There is no sport in the history of Nova Scotia which has gained as much widespread acclaim, and with it as many national championships, as paddling.

John A. MacGlashen, a member of one of Dartmouth’s best-known sporting families, has played a major role in the monumental growth and popularity of this sport.

His nickname, “Mickey,” has passed down through John’s family. His brother, Bill, was the original “Mickey” and starred with Halifax Wolverines who won hockey’s Allan Cup in 1935. His son, Robert, a North American singles canoe champion, is the third Mickey in line.

John’s contribution to paddling is both significant and lengthy. He was an official at the first North American Canoe Championships ever staged at Lake Banook in 1961. In 1970 he played a lead role in founding the Society for Canoe Championships, serving as the Society’s first president and still on its board of directors.

Although Dartmouth’s paddling roots go back to the late 19th century, it was not until 1949 that the Mic Mac Club, followed later by the Banook Canoe Club, affiliated with the Canadian Canoe Association, the national canoeing agency in Canada. John played a role in this organization as Maritime Flag Officer for the Atlantic Division of the CCA in 1972 and served three years on the national CCA board.

Provincially, John was coordinator for canoeing, and helped establish the following canoe clubs: Senobe Aquatic Club, Abenaki Aquatic Club, Cheema Aquatic Club, Masqua Aquatic Club, Orenda Aquatic Club, Pisiquid Aquatic Club, Beaver Canoe Club in Sheet Harbour, Milo Aquatic Club in Yarmouth, Marion Bridge Canoe Club in Cape Breton, and Kennebacasis Canoe Club in Saint John, NB.

As first president of the Society for Canoe Championships, which was established to organize, promote, and operate major canoe/kayak competitive championships on behalf of the Atlantic Division of the Canadian Canoe Association. John travelled to Hungary, Germany, Finland, Mexico and the U.S. promoting Dartmouth as a prime site for international competitions. Dartmouth has since staged such events as the North American Canoe Championships, Pan American Championships, World Cup International, Junior World Championships, and in 1997, Senior World Canoe Championships.

For many years, Nova Scotian paddlers travelled to Ottawa and Montreal for annual national championships, but the Canadian Canoe Association’s national meet was held at Lake Banook in 1971 and again in 1980, 1984, and 1988, earning Dartmouth recognition as “The Canoe Centre of Canada.” The International Canoe Federation has recognized the Society for Canoe Championships as a ranked international organizer of championships and one of the greatest natural resources for canoe championships in the world. Dartmouth has hosted 14 national and international championships since the Society’s beginning.

While paddling was major, John was closely involved in several other sports. From 1949 until 1954 he was assistant manager and later manager of the Nova Scotia Canadian Football League. He helped create the Atlantic Bowl and was, from 1957-1961, president of the Maritime Canadian Football Union.

As a young man in Dartmouth, John played all sports, including junior baseball, hockey, tennis, and basketball. He left high school at the start of World War Il to enlist in the Royal Canadian Navy, serving until 1945. He graduated with honors from Maritime Business College, joined Liquid Carbonic Canadian Corporation as an accountant and spent a number of years as a reporter with the Halifax Chronicle and Star and later, part-time with the Dartmouth Free Press.

In 1953 he rejoined the RCN as a commissioned officer, serving as accountant and pay officer at Shearwater until retirement in 1966.

John’s wife, Edith, is also enrolled in the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame as a member of the Halifax Arcade Ladies Softball Team which won the Maritime Championship 1947 through to 1949.

The three MacGlashen children, Robert (Mickey), John (Archie), and Jayne have been prominent in canoeing. Bob was North American singles champion, Archie a champion paddler and distinctive coach, and Jayne stroke of a national championship war canoe crew and a provincial champion springboard diver.

He was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame in 1999. MacGlashen passed away on June 27, 2014 at age 93.

Bio Courtesy of Arnie Patterson