A St. Albert resident was honoured for his 40-year contribution to the sport of racquetball on Saturday.
Jack McBride, 84, was inducted to the Racquetball Hall of Fame on May 28 in Montreal, Que.
McBride was joined by his wife and his eldest son in Montreal, which made the moment extra special, he said.
Emotions hit McBride the highest at the end of his speech. As he went to sit down the predominantly French crowd gave him a standing ovation.
“The crowd stood up and give me a standing ovation. That's when I started getting a little bit emotional,” he said. “I thought that was pretty special coming from Quebec French-speaking people to an Albertan-English individual, but they all normally have known me for years. So that was kind of special.”
McBride, who was born in Winnipeg, said he started playing racquetball late in life at the age of “somewhere around 47” in Victoria B.C. after retiring from the Canadian military where he worked as a physical trainer.
He got into the sport because they built a new club not far from where he had worked. His wife bought him the membership.
“I was there for six months, and the management approached me and asked me if I would manage the club,” he said.
“And it just went from there.”
As a manager he started doing club tournaments, local tournaments, provincial tournaments, and Canadian tournaments. He organized international events hosted in Canada. McBride served as technical director, tournament director before holding the position of president with Racquetball Canada, which he completed in 2018. While he served as president of Racquetball Canada he led policy development including a code of conduct and he developed the Hall of Fame.
McBride also served terms with the International Racquetball Federation and the Pan American Racquetball Confederation, as stated on the Racquetball Canada website.
“I went through the whole gambit,” he said.
McBride said there have been many moments that have stood out for him over the years of playing the sport.
He has won around 10 Canadian championships, and he was the first player to win the triple crown which is the Canadian Championship, the U.S. Open Championship, and the World Championship when he was 75. McBride said he got a championship ring.
His youngest son, who knew his older brother would be getting the ring from that championship, wanted a ring too.
McBride, who had turned 80 at this point said, “I said, ‘Well, I'll go back and get you another one.’ And I did. And I did win again. I won (the Triple Crown) again. And now both of my boys are going to have a ring.”
Another highlight for McBride is winning the World Championships in mixed doubles on two occasions with his wife Marion.
“I tell everybody that she had a really good partner,” he said.
When it comes to any moments of regret he has had in the sport, McBride said racquetball has only been a high for him.
McBride said he loves the sport because it is a fast game, and it has kept him fit over the years.
“It's very fast. It's certainly a game for fitness. I don't care who you are,” he said.
Advice he has for anyone starting out in the sport is to keep at it for at least a month.
“Because it takes you that long to start to realize where the ball goes. I mean, it's very lively at bounce very quickly bounces high,” he said.
McBride quit playing racquetball when he was 82 due to back problems.
“I got a vertebra that's pressing on some nerves and it's running me some grief,” he said.
He was upset when he was told he couldn’t play anymore, and he had to come to terms with that.
“I guess because of my age, I was at that time I was about 82. And I just said, ‘You know, what are you complaining about? You played for all these years. You're 82 years of age. Just accept the fact that you can't play anymore and that's it,’” he said.
McBride said people see him and tell him he could play if he wanted to, but he knows he can’t.
“I would love to, but it's just not worth what the pain that I went through for those two years,” he said.
However, there is something that McBride has found to replace racquetball and that something is Max.
“It's a friend of mines dog. I look after it for him. And this (Max) is just the love of our life,” he said.
Max is a “measuring stick” for McBride’s pain level.
“When I walk him — he gets at least three walks a day — I get pain in my back and I have to learn to cope with it, until I get to a spot where I can deal with it either by sitting down or stretching and doing some exercises so that I can continue on and it's all because of this little guy,” he said.
McBride said he has no complaints about his life.
“It is what it is.”
He is currently working on a biography about his life.
