Sports résumé: Percy Molson, 1880-1917

 

Records, awards, and distinctions (most sources in parentheses are clickable):

  • At 16, in 1896 or 1897, Percy was the youngest-ever player on a Stanley Cup championship team, playing briefly for the Montreal Victorias. (McGill University Alumni Online Community [AOC] and The Molsons, Karen Molson’s history of the Molson family in Canada.)
  • In the spring of 1899, at the Championship of Canada, he won gold medals in the 100-yard dash and the 880-yard race. (Molson)
  • In 1900, he set a world record in the running long jump at the American Athletics Meet. (AOC and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame [CSHF])
  • At McGill University, he was named the school’s best all-round athlete three years in a row, “a feat unmatched in McGill sports history.” (AOC) He also captained the McGill hockey team in 1902-3. (same source)
  • After graduation, he became the youngest-ever member of McGill’s Board of Governors, in due course chairing the finance and stadium committees.
  • Track and field records from 1903 show that he ran the 880-metre event in 2:01.0 at a meet in Montreal. (sports-reference.com)
  • In 1903, he “travelled to Milwaukee for the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States Champion­ships, where he took first place in the running broad jump [the long jump], defeating the holder of the world record. There he also won the gold medal in the 100-yard dash and the bronze in the 880-yard dash.” (Molson) Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame says that in 1903, in addition to being the long jump winner at the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championship, he won the 400-metre race at the Canadian Championship, beating the great American runner Harry Hillman. (CSHF)
  • In August 1904, he competed in the 400-metre event at the Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri.
  • Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame says that in 1906 he was a member of the Quebec Rugby Football Union championship team. (CSHF)
  • “He was inducted posthumously to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1963.” (CFHOF). Ac­cording to the CFHOF, he was a charter member known as “a sure-handed, brilliant running back and ex­cep­tional kicker.” He played for the Montreal Football Club from 1902 to 1906, and captained the team in 1903 and 1904. After his playing days, he promoted amateur football and was named “one of the original trustees of the Grey Cup, the Dominion’s new amateur football championship trophy.” (CSHF)
  • He was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1975. (CSHF)
  • In 1996, he was an inaugural inductee to the McGill University Sports Hall of Fame. (MUSHF)

Other sports-related activities:

Various sources state that Percy excelled at racquet sports, golf, cricket, billiards, fishing, sailing, and swimming. He was captain of the Royal Montreal Golf Club, president of the Canadian Rugby Union, director and auditor of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association (MAAA), director of the Montreal Racquet Club, president of the Park Tobogganing Club, member of the Montreal Hunt Club, and member of the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club. (Molson)

There is no record of his being penalized for misconduct in any sport or game.

© John Burge, 2013