Don Gallinger
Encyclopedia
Donald Calvin "Gabby" Gallinger (April 16, 1925 – February 3, 2000) was a professional ice hockey
player who played 222 games in the National Hockey League
. Born in Port Colborne
, Ontario
, he played for the Boston Bruins
. Gallinger was one of the league's youngest players when he broke into the NHL, playing on the "Sprout Line" of Boston with Bill Shill and Bep Guidolin. Gallinger's career was cut short, when in 1948 Gallinger and former team-mate Billy Taylor were discovered gambling on their own teams and banned for life by the NHL. They were reinstated in 1970 and these are the longest suspensions in NHL history. Prior to the suspension, Gallinger had established himself an effective offensive NHL player and, as an excellent multi-sport athlete, had even been sought after to play professional baseball.
In Junior hockey, Gallinger was team-mates and friends with NHL Hall of Famer, Teeder Kennedy. The two were successful in both hockey and football.
He was the second youngest player in NHL history when he broke into the NHL with Boston at age 17, playing on the "Sprout Line" of with Bill Shill and Bep Guidolin. The Bruins had lost their high-scoring line of Milt Schmidt
, Bobby Bauer
and Woody Dumart
to the Canadian Air Force and NHL teams were willing to accept younger players. Gallinger showed natural ability as a goal-scorer and was third in voting for the Calder rookie of the year award. The Bruins finished in second place in the regular season and went to the Stanley Cup finals losing to the Detroit Red Wings in four straight games.
Gallinger missed a large part of the 1943–44 and all of the 1944–45 season serving with the Canadian Military. Before leaving for the military, on January 8, 1944, in a game at Maple Leaf Gardens against the Boston Bruins, the mayor of Port Colborne honoured Teeder Kennedy and Don Gallinger, both hometown heroes, with gold watches on behalf of his town's citizens. Beginning in February 1944, Gallinger played hockey for the R.C.A.F. Bombers. At the time of his enterting the military Gallinger had scored 13 goals in just 23 games with Boston. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, graduating at the top of his air gunners' class. He was discharged September 1945 as a flying officer.
Gallinger finished the 1945–46 season leading the Bruins in points. The Bruins finished in second place in the NHL and went to the Stanley Cup finals before losing to the Montreal Canadiens.
Gallinger had been offered contracts to play baseball by both the Boston Red Sox
and Philadelphia Phillies
while he was with the Bruins. In April 1946, Gallinger had a tryout with the Red Sox. Boston sportswriter Bill Grimes said Gallinger "may turn out to be a great shortstop. He can run, he can throw, and he's got good power at the plate. he takes a level cut and hits the ball very sharply." A sportswriter suggested to Gallinger it might be better for him to try for an outfield position since the Red Sox's current shortstop Johnny Pesky
was considered the league's best. Gallinger confidently replied that Pesky "beat out somebody else for the job, didn't he?" However, Gallinger turned down the baseball opportunities, because the money offered was too small.
Gallinger finished the 1946–47 season with 10 points less than his previous year as the NHL strengthened with the return of players who had been serving in the war. The Bruins finished in 3rd place and lost in the opening round of the playoffs to the Montreal Canadiens.
. However, gambling was also a problem in professional hockey as well. In 1946, the NHL had discovered a betting ring operating in Maple Leaf Gardens
in Toronto. Babe Pratt
, a star player with Toronto, was suspended for nine games for betting on his own team. When the betting problem still continued into the next season, the NHL made it clear that any more infractions would receive more severe punishment.
Gallinger had gambled on the Bruins from the time of his rookie year, although he later insisted he never bet on Boston to lose until he met Billy Taylor. Taylor, a 28-year-old center, had arrived to the Bruins in a trade to start the 1947-48 season and was living in the same boarding house as Gallinger. Taylor, who had a reputation for gambling, had heard Gallinger also gambled, and explained to Gallinger how he could double his yearly $7,500 salary by betting on his team to lose. Taylor and Gallinger rationlized that they were not deliberately trying to lose games, since they were only betting on games their team would probably lose anyways.
The two became involved with James Tamer, a Detroit gambler and career criminal and began receiving instructions to bet on games based upon their inside knowledge of the team's attitude and injuries. For three months, until the scheme was uncovered, Gallinger bet on eight games between $250 and $1,000 a game.
Tamer: How are things going tonight?
Voice: Don't worry about the game tonight... I don't intend to do so good. Bet $500 for me.
Gallinger also told Tamer that the Bruins would be without Milt Schmidt
in the game. Tamer in turn phoned Taylor in New York to bet $500 on Boston to lose. Although the Bruins won the game against Chicago, Detroit police informed NHL President Clarence Campbell
of the wire taps.
In late February, Gallinger was visiting his family in Port Colborne when he received a call to come to Toronto to be questioned concerning the Detroit gambler. On the train ride to Toronto, Gallinger made the decision he would deny everything to save his father the disgrace. In Toronto Art Ross
, General Manager of the Bruins, was questioning all the Boston players one-by-one. When it was his turn, Ross told Gallinger he knew he was involved, but Gallinger continued to insist on his innocence. Art Ross then personally approached Gallinger's father and proposed the idea of his son seeing a psychiatrist in Toronto. When his father told him of the idea, Gallinger refused. Years later, Gallinger stated that he regretted the decision as in retrospect he realized that Ross was looking for a way to defend him.
Early in March 1948, word of a gambling scandal involving some Boston Bruin players made its way into the press. The players involved had not yet been named.
On March 3, The Bruins were playing the Chicago Blackhawks at the Boston Gardens in their first game since news of the scandal became public. The Boston fans cheered loudly as the Bruin players skated onto the ice. Old-time followers of the Bruins compared the reception to the last time Boston had won the Stanley Cup in 1939. Boston was down 4–1 going into the third period, but rallied to tie the game. With the game at 4–3, Don Gallinger brought the puck down the ice, skillfully getting past at least three Blackhawk players in the process, passed the puck Johnny Peirson who scored his first NHL goal to tie the game.
On March 4, 1948, Walter Winchell
named Gallinger as one of the players involved in the gambling scandal. The same day, Montreal sportswriter Dink Carroll spoke with Gallinger after the game between Boston and Montreal. "You probably know what this is about, don't you?" Carroll asks. "Yes, you want to know if I've made any decision about baseball," Gallinger answered. Carroll informed Gallinger that Winchell had just named him as the Boston player involved. "Winchell," said Gallinger. "Do you mean the fellow in New York?" Initially Gallinger appeared too bewildered to comment, but eventually denied the accusations.
On Sunday, March 7, the Bruins were playing the Toronto Maple Leafs in Boston. In the second period, Gallinger intercepted a Gus Mortson
clearing pass and let go with a low 30-foot shot past goaltender Turk Broda
. It would be Gallinger's last goal in the NHL.
Two days later, on March 9, 1948, Gallinger was suspended indefinitely, pending an investigation, by the NHL for gambling on hockey, including games involving the Bruins. NHL president Clarence Campbell said Gallinger and teammate Billy Taylor, who had already been expelled for life, were guilty of "conduct detrimental to hockey and for associating with a known gambler."
On September 28, 1948, Don Gallinger met the same fate as Taylor, receiving a lifetime expulsion from the NHL.
Although Gallinger continued to deny his involvement publicly, On October 9, 1949 Gallinger confessed his guilt privately to Campbell. In 1946, Babe Pratt
had his life-time suspension, also for gambling, reversed after only 9 games when he freely admitted his guilt to then-NHL president Red Dutton. However, Campbell did not grant Gallinger similar leniency. Years later, Gallinger stated that Campbell had advised him not to reveal to anyone that he had confessed. Campbell, when asked, denied that he had ever advised this to Gallinger. After the Babe Pratt gambling incident, the NHL board changed their constitution to eliminate a player's right to appeal if found guilty of gambling on a game's outcome.
In 1966, Babe Pratt, found guilty of gambling the season before Gallinger and Taylor, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
In 1970, the suspension to Taylor and Gallinger was finally lifted. These are the longest suspensions in the history of the NHL. With the suspension lifted, Taylor became a scout for the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins
, but Gallinger never returned to the NHL. However, according to Gallinger's son, Don Gallinger, Jr. the lifting of the ban served to give his father peace of mind.
After being suspended by the NHL, Gallinger moved to Kitchener, Ontario where he met and married, Kathleen Wagner. The couple had three boys and another child, Randy Kathleen, who died at age 11 at Sick Kids Hospital
in Toronto. Gallinger and his wife ran several downtown hotels. Gallinger participated in baseball in the early 1950s, captaining the Kitchener-Waterloo Panthers to two championships. He also coached the Junior B teams in Hamilton and Port Colborne in the early 1960s. After Gallinger and his wife separated in the mid-1960s, he moved to Burlington where he lived for 30 years until his death. Kathleen Gallinger died in a car accident at age 41.
In the mid-1940s, Gallinger had an affair with a young Canadian socialite. The affair became more of a scandal when she became pregnant. Her parents sent her off to California as it was unthinkable for an heiress to marry just a hockey player. The boy was born in 1947 and was put up for adoption. In 1998, the boy, now Bruce Black a San Jose businessman, decided to finally contact his birth father. Black had been told at age 18 by his adoptive parents who his birth father was, but lacked the nerve to contact him. Black did not know Gallinger's whereabouts, but had met San Jose Sharks broadcaster Dan Rusanowsky
whose hobby was genealogy research. With Rusanowsky's assistance he located Gallinger. In late 1998, Black phoned Gallinger and then later took his family to Toronto to meet his father and half-brothers. When Gallinger died in 2000, his obituary included Black as one of his surviving sons.
Don Gallinger died of a heart-attack February 3, 2000 at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington, Ontario. Gallinger was survived by sons Don, Michael, Kim and Bruce.
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
player who played 222 games in the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
. Born in Port Colborne
Port Colborne, Ontario
Port Colborne is a city on Lake Erie, at the southern end of the Welland Canal, in the Niagara Region of southern Ontario, Canada...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, he played for the Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
. Gallinger was one of the league's youngest players when he broke into the NHL, playing on the "Sprout Line" of Boston with Bill Shill and Bep Guidolin. Gallinger's career was cut short, when in 1948 Gallinger and former team-mate Billy Taylor were discovered gambling on their own teams and banned for life by the NHL. They were reinstated in 1970 and these are the longest suspensions in NHL history. Prior to the suspension, Gallinger had established himself an effective offensive NHL player and, as an excellent multi-sport athlete, had even been sought after to play professional baseball.
Career
Don Gallinger came from a hockey family. Gallinger's father, Frank, was a lacrosse player, but also played hockey in the Northern Hockey league. Don Gallinger had two uncles, "Red" and "Shorty" Green who were considered talented players during the era when players played the full 60 minutes. Don's eldest brother, Frank, played senior hockey in Port Colborne. Brother Keith played intermediate hockey.In Junior hockey, Gallinger was team-mates and friends with NHL Hall of Famer, Teeder Kennedy. The two were successful in both hockey and football.
He was the second youngest player in NHL history when he broke into the NHL with Boston at age 17, playing on the "Sprout Line" of with Bill Shill and Bep Guidolin. The Bruins had lost their high-scoring line of Milt Schmidt
Milt Schmidt
Milton Conrad Schmidt is a former Canadian professional ice hockey centre, coach and general manager, mostly for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. He is an Honoured Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.-Early years:...
, Bobby Bauer
Bobby Bauer
Robert Theodore Bauer was a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who played 10 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins.-Playing career:...
and Woody Dumart
Woody Dumart
Woodrow Wilson Clarence "Porky" Dumart was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. He is an Honoured Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame...
to the Canadian Air Force and NHL teams were willing to accept younger players. Gallinger showed natural ability as a goal-scorer and was third in voting for the Calder rookie of the year award. The Bruins finished in second place in the regular season and went to the Stanley Cup finals losing to the Detroit Red Wings in four straight games.
Gallinger missed a large part of the 1943–44 and all of the 1944–45 season serving with the Canadian Military. Before leaving for the military, on January 8, 1944, in a game at Maple Leaf Gardens against the Boston Bruins, the mayor of Port Colborne honoured Teeder Kennedy and Don Gallinger, both hometown heroes, with gold watches on behalf of his town's citizens. Beginning in February 1944, Gallinger played hockey for the R.C.A.F. Bombers. At the time of his enterting the military Gallinger had scored 13 goals in just 23 games with Boston. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, graduating at the top of his air gunners' class. He was discharged September 1945 as a flying officer.
Gallinger finished the 1945–46 season leading the Bruins in points. The Bruins finished in second place in the NHL and went to the Stanley Cup finals before losing to the Montreal Canadiens.
Gallinger had been offered contracts to play baseball by both the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
and Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
while he was with the Bruins. In April 1946, Gallinger had a tryout with the Red Sox. Boston sportswriter Bill Grimes said Gallinger "may turn out to be a great shortstop. He can run, he can throw, and he's got good power at the plate. he takes a level cut and hits the ball very sharply." A sportswriter suggested to Gallinger it might be better for him to try for an outfield position since the Red Sox's current shortstop Johnny Pesky
Johnny Pesky
John Michael Pesky , nicknamed "The Needle" and "Mr. Red Sox", was a Major League Baseball shortstop, third baseman, and manager. During a 10-year career, he played in 1942 and from 1946-1954 for three different teams. He missed all of the 1943, 1944, and 1945 seasons while serving in World War...
was considered the league's best. Gallinger confidently replied that Pesky "beat out somebody else for the job, didn't he?" However, Gallinger turned down the baseball opportunities, because the money offered was too small.
Gallinger finished the 1946–47 season with 10 points less than his previous year as the NHL strengthened with the return of players who had been serving in the war. The Bruins finished in 3rd place and lost in the opening round of the playoffs to the Montreal Canadiens.
Background
In the 1940s, the most famous betting scandal in North American organised sport was baseball's 1919 World SeriesBlack Sox Scandal
The Black Sox Scandal took place around and during the play of the American baseball 1919 World Series. Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for life from baseball for intentionally losing games, which allowed the Cincinnati Reds to win the World Series...
. However, gambling was also a problem in professional hockey as well. In 1946, the NHL had discovered a betting ring operating in Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens is an indoor arena that was converted into a Loblawssupermarket and Ryerson University athletic centre in Toronto, on the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto's Garden District.One of the temples of hockey, it was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the...
in Toronto. Babe Pratt
Babe Pratt
Walter "Babe" Pratt was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman/left winger who played for the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League.Babe was an important member of two Stanley Cup winning teams, the 1940 Rangers and 1945 Maple Leafs...
, a star player with Toronto, was suspended for nine games for betting on his own team. When the betting problem still continued into the next season, the NHL made it clear that any more infractions would receive more severe punishment.
Gallinger had gambled on the Bruins from the time of his rookie year, although he later insisted he never bet on Boston to lose until he met Billy Taylor. Taylor, a 28-year-old center, had arrived to the Bruins in a trade to start the 1947-48 season and was living in the same boarding house as Gallinger. Taylor, who had a reputation for gambling, had heard Gallinger also gambled, and explained to Gallinger how he could double his yearly $7,500 salary by betting on his team to lose. Taylor and Gallinger rationlized that they were not deliberately trying to lose games, since they were only betting on games their team would probably lose anyways.
The two became involved with James Tamer, a Detroit gambler and career criminal and began receiving instructions to bet on games based upon their inside knowledge of the team's attitude and injuries. For three months, until the scheme was uncovered, Gallinger bet on eight games between $250 and $1,000 a game.
Betting exposed
By early in 1948, Bruins management became suspicious of Taylor's poor play and he was traded to the New York Rangers. In February 1948, Gallinger phoned Tamer before a game in Chicago. The conversation was recorded by a wire tap on Tamer's phone. The conversation as reported in a Detroit newspaper:Tamer: How are things going tonight?
Voice: Don't worry about the game tonight... I don't intend to do so good. Bet $500 for me.
Gallinger also told Tamer that the Bruins would be without Milt Schmidt
Milt Schmidt
Milton Conrad Schmidt is a former Canadian professional ice hockey centre, coach and general manager, mostly for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. He is an Honoured Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.-Early years:...
in the game. Tamer in turn phoned Taylor in New York to bet $500 on Boston to lose. Although the Bruins won the game against Chicago, Detroit police informed NHL President Clarence Campbell
Clarence Campbell
Clarence Sutherland Campbell OBE, QC was the third president of the National Hockey League from 1946 to 1977.-Early life and career:...
of the wire taps.
In late February, Gallinger was visiting his family in Port Colborne when he received a call to come to Toronto to be questioned concerning the Detroit gambler. On the train ride to Toronto, Gallinger made the decision he would deny everything to save his father the disgrace. In Toronto Art Ross
Art Ross
Arthur Howey "Art" Ross was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman and executive from 1905 until 1954. Regarded as one of the best defenders of his era by his peers, he was one of the first to skate with the puck up the ice rather than pass it to a forward...
, General Manager of the Bruins, was questioning all the Boston players one-by-one. When it was his turn, Ross told Gallinger he knew he was involved, but Gallinger continued to insist on his innocence. Art Ross then personally approached Gallinger's father and proposed the idea of his son seeing a psychiatrist in Toronto. When his father told him of the idea, Gallinger refused. Years later, Gallinger stated that he regretted the decision as in retrospect he realized that Ross was looking for a way to defend him.
Early in March 1948, word of a gambling scandal involving some Boston Bruin players made its way into the press. The players involved had not yet been named.
On March 4, 1948, Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.-Professional career:Born Walter Weinschel in New York City, he left school in the sixth grade and started performing in a vaudeville troupe known as Gus Edwards' "Newsboys Sextet."His career in journalism was begun by posting...
named Gallinger as one of the players involved in the gambling scandal. The same day, Montreal sportswriter Dink Carroll spoke with Gallinger after the game between Boston and Montreal. "You probably know what this is about, don't you?" Carroll asks. "Yes, you want to know if I've made any decision about baseball," Gallinger answered. Carroll informed Gallinger that Winchell had just named him as the Boston player involved. "Winchell," said Gallinger. "Do you mean the fellow in New York?" Initially Gallinger appeared too bewildered to comment, but eventually denied the accusations.
On Sunday, March 7, the Bruins were playing the Toronto Maple Leafs in Boston. In the second period, Gallinger intercepted a Gus Mortson
Gus Mortson
James Angus Gerald "Old Hardrock" Mortson is a former NHL defenceman.-Awards and achievements:*1947 Stanley Cup Championship *1948 Stanley Cup Championship...
clearing pass and let go with a low 30-foot shot past goaltender Turk Broda
Turk Broda
Walter "Turk" Broda was an ice hockey goaltender, playing his entire career for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League . Broda was born in Brandon, Manitoba to a Ukrainian family; joining the Maple Leafs in 1936.-Personal:...
. It would be Gallinger's last goal in the NHL.
Expelled for life
On September 28, 1948, Don Gallinger met the same fate as Taylor, receiving a lifetime expulsion from the NHL.
Although Gallinger continued to deny his involvement publicly, On October 9, 1949 Gallinger confessed his guilt privately to Campbell. In 1946, Babe Pratt
Babe Pratt
Walter "Babe" Pratt was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman/left winger who played for the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League.Babe was an important member of two Stanley Cup winning teams, the 1940 Rangers and 1945 Maple Leafs...
had his life-time suspension, also for gambling, reversed after only 9 games when he freely admitted his guilt to then-NHL president Red Dutton. However, Campbell did not grant Gallinger similar leniency. Years later, Gallinger stated that Campbell had advised him not to reveal to anyone that he had confessed. Campbell, when asked, denied that he had ever advised this to Gallinger. After the Babe Pratt gambling incident, the NHL board changed their constitution to eliminate a player's right to appeal if found guilty of gambling on a game's outcome.
Attempts to have the ban lifted
In January 1963, the Toronto newspaper Globe and Mail ran a series on Gallinger and the betting scandal. The series included an in-depth interview by journalist Scott Young with Gallinger and openned the debate whether Gallinger and Taylor should be reinstated after 15 years. However, Clarence Campbell still strongly opposed reinstatement and the suspension remained.In 1966, Babe Pratt, found guilty of gambling the season before Gallinger and Taylor, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
In 1970, the suspension to Taylor and Gallinger was finally lifted. These are the longest suspensions in the history of the NHL. With the suspension lifted, Taylor became a scout for the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
, but Gallinger never returned to the NHL. However, according to Gallinger's son, Don Gallinger, Jr. the lifting of the ban served to give his father peace of mind.
Personal life
Don Gallinger grew up and played sports in Port Colborne, Ontario. He was the youngest of six children. He was childhood friends with Toronto Maple Leafs' captain Teeder Kennedy.Hospital for Sick Children
The Hospital for Sick Children – is a major paediatric centre for the Greater Toronto Area, serving patients up to age 18. Located on University Avenue in Downtown Toronto, SickKids is part of the city’s Discovery District, a critical mass of scientists and entrepreneurs who are focused on...
in Toronto. Gallinger and his wife ran several downtown hotels. Gallinger participated in baseball in the early 1950s, captaining the Kitchener-Waterloo Panthers to two championships. He also coached the Junior B teams in Hamilton and Port Colborne in the early 1960s. After Gallinger and his wife separated in the mid-1960s, he moved to Burlington where he lived for 30 years until his death. Kathleen Gallinger died in a car accident at age 41.
In the mid-1940s, Gallinger had an affair with a young Canadian socialite. The affair became more of a scandal when she became pregnant. Her parents sent her off to California as it was unthinkable for an heiress to marry just a hockey player. The boy was born in 1947 and was put up for adoption. In 1998, the boy, now Bruce Black a San Jose businessman, decided to finally contact his birth father. Black had been told at age 18 by his adoptive parents who his birth father was, but lacked the nerve to contact him. Black did not know Gallinger's whereabouts, but had met San Jose Sharks broadcaster Dan Rusanowsky
Dan Rusanowsky
Dan Rusanowsky is an American sports broadcaster, best known being for the radio play-by-play announcer for the San Jose Sharks since the team's inaugural season in 1991–92...
whose hobby was genealogy research. With Rusanowsky's assistance he located Gallinger. In late 1998, Black phoned Gallinger and then later took his family to Toronto to meet his father and half-brothers. When Gallinger died in 2000, his obituary included Black as one of his surviving sons.
Don Gallinger died of a heart-attack February 3, 2000 at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington, Ontario. Gallinger was survived by sons Don, Michael, Kim and Bruce.