For over five decades Al Yarr was a fixture on the Dalhousie University sport scene, involving himself in basketball and track. He started coaching at Dal in 1963 and during his tenure, he helped guide the Tigers to over 60 AUAA conference championships. Yarr has received numerous AUAA Coach of the Year awards for both cross country and track and was Dalhousie Coach of the Year in 1987. He was named the Nova Scotia Track & Field Association Coach of the Year in 1989 and 1991, and was runner-up twice for Nova Scotia Amateur Coach of the Year.

He is also a former assistant coach with Canada’s national men’s basketball squad and was head coach of the Canadian women’s cross-country team at the World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1991. A retired educator, Al is still head cross country coach and assistant track coach at Dalhousie.