Donald Stockton

Donald Stockton

Donald Stockton, (born at Montréal 23 Feb 1904; died there 16 Jun 1978). Donald Stockton was a wrestler who participated in three OLYMPIC GAMES.

At the Paris Olympics, in 1924, athlete Donald Stockton, a member of the Verdun Athletic Club, was on the Canadian WRESTLING team. In the 79 kg freestyle category he won three fights, but was eliminated following a match that all observers judged controversial. The absence of a coach on the Canadian wrestling team enabled the result to go uncontested.

Four years later, at the Amsterdam Olympics, the Canadian wrestling team were counting on coach Frank Saxon. Saxon, who held this position at the Montréal YMCA, managed the athletes with such flying colours that three of the five members on his team won medals. Among them were Montréaler Maurice E. Lechford and Donald Stockton, the only one to achieve a silver medal.

In 1932, Stockton participated in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, he was unable to repeat his 1928 achievement, as was the Canadian team who returned home empty-handed.

After a career as an amateur athlete, Donald Stockton turned professional in 1933. During the summer of that year, his name appeared on several PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING programmes that took place at the Mount-Royal Arena.

The first Canadian wrestler to win a silver medal in the Olympics, Donald Stockton was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1953. Much later, in 1975, he was inscribed in the Canadian Amateur Wrestling Hall of Fame.

He died 16 Jun 1978.