Art Lightfoot (along with Ted Cumming, George Warden, and Abbie Warden) was one of the four men who founded the first summer hockey school in Canada in 1958. The school developed many fine hockey players in the Maritimes including Paul Andrea, a Hall of Fame inductee who went from the school to the Guelph Biltmores of the New York Rangers’ farm system. The school numbered among its coaches Hall of Fame inductees Parker MacDonald and John Hanna.

Lightfoot was always involved with hockey as a player or an administrator. He was a member and captain of the 1942-44 Queen Elizabeth high School hockey team, which won the provincial high school championship. He was also a member of the Halifax Junior Canadians and the Dalhousie University and Acadia University varsity teams. He held coaching and executive positions with the Kentville Minor Hockey Association for 30 years.