Hugh Gall was a Canadian football

Canadian football

Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...

 player considered to be one of the best runners and punters of his era.

After playing half-back in Toronto for Parkdale

Parkdale, Toronto

Parkdale is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. The neighbourhood is bounded on the west by Roncesvalles Avenue, on the north by Queen Street. It is bounded on the east by Dufferin Street from Queen Street south, and on the south by Lake Ontario...

 Collegiate, Gall joined the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

 varsity team in 1907 and played there for four seasons. He led the team to Grey Cup

Grey Cup

The Grey Cup is both the name of the championship of the Canadian Football League and the name of the trophy awarded to the victorious team. It is Canada's largest annual sports and television event, regularly drawing a Canadian viewing audience of about 3 to 4 million individuals...

 victories in 1909 and 1910, becoming the first team to win the new trophy presented to the Canadian Rugby Union champions. Gall set a record for most singles

Single (football)

In Canadian football, a single is awarded when the ball is kicked into the end zone by any legal means, other than a successful field goal, and the receiving team does not return, or kick, the ball out of its end zone...

 (single point kicks, also known as rouges) in a Grey Cup game with eight in 1909, a record that still stands (though somewhat asterisk

Asterisk

An asterisk is a typographical symbol or glyph. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often pronounce it as star...

ed, because he accomplished the feat before end zone

End zone

In gridiron-based codes of football, the end zone refers to the scoring area on the field. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field...

s were invented and as such as soon as the ball crossed the goal line it was dead and could not be returned). He was team captain for the 1910 season.

Gall also played in the Ontario Hockey Association

Ontario Hockey Association

The Ontario Hockey Association is the governing body for the majority of Junior and Senior level ice hockey teams in the Province of Ontario. The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey Association. Other Ontario sanctioning bodies along with the...

 for the Parkdale Canoe Club hockey team. In addition, he competed in several track meets in the Toronto area.

Gall was elected vice-commodore of the Parkdale Canoe Club in 1911 and then became a football referee. He returned to action in 1913, playing for the Parkdale team that lost in the Grey Cup final. Gall coached U of T to the intercollegiate championship in 1914 and graduated in 1915 with a degree in mechanical engineering.

He would go on to become secretary of the Canadian Rugby Union (now Football Canada

Football Canada

Football Canada is the governing body for amateur Canadian football. It is Canada's representative member of the International Federation of American Football , the world's governing body for American football.-History:...

) in 1914, and served a one-year term as president of the organization in 1920-1921. He died in Toronto at age 49 from pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

.

Gall was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame

Canadian Football Hall of Fame

The Canadian Football Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is an open to the public institution. It includes displays about the Canadian Football League, Canadian university football and Canadian...

 in 1963, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame is a hall of fame established in 1955 to "preserve the record of Canadian sports achievements and to promote a greater awareness of Canada's heritage of sport." It is located at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta...

in 1975, and the U of T Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.