CLARKSON
ATHLETICS HALL of FAME

PAUL PILON '40
Inaugural Class of 1992 Inductee

Paul Pilon was an outstanding member of the Clarkson hockey teams through 1936-38. On November 6, 1938, Pilon and several other hockey players, including his brother Maurice '39, were in a car accident on the Potsdam-Canton Road. Paul died the following morning as a result of the injuries. The car in which he was a passenger was returning to Potsdam from Cornwall, Ontario, where the Clarkson hockey team was practicing. In the collision with a second car, four lives were lost and ten people were injured. Of the deceased, Pilon was the only Clarkson student. In his remembrance, the Phalanx Society of Clarkson initiated a memorial award.

The Paul J. Pilon Memorial Award was established in the memory of the brilliant defenseman, and it is awarded when appropriate to the senior who has excelled both as a student and a hockey player. Paul's brother Maurice was the first recipient in 1938 and to this day it is one of the most coveted Golden Knight awards. Among the most outstanding athletes ever to attend Clarkson, Pilon was also one of the finest gentlemen ever to wear the green and gold. A man of unusually fine character, Pilon was respected and admired by all who knew him. His untimely death was a severe loss to Clarkson from every standpoint-scholastic, personal and athletic.

The Clarkson University Athletic Hall of Fame was founded to honor and perpetuate the memory of those individuals who, either through participation, support or interest have made outstanding contributions to Clarkson athletics, and who have helped to bring recognition, honor and distinction to the University. It is with great pride that Clarkson inducts Paul J. Pilon into the Athletic Hall of Fame.

 

 

William O' Flaherty
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Hall of Fame Chairman
October 31, 1992