Nearly 400 people gathered to pay their respects and remember Gary Dalliday, better known around the CHEX newsroom and in hockey rinks as “the Diller.”
Dalliday died Monday after his third battle with cancer, surrounded by his loved ones. He was 76 years old.
Andrew Verner played with the Peterborough Petes between the pipes from 1989 to 1992 and is now behind the Petes’ bench as an assistant coach. Dalliday was the first person to ever interview Verner and says he’ll never forget all did to help promote local sports.
“With Gary, you never thought he was digging for a scoop or trying to embarrass anybody, it was always like you were talking to a friend about sports,” said Verner.
A member of the Peterborough and District Sports Hall of Fame, Dalliday knew all the sports scores and stats, but his influence went beyond sports and into the greater community as he was named to the Peterborough Pathway of Fame in 2017.
The longtime sportscaster had no formal news training, but came to be the most recognizable voices in sports and on the TV and radio.
“He was one of those guys that came in off the street without any experience or training,” said Graham Hart, who worked with Dalliday at CHEX TV for 35 years. “He was a natural and a gifted storyteller and he knew sports inside out and that was one of his strengths as a reporter.”
Dalliday was a fixture around the local rinks, ball diamonds, and playing fields.
“Local sports was his thing,” said Bill Juby, who worked along Dalliday at CHEX TV as a sportscaster. “He was a big promoter of local sports and that was probably one of his biggest contributions to the community.”
Dalliday was considered family by the OHL Peterborough Petes and Major Series Lacrosse Peterborough Lakers, with whom he volunteered right until the end. Last season, the Petes honoured Dalliday by naming its media and scout room in his honour.
Dalliday died on August 10th at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre surrounded by his family and beloved wife, Donna.