UPEI alumnus donates historic gold medal to alma mater
The year was 1969; the place, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; the event, the first Canada Summer Games.
The young Canadian runners tore down the track in the 100-metre race, but it was Bill McKinnon, an arts major at the University of Prince Edward Island, who broke the tape to take the gold medal for his home province of P.E.I.
Today McKinnon, the only UPEI alumnus to date to have won a gold at the Canada Games, donated his coveted Games medal to his alma mater.
McKinnon came to the 1969 Canada Games athletics event just after having won the 100-metre race at the Eastern Canadian Championships. Understandably, he felt pressured to follow one success with another. He says he was slow coming off the blocks, and last at the halfway mark, but he won that race in 10.5 seconds, taking the gold for P.E.I.
'I still remember touching the tape,' he says.
Following on the heels of his Canada Games win, he took a gold and a bronze at the inaugural Pacific Conference Games in Japan later that year. Those medals were included in his donation today. In between the Canada Games and the Pacific Conference Games, he won a silver medal for the 200-metre race in the Canadian Championships.
After graduating from UPEI in 1970, McKinnon went on to earn a degree in physical education and has taught in many Island schools, including Montague Regional High School where he teaches today. He was inducted into the PEI Sport Hall of Fame in 1971, and he has been awarded The PEI Soccer Association Administrator of the Year and a Hockey Canada Recognition Award. He has been involved in many associations, including the PEI Canada Games, PEI School Athletic Association and the PEI Physical Education Teachers Association to name a few.
He and his wife Heather MacLure, who passed away in 2008, were married for 32 years. They have two sons, Kris (Tammy) and Shawn (Melissa), and two grandchildren, Zach and Alexis.
"UPEI is proud of Bill McKinnon's athletic accomplishments as a Canada Games pioneer and in other competitions," says President Wade MacLauchlan. "This gift of his historic medals means that they will be shared with UPEI students, alumni and the P.E.I. community in perpetuity."
The three medals donated by McKinnon will be on display in the UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place VIP lounge during the 2009 Canada Games. The display will also include other athletics memorabilia from UPEI, St. Dunstan's University and Prince of Wales College.
