Dr. Walter Kowal was inducted to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame on Oct. 16, 2008.
He was born in Kossow, Ukraine on Dec. 16, 1925 snd emigrated to Montreal as a young boy and lived there for the next 63 years. Kowal excelled in sports at D'Arcy McGee high school and at McGill, where he was a four-time university wrestling champion and a four-time all-star at offensive guard, despite his 5-foot-7, 200-pound frame.
Kowal graduated with a BA in 1949 and a doctor of dental surgery degree in 1955 and later established a successful dental practice in Montreal. Also an associate professor at McGill's faculty of dentistry, he taught post-graduate dental clinics at the Montreal General and Royal Victoria hospitals.
Known to his teammates as "Wally", he played seven seasons for the football Redmen from 1946 to 1952, and twice won the team’s Touchdown Club trophy as most valuable lineman (1950 & 1952) and was known to play all 60 minutes in numerous games.
He was also an integral part of the wrestling team, serving as captain in 1946-47 and winning four intercollegiate wrestling titles in three different weight classes!
He also found time to serve as chair of the McGill Intramural Athletics Council, the Students’ Athletics Council and was a member of the Pre-Medical Society.
The culmination of the 1948-49 season, provided plenty of drama as Kowal was scheduled to defend his heavyweight wrestling championship at Queen's in Kingston, Ont.
Kowal, a pre-med student at the time, was scheduled to write a Graduate's Record Exam on Jan. 25 and 26. The only way he could write the exams and go for gold would be to commute to Kingston and back so he could write in the morning and wrestle at night, then fly back in the morning to write again and then drive back at night to wrestle in the finals.
Kowal was so well respected that the University agreed to accommodate his travel schedule. He captured his fourth wrestling title after writing his second exam, then driving to Kingston and entering the ring cold. He pinned opponent Harry Dick of Queen’s after only 2:53 of first round. It was a fitting climax to an unprecedented wrestling career, with titles in the 170-pound weight class in his freshman year, followed by the 190 lbs. category as a sophomore and heavyweight titles in both his junior and senior years.
Kowal further proved his mettle by travelling to Springfield, Mass., in 1947 and 1948 to defeat “Big” Jim Wentworth, the NCAA intercollegiate champion.
An avid skier, traveler, photographer, furniture restorer, and frustrated computer whiz, Kowal was an active member of Canadian Dental Association and of the International College of Dentists. A past-president of Montreal Central Lions Club, he was a founding member and served as president of the Montreal branch of the Ukrainian Medical Association and of the Montreal Ukrainian Canadian Professional Business Association.
After retirement, he and wife Olga joined their family in Toronto, where he served on the executive of the Toronto Ukrainian Canadian Professional Business Association and Liberal Party of Canada. Kowal died while sleeping at home in Toronto on Aug. 9, 2007. He was 82.
