John “Brother” MacDonald’s contributions to sport as an athlete and teacher are legendary. Men and women who live far from the area in Pictou County, where MacDonald has made his home for nearly forty years, know the good gained by having had him as a coach and character builder.

The Sydney Mines native graduated from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish where he was a noted athlete in baseball, hockey, track and field, and rugby. He was elected to the St. F.X. Sports Hall of Fame. From there he received his degree in physical education at McGill University in Montreal.

It was in 1948 that Brother made New Glasgow his home after he was hired as physical education director of New Glasgow High School.

He continued a thriving thirty-one-year relationship with the young people there as high school teams in various sports excelled. Brother was also heading the minor hockey program for New Glasgow under the auspices of the New Glasgow Rotary Club and the Little League baseball program under the New Glasgow Kinsmen Club. Also formed was an annual track and field meet for New Glasgow under sponsorship of the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 34. Upon his retirement from school, the Kinsmen held a testimonial dinner with such notables as, slugging king Hank Aaron and broadcaster Danny Gallivan as special guests.

Brother’s accomplishments as an athlete have already been understated with his induction into the Nova Scotia Sport Heritage Centre Hall of Fame, as a member of the famed Stellarton Albions of the old Halifax and District League during the years 1951-1953. This was when baseball in Nova Scotia was still in its heyday, when people had no need to gaze at a television set for the thrills of the sport. They were generously supplied in their own backyard.

Brother was known as an efficient fielder and astute line- drive hitter during his time. His batting average was at or near the top of the league’s top ten.

Later Brother branched into officiating and was seen invariably with Clary Potts, another member of the Albions inducted with the team, refereeing hockey at the college, junior, and senior, and intermediate levels for many years. Brother was usually called upon to be ring announcer at the many boxing matches scheduled for Pictou County and elsewhere at the time.

Throughout this time, he has been a familiar voice on regular CKEC radio sportscasts along with providing play-by-play of many memorable junior and senior hockey games.

For all these works, we garner an appreciation of the man and beliefs and standards of fair play for which he has been a beacon through the most turbulent of times in the theatres of sport. There is within Brother a morality in sport that always permeates an effort in which he is involved.

This is the leading edge of what comes to mind when Brother’s name is considered for induction into the Nova Scotia Sport Heritage Centre Hall of Fame. Inductees, such as Reverend Leo “Pop” McKenna are among those who Brother singles out as teachers of goodwill in sport on and off the field.

Yet on his own, John Brother MacDonald, as a person and through his work, has fittingly joined this illustrious group of builders for whom our heritage is the better.

John passed away on December 5^th, 2003.

Bio Courtesy of Stephen Goodwin