As the newspaper's sports editor from 1932 to 1948, he primarily covered Canadian football and the Regina Roughriders, and ice hockey in Western Canada.

He also often reported on curling, golf, baseball and softball,[5] and travelled Canada extensively to give readers a first-hand account of sporting events.

[8] Regina Roughriders' coach Al Ritchie felt that Dryburgh had "a style all his own", that was he clear and graphic, and that he was fair and honest with athletes and did not sidestep issues.

[9] Notre Dame Hounds founder Athol Murray stated that, Dryburgh "lived the game he wrote", and that, "many a time his reader could catch the very atmosphere and feel of the fight".

He knew his audience and, deliberately, he would provoke inter-city controversies between his own bailiwick and the adjacent Manitoba capital of Winnipeg but, in such cases, he wrote with his tongue tucked firmly in his cheek.

[7][9][12] In 1943, he was named a trustee of the Edmonton Journal Trophy, awarded by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association to the intermediate-level champion of Western Canada.

[1][2][12] His funeral three days later was attended by hundreds of mourners from across Western Canada, including fellow sports editors, newspapermen and sportspersons.

[10] Edmonton Journal sports editor George Mackintosh wrote that, "Dryburgh was held in high esteem particularly by the newspaper fraternity", and that he was "one of the keenest observers of the sportive scene in the dominion".

He worked far beyond the demands of his job in supporting athletic development in Regina and in doing so helped in no small way to build up sport in the entire west.

"[21]The Western Canada Senior Hockey League established the Dryburgh Memorial Trophy in July 1948, awarded to the top goaltender during the regular season.

[22] The Southern Saskatchewan Baseball League established the Dryburgh Memorial Trophy in October 1948, awarded to the top pitcher during the regular season.