|
|
Gordon 'Beef' McKay'Beef' McKay Although he was not born in Hamilton, Gordon McKay was as Hamilton as Stelco, Tim Hortons, and the Tiger-Cats. A large man, McKay acquired his name “Beef” for his size, and for the way he played hockey, according to former Toronto sports reporter Lou Marsh: “McKay played a heavy game all the way through, but he was a long way from being mean,” wrote Marsh. “He played like an honest crap-shooter – he rolled ‘em far and he rolled ‘em wide.” McKay played with the Ontario Hockey Association’s Aura Lee Juniors in Toronto early in his career in the early 1920s. He also played lacrosse, and skated in the United States Hockey League before it went professional, playing with the likes of Roy Worters and Lionel Conacher.
By the mid-1920s he was playing with the Hamilton Tigers lacrosse team, but continued to play hockey on a semi-pro level. In the early 1930s McKay was playing for the Tattered Tigers, contributing greatly to the team that took out the Montreal Royal to play against Winnipeg in the Allan Cup finals in 1931. Winnipeg won that series, and the right to represent Canada at the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid, NY. McKay was noted for his strong presence on the ice, which involved a full 60 minutes in those days with no stopping to patch up the gashes and minor injuries on the ice. While other senior OHA players went on to a professional hockey
career in the NHL, McKay elected to remain in Hamilton, settle
down, and start a career at the city’s Westinghouse plant. Less than two years later, in October of 1965, this hockey great
and proud contributor to the growth of hockey in Hamilton passed
away.
|
||
