His father christened him Miles Gilbert after his two grandfathers, but he came to be known exclusively as Tim, the name his mother had wanted to give him.

[citation needed] Two years later, he turned pro with the Toronto Maple Leafs' farm team, the Pittsburgh Hornets of the American Hockey League.

While playing, Horton was generally acknowledged as the strongest man in the game; injuries and age were little more than minor inconveniences.

Chicago Black Hawks left wing Bobby Hull declared, "There were defencemen you had to fear because they were vicious and would slam you into the boards from behind, for one, Eddie Shore.

[8] With a broken ankle and a shoulder separation,[9] Horton only played 44 games for the Penguins and managed just 11 points.

[19] Horton's previous business ventures included both a hamburger restaurant and Studebaker auto dealership in Toronto.

Today, Tim Hortons is a flagship of Restaurant Brands International, a conglomerate that includes Burger King, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Firehouse Subs.

[21][22] Horton died after losing control of his De Tomaso Pantera sports car on the Queen Elizabeth Way in St. Catharines, Ontario, in the early morning of February 21, 1974.

[1][23] He had played a game in Toronto the previous evening against his former team, the Maple Leafs, and was driving alone back to Buffalo, 160 km (99 mi) south.

[2][24] Horton's Pantera had been given to him by Sabres' general manager Imlach as an enticement to return to the team for one more season.

[25][5] While there, Horton phoned his brother Gerry, who recognized that Tim had been drinking and tried to persuade him not to continue driving.

[5] After 4:00 a.m. EST (9:00 UTC), a woman reported to the Ontario Provincial Police in Burlington that she had observed a car travelling at high speed on the Queen Elizabeth Way.

Thirty minutes later, Officer Mike Gula observed a speeding vehicle travelling Niagara-bound on the Queen Elizabeth Way in Vineland.

[5][26] Horton passed a curve in the road at Ontario Street and was approaching the Lake Street exit in St. Catharines when he lost control and drove into the centre grass median, where his tire caught a recessed sewer which caused the car to flip several times before it came to a stop on its roof in the Toronto-bound lanes.

The autopsy report found no painkillers in Horton's body, and also concluded that his car had been in good working order.