Alldritt, William Alexander, 1881-1933 : Born in 1881 in London, England, William (Bill) Alexander Alldritt moved to Canada in 1886 and settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After serving in the South African constabulary (1901-1904) during the second Boer War, he moved back to Canada and worked at the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Revelstoke, British Columbia, where he also led the Alpine Club in their ascents to various peaks in the Rocky and Selkirk Mountains.
Alldritt moved back to Winnipeg in 1910, where he continued his work as a Physical Instructor with the local Selkirk Avenue YMCA branch, later being appointed as Physical Director in 1912. It was also during this time that he founded the famed Winnipeg Toilers Basketball Club, a Senior "A" team that represented the province of Manitoba and was guided under the federation of Canada Basketball. The Toilers are recognized for being one of the most successful men's basketball teams in Canadian history, having won multiple national championships in 1926, 1927 and 1932 respectively. Both the 1926 and 1927 Winnipeg Toilers teams were eventually inducted into the Manitoba Sport Hall of Fame and Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame respectively, while the 1932 team was inducted into the latter as well.
At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, all the members of the Toilers basketball team that Alldritt managed had collectively enlisted to fight in the war. In response, he decided to follow them, and also joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force as a machine-gunner of the 8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles), in which he served as a Lt. Sergeant (and later Sergeant). During the 2nd Battle of Ypres in April 1915, Alldritt held off advancing German forces on the Belgian town of Saint-Julien for nearly three days, despite being subjected to chlorine gas. He was ultimately captured and spent the remainder of the conflict in German captivity as a prisoner of war (POW). He attempted numerous escapes while imprisoned, but was subjected to beatings and increasingly harder labour conditions in a salt mine. Following the war, he was recognized for his wartime efforts and awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal in 1920.
Upon his return home to Winnipeg, Alldritt married Agnes Kennedy in 1920, with whom he had three children (Marjorie, Robert, and David). He eventually resumed his position as Physical Director at the YMCA, where he led the Toilers to 14 provincial basketball championships in 15 years (including the aforementioned national victories in 1926, 1927, and 1932), as well as coaching or managing teams in other sporting disciplines, including multiple track & field events.
William Alexander Alldritt passed away in 1933 at the age of 51 in Winnipeg, Manitoba due to a stroke, in part as a result of his lasting exposure to poison gas during the First World War.
