Gary Dalliday’s years of support of the Peterborough Petes were recognized Tuesday when the OHL team renamed its media and scout room in his honour.
The Petes held a morning ceremony at the Memorial Centre to thank Dalliday for his extensive media coverage of the Petes spanning four decades, including 35 years as sports director with CHEX Television. He also shared the radio airwaves with his son Pete for 15 seasons, doing play-by-play of Petes’ home and road games.
They renamed the room “The Gary Dalliday Media/Scout Room.”
Dalliday had a brief playing stint for the Petes in 1960 when they were called the TPT Petes.
“It was almost like a family reunion,” said a tearful Dalliday.
Dalliday retired from CHEX in 2009 but continues to support the Petes, most recently acting as a host alongside Don Barrie in the media/scout room, which often features local, national and international media and scouts before and during Petes games.
“He’s so well-known in this city and as somebody said ‘there’s not too many people as well known as Gary,” said Barrie.
“There is definitely some difficult decisions in the hockey and business industry but renaming this room after Gary certainly was not one of those challenges,” said Burton Lee, the Petes’ executive director of business operations.
The 76-year-old Dalliday is a member of the Peterborough and District Sports Hall of Fame and a member of the Peterborough Pathway of Fame, which recognizes citizens who make significant contributions to the community.
“It’s kind of a cliche but anything I’ve done is to kind of give back to the community that has been so supportive of me over the years,” said Dalliday.
He is currently battling cancer for the third time. He and Pete and cancer survivor Tori Sotiriadis were recently co-chairs of the Petes’ Pink in the Rink game on Feb. 3 in support of cancer research.
“With his health problems, he hasn’t come into the room as much this year,” said Barrie. “But all the scouts always ask for him. Everyone knows him.”
This Saturday, Dalliday will draw the winner of the vehicle draw hosted by the Peterborough and District Sports Hall of Fame. That takes place during the first intermission of the Petes-Hamilton Bulldogs game at the Memorial Centre. A video recap of Tuesday’s unveiling ceremony will follow.
More to come…
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