Gordon ROBERTSON

Aside from his Olympic appearance, hockey forward Gordie Robertson spent his entire senior career on the ice with British Columbia’s Trail Smoke Eaters of the Western International Hockey League. He was an original member of the team, having joined them upon their 1946 founding, but he was absent for the following two seasons. He was heavily involved in athletic activity as a youngster; in addition to playing on a championship winning bantam ice hockey team, he also excelled in swimming, lacrosse, baseball and softball.

Prior to his senior career he had played for the juvenile Nanaimo Clippers hockey team in 1945. After his absence he rejoined the Trail Smoke Eaters for one playoff game in 1950, but then left again and resurfaced as a member of Canada’s delegation to the 1952 Winter Olympic ice hockey competition. At the tournament he played in played in eight games, scored four goals, and took home an Olympic gold medal, one of the last that Canada would see in the sport for another fifty years. He had another sojourn with the Trail Smoke Eaters beginning in 1953, playing in 21 games over two seasons before leaving yet again. He had a final return from 1957-1960, his most active period, and played during the Allan Cup finals in 1960 that decided that year’s senior-level amateur men’s ice hockey champions. The Trail Smoke Eaters lost and Robertson retired from the sport for good.

As a member of his Olympic team, he was inducted into the Alberta Sport Hall of Fame Museum in 1968 and his name is inscribed on the Trail Historical Society’s Home of Champions Monument, along with teammate Louis Secco’s. Unlike Secco, however, he supported Vancouver’s winning bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics.