Hockey player.
Born in Winnipeg on 6 December 1882, brother of Nixon John Breen and Thomas George Breen, he played hockey for several Winnipeg clubs, including the Winnipeg Assiniboines. A centre, he was noted as a checker as well as a goal scorer. He also was an alley bowler of distinction. He played professionally in the Manitoba Hockey League in 1907-1908 and 1908-1909. He applied for reinstatement as an amateur in 1911-1912 but was refused. He worked for Robert Jones Whitla and later the Codville Company before joining his brother Thomas in the Breen Motor Company. He was a member of the Carleton Club, Elmhurst Golf and Country Club, and St. Charles Country Club. He died following an operation at Rochester, Minnesota on 3 September 1927. He was inducted posthumously into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame (2019).
Brother-in-law of James Albert Davidson.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Breen Garage and Auto Sales Building (702-710 Broadway, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Breen Motor Company Building (245 Main Street, Winnipeg)
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
“Billy Breen, athlete business man, is dead” Undated newspaper clipping. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B8]
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, December 1999, 288 pages.
We thank Iain Fyffe, Nathan Kramer, and Jordan Makichuk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 29 March 2025
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