Ray Lewis Nelson Smillie (born January 18, 1904, date of death April 21, 1993) was a Canadian boxer who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics where he won the bronze medal in the welterweight class after winning the third place match against Robert Galataud.
Ray came from an athletic family. As a member of the Toronto YMCA he was an avid gymnast, competing in the high bar, pammel horse and tumbling events. As part of the Argonaut's junior rowing team he held the bow position. And in 1919 he won the gold medal in the Ontario Swimming Championships in the twenty yard sprint. He also played football, tennis and golf. Ray's next endeavour into sports was a very successful career in boxing. In 1925, his first competitive year, he won the Ontario Championships and then advanced to the National Championships where he again won gold.
His accomplishments include:
- 1925 Canadian Amateur Welterweight Boxing Champion
- Silver Medalist Pan-American match Boston Lion's Club Cup
- 1927 New England and Ontario Title
- 1928 Olympic trials in Montreal - qualified for the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- 1928 Olympic Bronze Medalist Amsterdam Olympics
- Refereed over 2,000 fights throughout the 1930s
- Lieutenant Officer Canadian Navy, World War Two
- Founder of Sault Ste. Marie Naval Vets
Ray was born in Toronto, Ontario to Sara Louise Winter and William Nelson Smillie. His younger brother Donald was also an athlete and played professional hockey for the St. Louis Rangers. He adored his younger sister Phyllis who was athletic and adventurous like her brothers.
He married Christina Fraser Carruthers in 1930. They had three children: John Donald Ray Smillie born in 1932 and twin girls, Caryl Margaret and Patricia Jean born in 1935.
Ray died in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario in 1993. He has six grandchildren from his son John who married Merrilou Paquette in 1955: June Louise; Phyliss Jean; Susan Nancy; Janet Shirley; Christine Alice; and Catherine Margaret Smillie. His daughter Caryl married Alvin Oja. They had four children, Eric, Mark, Marja-Liisa, and Stephanie. His daughter Pat married Gordon Wilson, they had three daughters, Karen, Colleen and Heather.