Duncan Gillis was born in 1881 in Port Hood, Cape Breton. He moved to Vancouver when he was 19 years old and joined the Vancouver Police Department. In his off-duty hours, he took up the hammer throw. Gillis excelled at this event so much that prior to the 1912 Olympics he defeated the great American Jim Thorpe.

At the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, Gillis captured the silver medal for the 16-pound hammer throw event. After the Olympics, he took up wrestling and became the Amateur Heavyweight Champion of Canada in 1913. British Columbia has adopted Duncan Gillis as their own stating that he was the first British Columbian to win an Olympic medal and posthumously elected him to the B.C. Sport Hall of Fame in 1967.