Gus Ryder
C.N.R.A. Canadian National Railway Hockey Team Captain 1923
Toronto & York Industrial League, 1925-26

Augustus Joseph "Gus" Ryder - Born January 11, 1899 in York, Ontario ~ Died May 23, 1991 in Toronto, Ontario.

Ryder excelled at a half-a-dozen sports and always seemed to play alongside some of the immortals of the game: semi-pro Hockey with Con Smythe, rowing with Joe Wright Jr. at the Argonaut Club, baseball at Christie Pitts with Cannonball Scott.

Ryder was a defenseman for the Aura Lee junior Hockey team, and was a one-time first round draft choice of the short-lived Pittsburgh Yellow-Jackets Hockey team.

Ryder might have developed into a great all-round athlete, had it not been for an incident when he was 18. He was playing Hockey one cold winter day on Granadier Pond in Toronto when the ice gave way and two of his friends fell through. In rescuing the boys, Gus himself was trapped under the ice. He made a vow at that moment that he would learn all about swimming and life saving, and to teach it.

Ryder would teach thousands of youngsters the skills of swimming and life saving and brought new hope to the handicapped. Gus Ryder had every reason to be proud of his achievements. Yet he was prouder of the achievements of teaching physically disabled youngsters to swim at his Lakeshore Swimming Club which he founded in 1930, watching a crippled boy wheel his chair to the poolside, jump into the water and swim across, or a blind boy outrace much older boys who had their sight. "I'd rather work with crippled kids than coach an Olympic Champion," he once said.

Ryder was also an avid handball player and good at it, having represented Canada four times internationally. At the age of 78, he won a gold medal in the 70-80 year age bracket in the Seniors Olympics Event in Los Angeles.

Gus Ryder was inducted into the Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1963.

Gus Ryder was inducted into the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame for 1978.

In 1978, Gus Ryder received the highest civilian award possible, the Order of Canada.