Clifford Houston * - Builder (Ice Hockey, Baseball) - Class of 2017
Cliff Houston was a well-rounded athlete who excelled in hockey, baseball and tennis, earning many championship trophies in his younger years. He spent much of his youth being a hockey goalie, using Western Stove or Popular Mechanics magazines as shin pads, and skating around a frozen Mill Pond. But it was his tireless commitment to developing local sports organizations that has left its mark on Milton sports history.
In 1946, Cliff started the Town's first minor hockey league, now known as the Milton Minor Hockey Association. When offered free Saturday morning ice time at the Fred Armstrong Arena on Brown Street he seized the moment and gathered 32 boys ages 12-15 to create four teams. A year later, he coached and entered Milton's first team in the Ontario Minor Hockey Association's Playdowns.
Cliff was well known for his all-encompassing passion for sports. He was an Executive Board member on multiple Milton sport organizations and an Official. He was a referee in the Toronto Hockey League and Ontario Hockey League and was an umpire in the Ontario Baseball Association for many years.
His culmination of volunteer work, which included starting up the original Milton Tennis Club and the Milton Referees Association for baseball and fastball, was recognized in 1969 when Cliff was inducted to the Halton County Sports Hall of Fame.