Leslie Emerson Eaton
Dr Eaton Mainstay of Wolfville Sports
Leslie Eaton was an active sportsman from his school days in the 1890s through the 1920s and beyond; he also contributed to the governance and running of sport in both the Wolfville area and in Nova Scotia. As a student athlete at Acadia from 1899 to 1903, he was seen by contemporaries as “a good athlete, halfback on the football team, and easily the best distance runner in college.” During the sports day at the close of the 1901 term, Eaton won the mile and half mile and in the interclass meet of the same year, he won the half mile and quarter mile, and was second in the 220 yard run and in the pole vault–an indication of his all-round skill.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Dental College in 1905, he established a practice in Madras, India. In 1920 he returned to Wolfville where he established his dental practice and quickly became involved in town sport. During the 1920s he was ranked among the top ten men’s singles tennis players in Nova Scotia. In 1923, he lost in the men’s finals to C.H. Mercer of Halifax, though the Acadian Recorder noted: “in the third set Dr Eaton, although the older of the two players, seemed to have better staying qualities....” He regularly figured in late round tennis matches through the 1920s both in singles and doubles. In 1929, he was on the ranking committee of the provincial tennis association and was the convenor of the 1929 provincial and Maritime tennis meet. Eaton frequently served as a judge for track and field events held at Acadia, including the interscholastic Acadia Relays of 1932 and referred swimming meets. He served on the Wolfville School Board and the Acadia Board of Governors.
(Acadia Athenaeum, June 1903; Acadian Recorder, 11 August 1923)
