Ray Smillie was a multi-sport athlete in his youth, competing in football, golf, gymnastics, rowing, swimming, and tennis. His last, and most successful, endeavor was boxing, in which he gained national attention by winning the Canadian Welterweight Championship in 1925. He was provincial champion in 1927 and 1928 and won his nation’s trials for the 1928 Summer Olympics in this division. At the Games he defeated Hans Fraberger of Austria, Patrick Lenehan of Ireland, and Kintaro Usuda of Japan in the first three rounds, before being bested by eventual silver medalist Raúl Landini of Argentina. In the bronze medal match, Smillie overcame France’s Robert Galataud to take home Canada’s most recent (as of 2012) Olympic welterweight boxing medal. He retired from active competition shortly after the Games and took up refereeing in the 1930s. He was also a member of the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada’s council as a boxing and wrestling representative from Central Ontario. During World War II he served with the Royal Canadian Navy, eventually reaching the rank of Lieutenant, and later had a career with Bell Telephone in their public relations department. He was inducted into the Sault Ste. Marie Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
Canada