty was the founding president of theOttawa District Hockey Association (ODHA) in 1920, which soon affiliated with the national governing body, theCanadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA).[1][9] He raised the profile of hockey in Eastern Ontario, and was a voice in favour of amateur hockey.[13] He was subsequently elected vice-president of the CAHA, serving in that role from 1922 to 1924.[15][16]
Quilty succeededToby Sexsmith as president of the CAHA at the annual meeting in Toronto, on March 29, 1924.[17][18] Quilty was immediately faced with branches of the CAHA resigning due to disagreements on rules of play, and set up a committee to look into uniform rules of play across Canada, in cooperation with the three existing professional leagues.[17] The CAHA also examined whether to alter its practice of rotating hosting duties for theAllan Cup andMemorial Cup series between Eastern and Western Canada, depending on where the final series of theStanley Cup was held in any given year.[17][18] Other changes discussed included setting a deadline for provincial championships to be completed as part of inter-provincial playoffs; the adoption of the Ontario Hockey Association's protest policy as its own, and limiting the size of blades on hockey skates to be 14 inches. The CAHA also continued the practice of using profits from the Allan Cup playoffs to cover expenses of theCanada men's national ice hockey team.[18]
In January 1925, Quilty appointed a special committee to review the amateur playing rules in the continued interest of uniformity and safety.[19] In February 1925, he confirmed that the1925 Allan Cup remained scheduled for Winnipeg, despite the1925 Stanley Cup Finals being played in Western Canada.[20][21] Quilty also confirmed that districts were voting on whether to make the Allan Cup final a best two-out-of-three series, or remain two-game total-goals series.[22] Quilty announced Allan Cup and Abbott Cup schedules as a two-game series for 1925,[23] but later switched the Allan Cup playoffs to a best-of-three series due to public demand.[24] In March 1925, Quilty ordered an intermediate one-game playoff betweenFort Frances and the Manitoba champion, but the Manitoba Association refused to play citing that no provision existed for inter-provincial intermediate playoffs.[25]
Quilty was unanimously reelected president of the CAHA on March 25, 1925, at the annual general meeting held in theFort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg.[26] Also at the meeting, the CAHA agreed to award individual medals to team members of Allan Cup andMemorial Cup champions. The Allan Cup, and theJ. Ross Robertson Cup series were changed to be a best-of-three series. The CAHA established theT. B. Patton Cup as the championship for Western Canada senior teams. Quilty and the CAHA were lauded at a banquet for progress made in working out the differences between east and west in Canadian amateur hockey.[27]
The general meeting also saw the CAHA cancel its alliance with theUnited States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA) due to persistent disagreements, but Quilty still allowed CAHA teams to play against American colleges not affiliated with the USAHA.[26] The decision was consistent with a ruling earlier that month when Quilty approved exhibition games for Canadian teams against American high schools.[28] The CAHA also updated residency rules, where a player must be a resident of the place he wishes to play in by May 15, and that player registrations must be filed with CAHA within 15 days of registration with the branch.[26] The CAHA discussed uniformity of playing rules in co-operation withNational Hockey League presidentFrank Calder.[29] Proposed rule changes discussed included elimination of theoffside rule at centre ice,substitution of players while game is in progress, allow kicking of thehockey puck, reduce the size ofice hockey goaltending equipment, and to allow only two defenders behind theblue line.[30]
On March 18, 1926, Quilty declared a forfeit in the early rounds of the eastern Allan Cup playoffs in favour of the Ottawa Gunners from theOttawa City Hockey League, when St. Francis Xavier of Montreal refused to play a sudden death game necessitated by time constraints caused due to delays in the previous round.[31] Quilty was succeeded as the CAHA president on March 27, 1926, byFrank Sandercock from Calgary.[32]
Quilty was the honorary president of the CAHA from 1926 to 1928.[15][16] In that role, he was responsible to arrange the 1928 annual general meeting of the CAHA.[33] He was also made an Allan Cup trustee after his term as CAHA president expired.[34] In 1930, Quilty served on the executive of theAmateur Athletic Union of Canada, and was the chairman of its committee for affiliations and alliances for all amateur sports in Canada.[1] In 1933, he received a medal from the CAHA as a past president.[35]
In his professional career, Quilty was aninsurance company executive and acivil servant in Ottawa.[9] He married Catherine Boyle in Ottawa, circa World War I.[36] The couple had five children together, including three boys and two girls.[9][37]
Quilty's mother Mary died May 14, 1935, at age 92, inMount St. Patrick, Ontario.[38] His brother J.J. died in October 1944; he had been dean of the Catholic Diocese ofPembroke, Ontario, and for 39 years was the parish priest of St. Michael's inDouglas, Ontario.[39]
Quilty's sonJohnny played in theNational Hockey League for theMontreal Canadiens, and theBoston Bruins.[40] Johnny Quilty won theCalder Memorial Trophy as the league's rookie of the year in the1940–41 NHL season.[41] Johnny Quilty grew up watching the originalOttawa Senators play at home, was the light-heavyweightboxing champion of theOttawa Valley in 1939,[42] and served in the military duringWorld War II.[1][4] Johnny Quilty died on September 12, 1969, at age 48.[40]
Quilty died on December 2, 1976, inOttawa.[9][37] He was interred atNotre-Dame Cemetery in Ottawa, with his wife's family in section 20, lot 5043.[43]
In 1966, Quilty was inducted into both theOttawa Sport Hall of Fame,[2] and theCanadian Football Hall of Fame.[3][5] In 1973, he was inducted in the inaugural class of the Ottawa Gee-Gees Football Hall of Fame.[7] Quilty attended the opening of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame building inHamilton, Ontario, on September 14, 1973, at a mass induction ceremony for all of the previous 38 inductees.[44] In 1975, he was inducted intoCanada's Sports Hall of Fame,[1] and attended a mass induction ceremony on August 23, 1975, for previous inductees of theHockey Hall of Fame and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.[45]