John George McKay
McKay– Scholar, Athlete and Poet
John McKay was a respected student leader and athlete at Acadia University between 1911 and 1915. He was a member of championship football teams, including the team that won permanent possession of the King-Richardson trophy in 1913. He was also a member of the varsity track team which in 1913 won the intercollegiate championship; two of McKay’s events were shot put and hammer throw. McKay received his athletic “A” for football and track, and was one of the first men to receive a distinction cap for outstanding athletic performance in intercollegiate sport. He also participated in class sports.
McKay’s literary skills were evident during his years at Acadia. In poetry competitions sponsored by the student periodical the Athenaeum , McKay more often than not wrote the first place poem; in some months both the first and second place poems. Several of the poems were about football, hockey and the joys of sport. During his Junior year, McKay was Editor-in-Chief of the Athenaeum and in his Senior year was President of the Student Council. He won his literary “A” as well as his “A” for sports.
After graduation, McKay studied at Harvard Divinity School for a year, then, working with the YMCA, served in Europe on the Western Front. In 1918, during the Battle of Amiens, he was gassed and severely wounded while setting up an advanced dressing station. He was decorated with a military cross by King George V, and after time in hospitals, returned to Canada. He worked for Montreal’s McGill University YMCA and studied at Presbyterian College in Montreal. He never recovered his health, however, and died in 1923. A book of his poems, Après la guerre, was edited and published after his death.
