HIGH ACHIEVERS: Daniel Slee, Gord Hudson, Rod Miller were major contributors to their sports of football, sailing

By Martin Cleary

Gord Hudson, Daniel Slee and Rod Miller worked in interesting and varying professions, but they shared a common bond – sports.

And when it came to sports, they weren’t specialists, but rather all-arounders, experiencing their amateur pastime as athletes, coaches and officials. They truly appreciated their sports from all angles.

Not only were they part of a team or an organization, but also their dedication and enthusiasm allowed them to make significant contributions in the growth of their local sport and inspire future generations.

Sadly, Hudson, Slee and Miller passed away in the past two months, leaving sizable holes in the family settings, circle of friends and respective sports communities.

Football was the engine that powered Hudson, whether he was a player (usually tight end), coach or camp organizer. He died Sept. 11 from multiple cancers at 59.

A celebration of life will be held Oct. 26 at the Cole Funeral Services and Pinecrest Remembrance Services, 2500 Baseline Road from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Slee also loved the gridiron game and touched all the bases in the Gee-Gees’ football program for the past seven decades. He passed away Aug. 7 from the natural progression of dementia. He was 77.

Miller discovered his life-long love of sailing as a young boy under the guidance of his father Harold at his family’s Britannia Beach summer cottage. An all-around athlete, he made his impact in sailing as a crew member and a team leader, innovator, judge and instructor evaluator.

He died Sept. 14. A celebration of Miller’s life will be held Friday at the Britannia Yacht Club, 2777 Cassels St., Ottawa, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

As a football player, Hudson wore the oversized jerseys with big numbers for the Bel-Air Copeland Lions, Laurentian High School Lions, Ottawa Sooners and the CFL’s Ottawa Rough Riders (two seasons on the practice roster).

As for coaching, he was on the sidelines for the Sir Robert Borden High School Bengals, the Sooners midget program and the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.

The Sooners announced in March, 2022, Hudson was appointed the new head coach of the junior team as it was preparing to return to the Ontario Junior Conference, following a three-year absence because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hudson was thrilled to accept the offer from Kevin Ling, the new Sooners owner.

“I want to see the Sooners get back to where they were – a powerhouse in the CJFL (Canadian Junior Football League), where they were respected in the community. They had lost a lot of that,” Hudson told Postmedia sportswriter Tim Baines.

But his head coaching role was short-lived as Hudson was later diagnosed with leukemia and focused his time on cancer treatments and family.

As a Sooner player in the early 1980s, he was part of the team in its glory days, competing in three consecutive national championships, posting a combined record of 44-3, and lifting the trophy in 1984.

As a coach, he worked as an assistant to University of Ottawa head coach Marcel Bellefeuille and celebrated a Canadian university championship in 2000, when the Gee-Gees defeated the University of Regina Rams 42-39 in the Vanier Cup final.

Hudson used his university B.A. degree in psychology to work in Mistissini, PQ, as the community’s director of youth services with the Cree Health Board. He later served as a case manager for addictions with the Salvation Army Ottawa Booth Centre.

He introduced football to almost 400 youth of Mistissini in 2004 through a two-day football camp. He recruited former Ottawa Rough Riders and Ottawa Renegades head coach Joe Paopao and some pro players to instruct the young players, who were anxious to play something other than hockey. Mistissini, a town of 3,800, is about 850 kilometres north of Ottawa.

Montreal Alouettes head coach Don Matthews also ran the camp one summer with a number of team coaches, including Bellefeuille, and several players.

Hudson also was part of a group to bring Mistissini youth to Ottawa to see an Ottawa Senators practice and game and meet San Jose Sharks player Jonathan Cheechoo.

Daniel Slee made an instant impact on the University of Ottawa football program in his debut 1967 season. A defensive back, he was the only rookie to start every game that season.

And he never took his foot off the pedal, being named a four-time league all-star and a two-time All-Canadian. He served as a defensive captain for three years.

The highlight of his five-year playing career (1967-71) with the Gee-Gees came in 1970, when Ottawa won the Ontario-Quebec Athletic Association title, captured the Atlantic Bowl (national semifinal) and reached the Canadian university final, losing to the University of Manitoba 38-11 in Toronto.

Immediately after graduating, Slee turned to coaching and was on the sidelines for the Gee-Gees for the 1972, 1973 and 1975 seasons. His final season delivered a national championship as the 11-0 Gee-Gees won the OUAA title, the Central Bowl and the Canadian final 14-9 over the University of Calgary in Toronto.

Slee helped to shape the defensive backs and was named the defensive co-ordinator in 1973.

When he stepped away from the field, Slee remained active with the Gee-Gees football program and was the vice-president of the 13th-Man Alumni Association from 1985-1990. He also was inducted into the Gee-Gees Football Hall of Fame in 2009.

“Dan was and will always be a Gee-Gee legend. His legacy will be felt on and off the field. It was always nice to see him at games. His presence always brought a calming confidence to all of us,” Bellefeuille, the Gee-Gees’ current football head coach, wrote in a note of condolence in August.

When Rod Miller was a young boy, he enjoyed learning the ins and outs of hockey and football living in the Glebe. He played for the former Ottawa Senators Junior B hockey team and was a quarterback at Carleton University in the early days of the Ravens football program.

But underneath his goal scoring and touchdown passing talents was a more intense desire to follow another sport. He joined the Britannia Boating Club (now the Britannia Yacht Club) in 1943 as a 10-year-old and spent more than 80 years in a variety of roles on and off shore as well as out of the country.

A teacher and vice-principal at the DND elementary schools at Uplands, Miller loved sailing regattas and was recognized as a top crew member in the International 14 class.

Miller was equally valuable off-shore. For several years, he was the team leader for Canadian teams participating in major championships.

He served as the Canadian sailing team manager at the 1979 world championships, the 1982 pre-Olympic regatta, the 1983 Pan-Am Games and the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. The Canadian Olympic team roster also included Miller in a similar role for the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which was boycotted by Canada.

“The Los Angeles Games in 1984 were a source of great pride and satisfaction for him, particularly after the Moscow Games had been cancelled,” read his death notice.

“Walking into the Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles with the Canadian team in 1984 was a highlight of his life. He was very proud of the team bringing home three medals.”

Miller also was involved in the sailing portion of the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics in Kingston. He was a chair for a race committee.

A humble man with many talents, Miller was an international racing judge, an instructor evaluator and one of the creators of the national Learn to Sail Program.

In 1974, the former Britannia Yacht Club general manager received a Special Achievement Award from the Ontario government “in grateful recognition of a distinguished contribution to the field of fitness and amateur sport.”