Walton, Dorothy (1909-81)

Dorothy Walton (née McKenzie) was an outstanding all-round female athlete. She was born in Swift Current on August 7, 1909, and educated at the University of Saskatchewan. While earning her BA and MA, Walton played on fourteen university athletic teams and was the first female awarded the oak shield as the university’s outstanding athlete. Walton moved to Toronto in 1932 and won the Ontario badminton championship three years later. As 1938 Ladies’ Singles event winner, she became the first and only Canadian to date to win an event at the All-England Championships.

Walton was also a talented tennis player. She won fifty-four tennis titles in western Canada between 1924 and 1931, and was one of Canada’s top-ranking tennis players in the late 1930s. She was awarded the 1940 Rose Bowl as Canada’s Outstanding Female Athlete and was named one of the country’s top female athletes for the first half of the 20th century in 1950. Inducted to the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1961 and the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1966, Walton was invested as a member of the Order of Canada in 1973. Dorothy Walton died in Toronto on October 17, 1981.

Bob Ivanochko, Holden Stoffel

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Further Reading

Ransom, Diane. 1985. Pioneers and Performers: University of Saskatchewan Sport, 1909-1984. Saskatoon: University of Saskatchewan; Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame. 1980. Regina: The Board of Directors, Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame.