John Devison won the Canadian bantamweight championship in 1959, fourteen years after doctors told his parents he would probably never walk again. Devison, born in 1935, contracted a disease causing separation of the hip joint and the thigh bone. Despite his prognosis, he overcame the infliction and became heavily involved in amateur boxing.

A native of Glace Bay, Devison frequently stepped up in classification to obtain matches and was known to conceal tiny weights on the inner bands of his trunks in order to qualify for a bout against a bigger opponent. Retiring in 1967 after 17 years as an active boxer, he became a coach with the Nova Scotia Branch of the Canadian Amateur Boxing Association. He is a member of the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame. John Devison was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame in 1980.

(Reference: Annual Program Induction Article)