MONTREAL – McGill Athletics & Recreation is saddened to learn of the passing of Dawson Tilley, a football and hockey graduate who also played for the Montreal Alouettes. One of the oldest surviving members of the McGill football program, he died on Nov. 27, two weeks shy of his 90th birthday.

Born Dawson Herbert Tilley in Montreal on Dec. 13, 1930, Tilley was a longtime classmate of William Shatner, initially at West Hill high school in Montreal and then again at McGill University.

Tilley helped lead West Hill to the city league football championship in 1947, then played college football and hockey at McGill from 1948 to 1951, before graduating with a commerce degree in 1952. He was awarded the Vic Obeck Trophy in 1950 as the team's most improved player.

A six-foot, 190-pound running back, Tilley was drafted in the second round, fifth overall, by the Montreal Alouettes in 1952. He played one season in the Canadian Football League and scored one touchdown in nine games. After his request for a $50 raise to return was turned down by then general manager Lew Hayman, he opted to retire from football and begin a long and distinguished career as an accountant, which started with the firm of Riddell Stead in Montreal.

In 1970 he moved to Calgary where he spent five years before moving back to Montreal in 1975 where he was senior regional partner in charge of Quebec from which he retired in the late 1980s. Ultimately, he was recognized for his dedicated service to the profession with the honorary title of Federation of Chartered Accountants (FCA). After retirement from the firm he worked with First Air and Air Inuit and Makivik as a senior executive and board member.

Tilley continued to play an active role with his alma mater and served as treasurer and trustee of the Martlet Foundation, which supports athletics at McGill. He was on the executive of the Friends of McGill support groups in both football and hockey. He also sat on the McGill Sports Hall of Fame selection committee for more than two decades.

An outdoorsman, he had a passion for fishing and hunting, which took him across Canada, including Great Slave Lake, N.W.T., Baffin Island and many other locations in Nunavut. He was a collector of antique duck decoys and in later years took up the hobby of decoy carving and painting. He was an avid golfer who was a long-standing member of Beaconsfield Golf Club and Royal Montreal Golf Club.

His grad profile in the 1952 Old McGill yearbook includes the insightful phrase "Let each man pass his days wherein his skill is greatest." a centuries-old quote penned by Roman poet Sextus Propertius.

He was married to the late Marie Joyce Kent for 59 years. Predeceased by one son (Stephen), he is survived by two other sons (James and Michael), his brother (John) and four grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at a later date. More details will be posted here when they become available. The family has indicated that donations may be made in his memory to the Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation or the Teresa Dellar Palliative Care Residence.

Messages of condolences can be left here.
 
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Info Office
McGill Athletics & Recreation
(514) 398-7012