Gord Aitchison was a forward on the varsity basketball team at Assumption University (then Assumption College) in Windsor, Ontario in the 1930s. He graduated in 1934 and soon joined the amateur Windsor V-8s. In 1936 he helped his teammates defeat his alma mater for the opportunity to represent his home province of Ontario at that year’s Canadian Championships. There they overcome the Victoria Dominoes and were selected to represent their nation at the 1936 Summer Olympics, where an official basketball tournament was being held for the first time. At the Games they defeated Brazil, Latvia, and Switzerland in the first three rounds, followed by Uruguay in the quarterfinals and Poland in semis. In the final match against the United States, however, the Canadians lost 19-8 and settled for a silver medal. Aitchison scored 26 points and played in all six games. He remained in Windsor for the rest of his life and took up a career in education, eventually becoming the principal of the William Hands Vocational School (now known as Century Secondary School) and retiring in the 1970s. He also worked at the Windsor Star newspaper from 1948 through 1956.
Canada