A graduate of Westdale Secondary School and McMaster University, David Braley has become an immensely successful Hamilton businessman.

That business acumen has allowed him to indulge his passion in supporting the Canadian Football League.

Braley, who coached high school football at Westdale, is a former chair of the CFL’s board of governors and was the league’s interim commissioner for eight months in 2002.

He owned the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 1989 to 1992 and is credited with rescuing the team from near extinction.

Braley has owned the B.C. Lions since 1997 and now owns the Toronto Argonauts as well.

He’s also known for quietly working behind the scenes in other projects in Hamilton’s sporting community. He was the driving force behind the World Cycling Championships in Hamilton and was instrumental in helping bring the 2015 games to Southern Ontario.

Braley, who was recently appointed to the Canadian Senate, has donated millions of dollars to sporting, health-care and entertainment causes including McMaster’s new athletic centre which bears his name.

He was inducted into McMaster’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2007 in the builder’s category.