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Once in a while, throughout my journey in life, I am blessed to meet some very special people who really make an impact on me. Sometimes it’s at work, sometimes in the community and others just by chance. I am so grateful that in the past few weeks I was introduced to this amazing gentleman, Dan Willie MacKinnon, from New Waterford. I had no idea who he was other than he was Dougie MacKinnon’s dad (Dougie taught my daughter Phys. Ed. at BEC).
I have now had some time to chat with Dan Willie and get to know him and some of his family. I found out that Dan Willie was an Industrial Arts teacher for many years. He is a die-hard Toronto Maple Leafs fan which instantly made us friends LOL He is also an avid cribbage player which scored even more points with me. But the biggest thing I have learned about this fascinating gentleman (and I mean gentleman in every sense of the word), is that he lives and breathes baseball!
Dan played ball his whole life and was a member of several teams including the New Waterford Senior Giants who won the 1959 Maritime Championship! Now there’s a lot more history here and I don’t want to be a spoiler LOL You can see from the photos and articles below all of Dan’s accomplishments, second of course to raising his beautiful family.
I was also given a chance to take photos of some of his memorabilia which you can see below.
Dan Willie has been inducted into the New Waterford and District Sports Hall of Fame, the Cape Breton Sports Hall of Fame, and the Maritime Sports Hall of Fame!
Dan Willie and his family have very generously provided me the permission to share the video below of him telling his story about the importance of baseball and sports. It’s well worth a watch!
Dan Willie.mp4Special thank you to Dan Willie, his beautiful wife Nancy, and children Norma, Janet, Dougie, Blair and David for their kindness and generosity in allowing us to honor Dan on our Hawks Dream Field website.
With much respect, Lisa McNeil-Campbell, Chairperson, Hawks Dream Field Society
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