Keith Mackenzie
Keith Mackenzie has had a positive influence on thousands of young people and their families over the years through his volunteer involvement in sports.
Keith may have been best known as the long-time coach of the CEC football team and the CEC girls basketball team. Through the 1970s and 80s, he led the highly respected football Cougars for 15 years to five provincial championships. Once football season was completed, he switched to girls basketball, which he coached for 14 years, producing six provincial championships and advancing to the championship game for 12 straight years. Keith was the first to be awarded Coach of the Year by Basketball Nova Scotia in 1979.
In 1979 Keith coached the Nova Scotia Canada Games girls basketball team to a first-ever bronze-medal finish. As the longtime CEC athletic director, Mackenzie also served as the Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation regional director from 1983 to 1988 and chairman of the board of governors from 1989 to 1991.
In 1966, Mackenzie was playercoach for the Keith’s fastball team, which won the Truro & District League title from 1966 to 1970, and included the provincial title in 1970. He promoted the team to the Senior B Truro Olands from 1971 to 1974.
In hockey, Keith was president of the TSN Bearcats from 1994 to 1996. He then became president of the reborn Truro Junior A Bearcats, where he led the team for 20 years until his retirement at the end of the 2017 season.
Other impressive sports credentials include: registered umpire with Softball Nova Scotia; secretary, Fundy Umpires Association; lifetime member of the association; founder and first president of Colchester Men’s Slo Pitch League; founder of Colchester Men’s Oldtimers Hockey League; chairman of the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame selection committee for six years; awarded Football Canada Merit Award in 1990; member Football N.S. Hall of Fame; Member Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame (builder, 1991).
Last, but not least, Keith was a former long-time member and chairman of the Truro Sports Heritage Society. He invested a huge amount of time into various aspects of encouraging and supporting in various ways the sporting excellence culture of the Truro area. We have Keith to thank for a huge volunteer effort over the years. Those athletes, their families, and the community in general are all the better for it. Maddie Quinn, a star javelin thrower, is nominated for the Truro Sport Heritage Society outstanding female athlete, 16-20 award. where he started in both defense cial all-star and is ranked fifth and offense positions, including overall in the province and is the quarterback. He was instrumenthird overall male lifter, which are tal in leading the team to a Tier 2 rankings held against adult lifters. championship banner. Jevan has also held the distinc
Michael also captured NSSAF tion of top junior lifter for two years provincial gold as a member of and is expected to keep that title. the CEC badminton team, playJevan also gives back to the sport ing singles, and was counted on by coaching both youth and adults to anchor the team. through their fitness journey.
Michael is also considered an outstanding javelin thrower and set a CEC school record in the intermediate boys division.
As a member of the 16U Tide volleyball team, Michael helped capture the Volleyball N.S. provincials and went on to win gold at the Division 1 Tier 2 16U nationals in Waterloo, Ont., finishing ninth in Eastern Canada. He was also the starting libero for the CEC boys’ volleyball team, capturing the Division 1 provincial championship title.