Condensing the life and times of C. Arnold Patterson becomes a daunting challenge because his contributions to the provincial sports culture as a builder over six decades are monumental. 

Arnie’s involvements in sports have been wide ranging and diverse, ranging from canoe racing, golf, hockey, harness racing, boxing, bowling, softball, soccer, and tug of war, to ox pulling, and several lesser interests. As he grew up in Dartmouth, Arnie had an abiding love of the sports he played and later organized, following a family tradition of excellence. He is the fourth Patterson family member elected to the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame, behind father Charles, and great uncles, Charlie and Sandy. As outstanding marathon runners, they inspired Arnie to become involved for 30 years as announcer of the Dartmouth Natal Day modified marathon. A lifelong golfer at Brightwood Golf and Country Club, Arnie served as president of the Maritime

Seniors Golf Association, founder of the pre-seniors tournament, director of the Nova Scotia Golf Association, creator of the Dartmouth Open, president of the Isla Del Sol Yacht and Country Club (Florida), and widely-read golf columnist. He plays to a seven-handicap and has a remarkable six hole-in-ones. Another early love was harness racing. He was announcer and judge for the International Ice Races on Lake Banook in the 1940’s, then at Truro Raceway, and in the 1950’s and 60’s, as announcer and director at Sackville Downs.

As organizing chairman of the first-ever Canada Summer Games in Halifax in 1969, Arnie secured $7 million to fund sports facilities in the area. As General Manager of Moosehead Breweries in the late 1960’s, the imaginative Mr. Patterson blazed an unprecedented promotional trail for amateur sports in Nova Scotia, sponsoring 60 teams in various sports from the South Shore to Cape Breton.

He was chairman of a Glace Bay Sports Day. In 1959, as a member of Sydney’s 175th Anniversary organizing committee, he persuaded the Montreal Canadiens great fastball team to compete against local company teams and chaired harness racing’s Dosco Pace as part of the Festivities. Still, Arnie’s heart was never far from his beloved Dartmouth, which he championed from coast to coast in Canada. No one was more legitimately Mr. Dartmouth for his faithful commitments to his community. He was a writer with the Chronicle-Herald and broadcaster alongside Danny Gallivan and this writer on CJCH in the 1950’s, a partner in St. Mary’s juniors of that period, a founder of Halifax Jr. Canadians with Fred MacGillivray, Sr. and Mike Kelly in the 1960’s, and president of the Dartmouth Lakers in the late ’60’s.

When the American Hockey League was introduced by the Nova Scotia Voyageurs in 1970, Arnie’s CFDR became the radio voice and the boss became a team director. He worked closely with Montreal GM Sam Pollock, Premier Gerald Regan and Mayor Edmund Morris to create Halifax Metro Centre in 1978. It was Pollock who said, “Arnie is beside us, in front of us, behind us, and his promotion of hockey and all sports in Nova Scotia has been Exceptional” C. Arnold Patterson’s life in sports has been a labour of love without any personal rewards.

Bio Courtesy of Pat Connolly