Alexander Turnbull (lacrosse), Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetAlexander Turnbull (lacrosse)
Canadian lacrosse player
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Ontario, Canada
About Alexander Turnbull (lacrosse)
- Alexander "Alex" Thomas Turnbull (December 6, 1863 or 1872 – August 27, 1956) was a Canadian lacrosse player who competed and won gold in the 1908 Summer Olympics. He was born in Stratford, Ontario and died in Burnaby, British Columbia.
- For most of his career, "Dad" Turnbull gained his fame playing in the home (midfield) and outside home (attack) positions, although when he first started playing senior in Ontario, it was as a defensive player.
- He played his first senior matches in 1884 in Toronto.
- He bounced around teams in Toronto and Paris, Ontario, for six years before landing in Brockville in 1890.
- He played with Brockville and then Perth until 1894.
- In 1896 he found himself playing with and assortment of Toronto-based teams: the Elms, West Torontos, and then the Tecumsehs.
- In the fall of 1897, Turnbull moved to British Columbia—first to Rossland and then onwards to New Westminster where he would launch a 14-season career [spanning from 1897 to 1909, followed by a comeback in 1918] with the Salmonbellies.
- He played professional lacrosse for New Westminster Salmonbellies in 1909 and 1918, in which he scored 5 goals in 13 matches over those two seasons. Turnbull was regarded back in the day to be quite healthy for his age and a model athletic for his diet and regimen.
- Notable for the time, he never drank and very rarely smoked and he was praised in newspapers such as the Ottawa Citizen for his temperance and "clean living".
- He had to stop playing in 1909 after suffering two broken ribs during a game, but made a comeback in 1918 at age 46. In later years, he employed as the warden at the provincial jail (a separate complex from BC Penitentiary).
- On April 3, 1911, he was shot in the leg while on the job when a guard's revolver accidentally exploded. In 1965, he was inducted as a charter member to the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
- Two years later he was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame.
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