Billie Dawe

Biography

At Oslo 1952, Billy Dawe was captain of the Canadian hockey team mostly made up of players from the Edmonton Mercurys team. In the round-robin tournament, Canada and the United States tied 3-3, but Canada did not lose a game and won the gold medal, as the Americans had lost to Sweden, 4-2. Dawe played in eight games and scored six goals. Heralded on the ice for his slick skating, Dawe was also a member of Mercurys that represented Canada at the 1950 World Championships where he won a gold medal.

Dawe retired after his Olympic success and shared his gold medal with high school students, especially when the Olympic Winter Games were on. He worked at the Edmonton Waterloo Mercury car dealership for several decades (sponsor of the hockey team), becoming parts manager and a partner in the firm, along with four other Mercurys teammate. Staying involved in sports, Dawe served as president of the Canadian Athletic Club, coached Little League baseball, and became an avid curler.

Born in Cochrane, but raised in Edmonton, Dawe’s mother was a British war bride, and met his father while he was serving in World War I in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Dawe met his wife Lee in Manitoba while he was in pilot training for the Royal Canadian Air Force at RCAF Station Gimli during World War II. Dawe, won had one son and one daughter, died in Edmonton in 2013 at the age of 88. 

As a member of his Olympic team, Dawe was inducted into the Alberta Sport Hall of Fame Museum in 1968 and with the 1952 Edmonton Mercurys, he was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 2002.