MONTREAL – McGill Athletics is saddened to learn that Peter Bender, a member of the 1969 Yates Cup championship football team that was inducted last year to the University's Sports Hall of Fame, has passed away. He was 77.
 
He died in a Montreal-area hospital on Dec. 3, after complications following a stroke. Considered a pillar in Montreal's West Island community, he was raised in Pierrefonds, Que., and later lived in nearby Beaconsfield. Bender was a professor for 53 years at John Abbott College in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Que., from its founding date in 1971 until retiring last June as professor emeritus. He also taught sports psychology at McGill and served as a visiting lecturer at the University of Hawaii and Newcastle University in England.
 
"Pete was a well-known player as a result of his exploits with the North Shore Football organization," recalled teammate Gordon Cleland. "When I joined him at McGill, I understood why he was a special player.  Pete was a game-breaker and he could single-handedly change the course of a game.  What a weapon he was for us.  Yet he never lorded his talent over us, he led by example."

Born Jan. 17, 1947, in Worcester, England, Bender emigrated to Canada at the age of four and was educated at Malcolm Campbell High School (1964) in Montreal. He graduated from McGill with an undergraduate degree in education (1969), followed by a master's degree (1972) and then a doctorate in psychology from Florida State University.
 
A sports psychologist for numerous national teams, including Water Polo Canada, he was part of the Canadian Olympic mission staff to the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles and the 2008 Games in Beijing. From 1979 to 1991, Bender was the head coach of the John Abbott Islanders varsity men's hockey team. He  coached professional hockey in Italy and England, serving as bench boss of the Whitley Warriors from 1993 to 1997 and later held a long stint as an assistant hockey coach with the Concordia Stingers from 2002 to 2015.
 
During his football playing days at McGill, he was a 5-foot-11, 165-pound receiver and return specialist that scored 14 career touchdowns in 27 regular season games. The  fleet-footed, sure-handed flanker had 57 receptions for 1,183 yards and nine TDs in the air, along with 19 carries for 141 yards and one TD on the ground. On special teams, he amassed 86 punt returns for 840 yards and one TD, in addition to five kickoff returns for 123 yards.

"Peter was my punt return and practice buddy," said Dr. Chris Rumball, a former captain and football team MVP at McGill. "Intensely competitive on the field and loads of fun to play with, he was a great receiver, athlete, coach and teacher. Doesn't seem possible or reasonable that he's gone."

Bender won the team's Fred Dupré Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year in 1967 and was a key player on the 1969 squad known as the "Mooney Men", a reference to head coach Tom Mooney. That group defeated Toronto 17-0 to win the 1969 Yates Cup as champions of the Ontario-Quebec Athletic Association, followed by a 20-8 national semifinal victory over UNB in the Atlantic Bowl at Halifax and they made the school's first-ever appearance in the Vanier Cup game for national honours, a 24-15 loss against Manitoba in Toronto on national television.

One of Bender's more memorable plays was at the 1969 Atlantic Bowl. On a foggy afternoon, he hauled in a 48-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Dan Smith early in the fourth quarter that put McGill ahead 14-8 en route to victory over UNB. That result punched McGill's ticket to the Vanier Cup the following week.

Earlier that season, in a 17-16 loss at Toronto, he rushed for a spectacular 102-yard TD on a reverse play in the backfield that was initiated from the McGill eight-yard line.
 
Sadly, he is the seventh player from the 1969 team to pass away, preceded by Angus Curry (2014), Stephen Neville (2017), Dr. Ken Aikin (2018), Bill Holt (2021), David Norcott (2023) and Dan Dulmage (2024).
 
Bender was was predeceased by his parents (Roy Bender and Mabel Heath), his identical twin brother Richard Bender. He is survived by his life partner Cathie Onnasch, brother Eric (Patricia), sister-in-law Nancy, niece Jennifer (Patrice), nephews Chris (Andrea), Ryan (Christine), Daniel (Megan) and Alex, in addition to 10 grandnieces and grandnephews as well as cousins in the UK and the USA.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested to consider making a contribution in Peter Bender's memory to the John Abbott College Foundation or the Jewish General Hospital Foundation. Visitation is scheduled for the Salon funéraire Rideau Funeral Home, located at 4275, boul. des Sources, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que., on Dec. 18 (6:30 to 8:30 p.m.) and Dec. 19 (12 noon to 2:30 p.m.). That will be followed by a celebration of life service on Dec. 19 (2:30 to 3:30 p.m.), which will be streamed live. 
 
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
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WEBSITE: www.mcgillathletics.ca
E-MAIL: earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca