Silver Quilty

Sylvester Patrick "Silver" Quilty (February 8, 1891 – December 2, 1976) was a Canadian football player, referee, coach and sport administrator.

As a player, he won the Yates Cup in 1907 with the Ottawa Gee-Gees football team, and was credited as the first man to play the flying wing position.

He sought to implement uniform playing rules across Canada, and helped bridge disagreements between the provincial hockey associations.

[7] In the 1907 season, Quilty played the outside wing position on the team which won the intercollegiate football championship, and the 1907 Yates Cup title.

[11] Quilty played the 1913 season with the Ottawa Rough Riders under his old coach Father Stanton, but his team failed to reach the playoffs.

The second touchdown included 109 yards gained in seven consecutive plays from his own one-yard line, but McGill lost the game to the Toronto Varsity Blues football team on a last-minute fumble in its end zone.

The CAHA also continued the practice of using profits from the Allan Cup playoffs to cover expenses of the Canada 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.

[25] Quilty was unanimously reelected president of the CAHA on March 25, 1925, at the annual general meeting held in the Fort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg.

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.

[26] The decision was consistent with a ruling earlier that month when Quilty approved exhibition games for Canadian teams against American high schools.

[26] The CAHA discussed uniformity of playing rules in co-operation with National Hockey League president Frank Calder.

[29] Proposed rule changes discussed included elimination of the offside rule at centre ice, substitution of players while game is in progress, allow kicking of the hockey puck, reduce the size of ice hockey goaltending equipment, and to allow only two defenders behind the blue 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 the Ottawa 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.

[39] Quilty's son Johnny played in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens, and the Boston Bruins.

[40] Johnny Quilty won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's rookie of the year in the 1940–41 NHL season.

[7] Quilty attended the opening of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame building in Hamilton, Ontario, on September 14, 1973, at a mass induction ceremony for all of the previous 38 inductees.

Quilty with the 1912 Ottawa Gee-Gees football team (top row, third from left)
Silver bowl trophy with two large handles, mounted on a black plinth
The Allan Cup was the championship trophy for amateur senior ice hockey in Canada.
Black and white photo of a middle-aged man wearing a dark-coloured suitcoat and a white high-collar dress shirt
Quilty in 1924
Quilty's grave marker at Notre-Dame Cemetery in Ottawa