John Hugh Gillis

Who was John Hugh Gillis?

John Hugh Gillis was the first person to walk across Canada, and became Canadian all-round champion of track and field, now called the decathlon. On a bet and a dare, on 31 January 1906 at the age of 22 he set out from North Sydney, Nova Scotia, with two others to walk to San Francisco and back within a year. They hiked on the railroad track, crossed central Maine in cold and blizzard and reached Montreal. There they disagreed. Gillis, suffering from sore feet, went on alone towards Vancouver. Charles Jackman, retired from the Toronto lacrosse team, decided at Montreal to follow him. Jackman caught up with him near Ignace, Ontario. The two tall athletes, both 6 feet 4½ inches, walked 1800 miles together with many adventures and strode into Vancouver station to a waiting crowd at midnight 24 September 1906.

A physical director of the Vancouver police, Gillis was famous as the "Western Giant". At Winnipeg 1909 he became Canadian all-round champion. He set a shotput record that stood for 34 years. He was just 42 points short in 7,000 of winning the North American all-round.