Robert “Bob” Douglas, a graduate of Queen Elizabeth High School in Halifax, came to Acadia University in the Fall of 1953, and immediately established himself as a star on the Varsity Basketball team.
Considered one of the best back court men in the league at that time, Bob shared the back court duties with Acadia Hall of Famer, Bunty Ford, and was consistently among the leagues leading scorers. He also shared these scoring heroics with fellow Axemen, Jack Garnett, Jack Clark and Claude MacLachlan. During Bob’s tenure with the Axemen, the team posted a creditable winning record in the intercollegiate schedule. His most memorable game as an Axeman was on February 22, 1955 in playoff action against St Francis Xavier. In front of a large and enthusiastic home crowd in the War Memorial Gymnasium he led all scorers in points and assists in a 48-46 victory .
Bob graduated from Acadia in 1956 with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in History. In 1957-58, he was invited to return to this alma mater to coach the Varsity Basketball Axemen, filling in for the coach who as on a leave of absence. This challenge convinced him that further expertise was needed, leading to his enrolment at Boston University in a masters in physical education program.
Returning home to Halifax and a teaching and coaching position at Queen Elizabeth High School, Bob went on to enjoy a long and highly successful career. In his thirty-four years with QEHS his teams won more that eight hundred games in football and men’s and women’s basketball. There were eight metro high school football championships and seven provincial titles. His basketball teams won nine provincial championships and in 1964 added a Canadian title to their list of accomplishments.
Although Bob’s area of concentration was football and basketball, there wasn’t a student athlete in the school who did not experience the “Douglas leadership”.
Bob was also one of the province’s premier basketball referees, officiating in hundreds of high school, senior and university contests. From 1965 -1972 as past president of the Nova Scotia Referees Association, he assigned officials to all intercollegiate games in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Following retirement from teaching and coaching in 1994, he received well deserved acclaim for his many contributions to the field of athletics. In that same year he was inducted as a builder into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame. It is our honour to induct into the Acadia’s Sports Hall of Fame this distinguished basketball Axeman Robert Douglas.
