served as president of the local Royal Canadian Legion, and was the commanding officer of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets squadron in Rivers. He also served as president of the local Kiwanis Club, the Rivers Credit Union and the Rivers Liberal Association. He was chairman of the financial committee for the Immaculate Conception Church in Rivers, and was chairman of the board of governors for the local hockey arena. Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association Dawson managed an intermediate level ice hockey team from Rivers during the 1952–53 playoffs, which was disqualified by the Manitoba Amateur Hockey Association (MAHA) for the use of illegal players. He became president of the Rivers Hockey Association in 1953 and served three consecutive terms until 1955. He was also invited to join the MAHA executive committee after expressing his grievances, and served as a convenor for the intermediate level from 1954 to 1957. He was elected second vice-president of the MAHA in October 1955, and was elected first vice-president of the MAHA in October 1957. Dawson was elected president of the MAHA to succeed Curly Tyler in October 1958. The MAHA had its greatest registration to date and sought to reimburse teams in rural Manitoba for the cost of developing players lost to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) who in turn profited by selling players to professional teams. Dawson planned to promote and raise funds for minor ice hockey with a Minor Hockey Week in January 1959. Dawson was re-elected president in October 1959. He sought a financial arrangement with the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association (SAHA) if the Flin Flon Bombers were to affiliate with the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) instead of the MJHL, and wanted to recuperate the MAHA's costs of developing minor hockey players and on-ice officials in Flin Flon that contributed to local talent. Without a suitable agreement in place to receive a portion of playoffs profits, the MAHA made a proposal at the 1960 Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) general meeting for Flin Flon to be transferred to the SAHA. He also wanted consistent rules used in Western Canada that allowed replacement players for interprovincial playoffs, and was opposed to teams in the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association or Thunder Bay Amateur Hockey Association being given the advantage over the MAHA and SAHA. Dawson was re-elected president in October 1960. The MAHA reached an agreement with the SAHA and Dawson served