…a multi-sport athlete who personified the best of the Acadia tradition.
Marion (Eaton) Bishop, a member of the graduating Class of ’31, was a multi-gifted athlete who starred in basketball, tennis, swimming, track and field and tumbling.
In basketball, she was a key member of a very strong club that captured the tri-province championship during the ’30-31 season. On that occasion -in which the squad enjoyed an undefeated season -Marion combined with Ethel Ingraham and Frances Brown to provide the offensive heroics, while Hazel Warner, Marion-Baker, Dot Allen and Gertrude Phinney provided the defensive skills.
In track and field she was an outstanding performer, participating in the major Maritime meets of the time.
During the Fall of ’29 when the first indoor track and field meet took place at Acadia, she shared individual laurels with such noted performers as Howie Ryan, Gint Cain and Gertrude Phinney. In fact, her total of 13 points fell just two short of Phinney’s overall winning number. During that same season, she was a member of the Halifax-Dartmouth relay team that won a silver medal at the Canadian Championship meet held in Montreal. That year, too, she won a silver medal in the 200 yard event at the Maritime Track Meet held in Halifax.
At the pool in 1930, her junior class won the Halifax Herald Trophy as she emerged as the meet’s high scorer.
She was a gifted gymnast as well, being part of Coach Terry Osborne’s Tumbling Club that attracted plenty of attention at the time.
In tennis, she was one of the University’s top performers, combining with Gertrude Phinney, Betty DeWit and others in 1929 to enable Acadia to provide Mt. Allison’s varsity stars with plenty of competition.
As a fitting tribute to her athletic prowess while at Acadia, she was presented with the silver “A” and a “gold basketball” pendant as a keepsake.
