John Hugh Gillis (January 2, 1884 – July 4, 1913) was the first person to walk across Canada,[1] and became Canadian all-round champion of track and field, now called the decathlon.
[citation needed] On a bet and a dare, on January 31, 1906 at the age of 22 he set out from North Sydney, Nova Scotia, with two others to walk to San Francisco and back within a year.
They hiked on the railroad track, crossed central Maine in cold and blizzard and reached Montreal, Quebec.
The two tall athletes, both 6 feet 4½ inches, walked 1,800 miles (2,700 km) together with many adventures and strode into Vancouver station to a waiting crowd at midnight September 24, 1906.
That diary, the pictures that survived, and the newspaper stories about the walk led to a book, Transcontinental Pedestrians, published in October 2006 by Fitzhenry & Whiteside, of Toronto.
Jack Gillis decided to stay in Vancouver because there was great interest in track and field sports.
[3] From The Winnipeg Tribune July 19, 1909:[4] As was expected the Toronto team made a big cleanup but they were, nevertheless, given a great surprise by the two Vancouver policemen who toyed with the weights and jumps in a manner that had the Olympic stars beaten.
They will make great men for the next Olympic team, and they are practically sure of places in the big events.In Toronto, the Globe of July 28, 1909, page 9, featured a photograph of John H. Gillis, the "giant Vancouver policeman, who won the all-round championship of Canada at the C.A.A.U.
He was graceful in every move despite his great height and in view of his gilt edged work at yesterday's meet it is no wonder that he landed the Canadian championship in Winnipeg.
He was seen at his best in the heavyweight acts.Five thousand spectators crowded the Scarborough Beach Athletic Grounds to watch the twenty-seventh meet held by the Toronto Police on Saturday, July 31, 1909.
[6] At Brockton Point July 28, 1910 Jack Gillis won the all-round contest and Duncan came first in the 56-pound throw, the discus and the 16-pound hammer.
[7] The North American all-round championship for 1910 was fought out at Marshall Field in Chicago on August 13 in a seesaw battle between F.C Thomson of Los Angeles, the favourite, and J.H.
Gradually he grew worse: coughing, low fever, cold sweat at night, poor appetite, wasted appearance.
The Sydney Daily Post of the same date, page 5, remarked, "He was looked on as the most likely aspirant for the honors so long held by Martin Sheridan, but the disease which ultimately brought about his death fastened upon him and cut short his athletic career."
The deceased young man was Vancouver's most successful point winner at all championship meetings until 1911, when he retired....During his athletic career he won numerous trophies and was one of the most popular athletes in the country.The Inland Sentinel of Kamloops July 5, 1913 had a long item about him on its front page: Thousands of friends and admirers throughout the wide world will hear with regret of the death of John H. Gillis, prince of Canadian athletes, which occurred at his Cape Breton home this morning.Gillis.