John ?Johnny? Loaring?? Windsor Athlete Par Excellence

A Tribute On The 80th Anniversary Of His Alma Mater: Kennedy C.I.

The corner of Tecumseh Rd.

and Ouellette Ave. was a busy place at the end of the 1920s. Curious onlookers watched as a new high school began to take shape on an 11 acre plot of land facing Tecumseh, just east of where Ouellette dead-ended. At the same time, Windsor City Council was embroiled in a controversy about the purchase of a 64 acre parcel of land next to the construction site. After a prolonged debate, the land, owned by the Windsor Jockey Club, was purchased by the city and went on to become a park, named after Mayor Cecil Jackson. Although Jackson Park and its Queen Elizabeth II Sunken Gardens were yet to become realities, on Tuesday, September 3rd, 1929, the Honourable William C. Kennedy Collegiate Institute opened its doors. Built by architects Cameron and Ralston at a cost of $750,000 during a period of prosperity that would soon come to a jarring halt due to the Great Depression, Kennedy Collegiate was immediately recognized as one of the finest schools in the area, joining Walkerville (opened in 1922) and the newly named Patterson Collegiate. Although the school was principally regarded for academics, from the outset, athletics played an important role in Kennedy?s legacy. One of those who helped establish the school?s superiority in sports was a teenager named John ?Johnny? Loaring. Born on August 3rd, 1915 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, John Wilfrid Loaring attended Grade 9 in Kennedy?s inaugural year. But the fact that John ever became a star athlete is all but a miracle in itself. John contracted rheumatic fever and was told by the family doctor that he would never run again. Yet, undeterred and with the blessing of his family, he began to run, easily at first and then in championship form. Nurtured in track under the direction of Kennedy?s athletic director Ken Wills and coach George Chapman, John was a member of the Canadian team at the 1934 Intra-Empire Schoolboy Games in Melbourne, Australia. He won gold medals in the 120 yard high hurdles and as a member of the 440 yard relay team. In 1935, there was little surprise when John Loaring led the Kennedy Collegiate track team to a provincial championship. Left, top to bottom: In July of 1936, John Loaring, 20 at the time, boards a train taking him to a ship voyage to Europe and the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Two years later he was practicing in Australia for the British Empire (now the Commonwealth) Games in Sydney. Photos courtesy John Loaring, Jr. BY KEVIN SHEA

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