Hugh MacGillivray
Born in 1950 to Evans and Mora MacGillivray and raised in Kirk Hill, Hugh was a natural athlete, excelling especially at football and soccer. At Glengarry District High School Hugh, after initially not making the team, ended up on two EOSSA B football championship teams quarterbacking the second year, the last year the Gaels won in the 60s. It was in soccer, though, that Hugh really shone. He started as an 11 year old in 1961 with McCrimmon Juniors where he played for five years as they won three league Championships and four Championship Cups. He won top scorer in 1964 and 1965 as well as MVP in 1965. He played two years for McCrimmon Intermediates winning two Championships and MVP in 1967.
Moving to senior soccer in 1968, Hugh played for McCrimmon/Pine Grove until 1979, winning six first Place championships and seven Cup Championships. He was also on seven Greenspon Cup winning teams in the early 70s. Hugh collected many trophies along the way winning Rookie of the year award in 1968, the MacLeod Trophy for the League MVP in 1969 when he was in a tie as Top Scorer and again in 1972 when he was named Best Back. He won the Macdonell Trophy for the Most Gentlemanly Player in 1971 and 1973 as well as the MacGillivray Trophy for the MVP in the playoffs three times. He captained this team for a couple of years as well as became a director in the Glengarry Soccer League at this time.
Hugh started playing with the Glengarry Stars in the Ottawa Carleton soccer league in 1970 as a junior; after winning both league and cup championships in their division; they were moved to Division 2, where in 1972 they were the only Division 2 team ever to win the ODSA Cup. Promoted to Division 1, the Stars won several tournaments as well as were Division league Champs in 1975, winning the ODSA Cup in 1976 where Hugh scored the only goal in the final game. They won numerous tournaments in the Ottawa League as well. Hugh was Captain and instrumental in the team’s success.
The Stars played in Ottawa until the late 1970s and then went to play in the Cornwall League, winning Division 1 in Cornwall as well. The team also played Indoor Soccer in different tournaments in Ottawa and Cornwall where Hugh was selected as MVP in a couple.
Hugh was a member of the first Glengarry Stars team to tour England and Scotland in 1971 scoring five goals in the eight games they played. Two years after moving to Ottawa and commuting to Glengarry to play in the GSL, Hugh asked Ron McCormick, a Greenfield native, if he could play for his Ottawa Royals recreational soccer team the following summer. The next Saturday he was playing for their indoor soccer team.
For the next 20 years he played for that Division 1 team helping to win 14 league titles along the way. When he turned 35, Hugh began playing for the Ottawa Royals old timers competing with many of the good players he had played with and against in his Glengarry Stars days. He played 1st Division Old timers for 13 years and was on nine league cup winning teams before finishing his career with three years in Division 2. In a tournament that eventually gained the status of the Eastern Canadian Indoor Championship, the Royals were always contenders, losing to Halifax in 1987 in the over 35 division and winning in the over 40 in 1992 against Toronto. Hugh won MVP in 1987 and again in 1996 when they won the over 45 championship defeating a London, Ontario team. He retired from soccer at 50.
Although soccer was his main sport throughout his career, Hugh was involved in many others and thrived at them all. In 1975 Hugh and Jerome Poirier organized the Lochiel entry in the new Glengarry Touch Football league with Hugh quarterbacking the team from 1975 to 1982, winning five first place finishes as well as six league championships in those eight years. This team went to the National playdowns in Toronto twice as well as won the B Division in the Provincial North Eastern Tournament in Ottawa in 1982.
Hugh played Volleyball at GDHS as well as with the Jr. Farmers at the provincial competition. He also played Jr. C hockey and Broomball for Lochiel for a spell in the late 60s and 70s. In addition He is a “fair, recreational curler” in Ottawa where he has played for more than 20 years.
In spite of his many accomplishments on the field, especially in soccer, Hugh remains modest about his success attributing much of it to being “lucky to have been on great teams” while minimizing his own contribution to making these teams great. Hugh, now retired from a career with Bell Canada and his wife Anne divide their time between Ottawa and Kirk Hill.
A very successful athlete and a true gentleman on and off the field, Hugh always represented Glengarry with great humility. Hugh MacGillivray, on behalf of all the athletes you played with and against, we welcome you into the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame.
