ATHLETE LEGEND
Dawson, Ches
1914 – 1986
SPORT | Golf
YEAR OF INDUCTION | 1999
Ches was a native of Wallaceburg, Ches excelled at hockey but golf was his passion. He began caddying at the Chatham Golf and Country Club when he was 8 years old and won his first golf tournament at age 16. He won his last tournament in 1981, fifty-one years after his first.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
1930 - 1939
1930 – won his first golf tournament – Essex-Kent Junior Boys Tournament in Windsor
1933 – runner-up in first flight of the Ontario Amateur Golf Championship in Toronto
1934 – 1936 – played hockey for the original Chatham Senior Maroons
1935 – was the leading scorer in final series when the Maroons won the Ontario-Michigan Hockey Championship
1936 – 1937 – played professional hockey for Streatham Maroons in the English Hockey League
1937 – 1938 – played for Chatham Maroons
1938 – 1939 – played professional hockey for Glasgow Mohawks in the Scottish Hockey League
1934 - 1981
1934 – 1957 – won Men’s Club Championship at the Chatham Golf and Country Club a total of 7 times
1957 – 1978 – won Men’s Club Championship at Maple City Country Club a total of 8 times
1966 – 1976 – won Men’s Annual Invitational at Maple City Country Club a total of 4 times
1981 – won his last golf tournament 51 years after he had won his first one
Accomplishments
Over the years, Ches won numerous Stag Days and Invitationals in Lambton, Essex, and Kent Counties as well as being a member of the Legion Branch #628 team that won various championships
1973 – was honoured by the Ontario Golf Association for his “distinguished contribution to the game of golf in Ontario”
Ches died in 1986 in London, Ontario while playing golf at Sunningdale Country Club.