Dorothy Louise Walton | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Dorothy Louise Walton

From 1936 to 1940 Dorothy Walton dominated Canadian women's BADMINTON, winning 64 open doubles and singles championships at Canadian, Ontario, and New England competitions, all the while not letting her tennis rank fall below 6th place in Canada.
Walton, Dorothy
From 1936 to 1940 Walton dominated Canadian women's badminton (Courtesy Library and Archives Canada/PA-50308).\r\n

Walton, Dorothy Louise

 Dorothy Louise Walton, née McKenzie, badminton player (b at Swift Current, Sask 7 Aug 1909; d at Toronto 17 Oct 1981). An outstanding all-round athlete at U of Sask, she earned her BA and MA degrees before moving to Ontario in 1932.

From 1936 to 1940 Dorothy Walton dominated Canadian women's BADMINTON, winning 64 open doubles and singles championships at Canadian, Ontario, and New England competitions, all the while not letting her tennis rank fall below 6th place in Canada. In 1939-1940 she won all 7 major singles badminton titles in North America, winning every match she attended. Her career culminated in her winning the All-England Badminton Championship in 1939 and being acclaimed world champion; no other Canadian has won that title. She retreated from competition in the 1940s and 1950s, reemerging in 1957 as both captain and manager of the Canadian Uber Cup team, positions she held again in 1960.

In addition to her sporting career, Dorothy Walton was also a champion of social causes both during and after the war. In the 1940s she became a member of the IODE (Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire), and in the 1950s she became a founding member the Canadian Association of Consumers, an organization that advocated on behalf of women as consumers.

Dorothy Walton was named to the ORDER OF CANADA in 1973.

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