Ian Alistar Allison (July 26, 1909other sources report his year of birth: ''1907'' – August 4, 1990) was a Canadian

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who competed in the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

. His is the only Canadian basketball team to date to win a medal at the Olympics, a silver and also the last to win a team medal. He played all six matches including the final. He was high scorer with 4 points in Canada's 19–8 loss to the Americans.

Early life and working life

Allison was born in

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and, while still young, migrated to Canada with his family. They lived across from

Walkerville Collegiate Institute Walkerville Collegiate Institute (WCI) is a secondary school (grades 9 to 12) in the Walkerville area of Windsor, Ontario and managed by the Greater Essex County District School Board. It is the home of the Walkerville Centre for the Creative A ...

, the school he attended for high school. He then attended Assumption College and finally

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. After graduation, he went back to Walkerville to work as a teacher. A year later he married one of the secretaries of the school - Jean Alberta Reid, and eventually the couple had two daughters - Heather and Janey. Allison retired from teaching in 1973. He is an inductee into the Windsor Essex Sports Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Olympic profile
1909 births 1990 deaths Basketball players at the 1936 Summer Olympics Basketball position missing Canadian men's basketball players Olympic basketball players of Canada Olympic medalists in basketball Olympic silver medalists for Canada Scottish emigrants to Canada Sportspeople from Greenock Basketball players from Windsor, Ontario University of Toronto alumni Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics {{Canada-basketball-bio-stub