 Gillis was born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and his family moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, when he was still a boy.After attending Holy Family High School in that city, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II in the Pacific Theater of operations.At war's end, he attended Boston's Leland Powers School of Broadcasting on the GI Bill and began a career in radio broadcasting at New Bedford's WBSM-AM in 1949, becoming that station's first sports director.