Harvey Leroy Denton
Denton Breaks 23-Year Old Record
Harvey Denton was one of Acadia’s best middle-distance runners during the first half of the twentieth century, setting and holding records in both mile and half-mile. Born in Digby County, Nova Scotia in 1905, he attended Horton Academy and entered Acadia University with the class of 1930. In 1925, the Halifax Acadian Recorder reported: “At the Acadia College sports at Wolfville yesterday, the outstanding feat was the winning of the mile run by H. Denton...equalling the Maritime Intercollegiate mark for the distance set by Brown, of Acadia, in 1912.” After leaving Horton, Denton continued to set new records in his events. “Since settling here on the hill, he has been prominent in all branches of athletics and holds the intercollegiate record for the mile and the half-mile. In his Junior year he captained Acadia’s track team which won the Maritime title.” In the 1929 interclass track meet, he broke Joe Howe’s 1906 half-mile record. He was part of the Intercollegiate championship track team in 1930, on the winning Bulmer relay team in his junior year as well as on the championship soccer team his Senior year. During his Senior year, he was president of the Acadia Amateur Athletic Association, a mark of the regard of his fellow athletes.
After graduation with a Bachelor of Theology in 1930, Harvey Denton served a number of Baptist churches in the Maritimes as well as in other areas of Canada and was active in church-related social agencies; in 1948-1949, he was president of the United Baptist Convention of the Maritime Provinces. Denton Hall on the Acadia University campus is named in his honour.
