Donald “Pete” Mcllwraith

Donald “Pete” McIlwraith was born in Guelph, Ontario. In Guelph he contributed significantly as a founder of the Guelph Boys and Girls Minor Softball Associations.

In 1968 McIlwraith moved to Kitchener and continued his support for sport, initially as a coach of the Kitchener Civitans junior women’s softball team. The Civitans earned two provincial titles and an Ontario Summer Games gold medal between 1972 and 1974.

McIlwraith started the Can-American Friendship Games between Kitchener and Nashville, Tennessee in 1975; the Games lasted for more than 20 years. In 1979, he was named Honourary Citizen and awarded the Key to the City by the Mayor of Nashville for his contributions to the Donelson Civitans Softball Program.

McIlwraith was a founder of Civitan Sports Waterloo Region that organized and hosted many women’s softball events, notably the Civitan Sports Fastball Jamboree featuring teams from across North America. In addition, he volunteered for local host committees for the International Softball Congress World and Legends of Fastball tournaments as well as Special Olympics and the Athlete of the Year programs.

His tireless efforts were recognized in 1997 when McIlwraith was inducted into the Guelph Sports Hall of Fame, and again in 2005, when he was inducted into the Softball Canada Hall of Fame.

Photograph courtesy of the Waterloo Region Record/Mathew McCarthy.