Whether it was racing a war canoe at a national championship or competing at a world level. Frank Garner taught his athletes to excel.

Through his coaching, Garner helped bring paddling in Nova Scotia to a higher level and made the province a national force to be reckoned with.

A native of Mississauga, Ontario, Garner came to Nova Scotia to attend Saint Mary’s University, where he played football from 1964 – 67. He fell in love with the province and stayed here, later marrying a local woman and raising a family here.

When Cheema opened in 1969, Garner became its first head coach. He brought a long list of impressive canoe credentials with him. During seven years as a paddling competitor, he was a Junior World medalist and multiple national title holder for the Mississauga Canoe Club.

During the ten years Garner coached at Cheema, the new club quickly established itself nationally, becoming one of the top three canoe clubs in the country by 1975. Cheema captured the overall Canadian Championship, a first for a Bluenose entry, at the Nationals in 1977.

Garner also groomed some of the province’s best paddlers of all time, including the likes of Don Brien, Ann Dodge, Dave MacNaughton and Randy McDonald. These Cheema athletes represented Canada at such elite international competitions as the Junior and Senior World Championships and the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.

The provincial paddling scene also benefitted from Garner’s involvement. He was Nova Scotia’s paddling coach at the 1973 Canada Summer Games in Burnaby, B.C. and was instrumental in getting the sport’s coaches organized into a provincial association.

Garner became involved with the national team as a volunteer coach in 1974 and over the years headed Canadian contingents at 45 world class competitions and training camps. Canadian athletes under his guidance captured 50 medals at an elite level.

He became head coach of Canada’s national team in 1980 and remained in that post until 1984. The pinnacle of his stint there was the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where Canada’s paddling crew captured an all-time record six medals.

He received the Coaches Association of Canada’s coaching excellence award in 1984, and the following year was named Nova Scotia’s amateur coach of the year and winner of the Canadian Canoe Association’s Edgar Gilbert Award for coaching excellence.

Since retiring from the national team, Garner has remained active in several sport organizations at the national and provincial level, including the CCA and Canadian Olympic Association. He has been active in bids to bring the Pan-American Games and Junior and Senior World Canoe Championships to Halifax – Dartmouth.

Bio Courtesy of JoAnn Sherwood