Delisle Thompson
Football (1996)

Delisle Thompson contributed as an athlete and a builder in football and played a leading role in providing indoor shooting facilities for young Saskatoon people.  

Delisle was born in Tottenham, Ontario, on April 15, 1904, came west just three months after he was born, and the family settled in Saskatoon. He attended King Edward School and Nutana Collegiate and played on Nutana’s baseball team.

He played for the original Saskatoon Hilltops in 1921 when they were runners-up for the Saskatchewan junior football title. Among his teammates were George Porteous, Ernie McNab and Mel Kerr. A number of the same players joined with some University players to form Saskwanis in 1922.

Delisle played what was then called an inside wing (a guard in today's terminology) and helped Saskwanis win the western junior championship in November 1922, with a 17-8 victory over Calgary YMCA at Cairns Field. A year later, the team lost to Winnipeg St. John's College in the western final, the only game Saskwanis lost in two years of competition.

Delisle entered the sporting good business in 1945. He was active in the Saskatoon Target and Skeet Club and helped provide equipment for the Revolver and Pistol Club for boys. He served the Saskatoon Hilltops as a board member from 1953 until 1968, serving as its president in 1961, the year the Hilltops took their home games to Gordon Howe Bowl.