Wallace Barteaux, an Annapolis County native and a long time principal, teacher and coach at Kings County Academy in Kentville was one of the province’s best all-round athletes, excelling in baseball, hockey, rugby and track and field. A star in intercollegiate athletics at Acadia, Wallace Barteaux -more familiarly known as “Wally” or “Bart” -also was widely acclaimed as a Kentville Wildcat in both hockey and baseball.
For such heroics on the football fields, baseball diamonds and the ice lanes he was an overwhelming choice as one of the original inductees to the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame in 1979.
At Acadia, Barteaux was a star rugby performer, being captain of the ’26 squad. In a 6-5 victory over Dalhousie that fall, he shared accolades with teammates “Ducky” MacLean and Blair Elderkin. In a 14-0 triumph over a touring Bermuda team, the Acadia captain again shared the spotlight with Elderkin, MacLean and Travis Dougan. In that historic contest Barteaux initiated the scoring eight minutes after the kickoff, making a great run to the Bermuda touch line before passing to MacLeanjust in front of the goal post.
Over the years as a rugby performer, this highly competitive athlete, recognized by both teammates and opposing performers for his keen sense of sportsmanship, became widely applauded for his defensive skills against such as the Halifax Wanderers’ legendary Richie McCoy.
On the ice, Barteaux was equally effective being a star, for example, on the ’24-’25 team that featured the leadership of coach Ted Stackhouse and captain Fred Wright. In contests against Kings’ College and Mount Allison, the quick moving Barteaux shared scoring honors with Wright, Robert “Burnie” Eaton and the Johnsons, Robert and Raymond.
During the ’26-27 season, featuring the initial appearance of Fred Kelly as the hockey mentor, the team played exhibition games only, recording, for example, a 2-all tie and a 5-3 loss to the more experienced Charlottetown senior team in games held on the Island. Subsequently in a contest at Evangeline Rink against Mount Allison, Wallace Barteaux scored Acadia’s lone goal in a 3-1 loss.
On the baseball diamond, Barteaux was, perhaps even more talented, soon becoming recognized as an outstanding shortstop and a very capable catcher. In 1927, for example, he combined with Dougan, Regan, and “Burnie” Baton to form an outstanding infield quartet. In a 12-4 victory over the Halifax Y.M.C.A., this fine throwing shortstop garnered five hits. In a 3-1 victory and a 4-all draw against the legendary Springhill Fencebusters, he sparkled both at bat and in the field.
As a well deserved tribute to Wallace Barteaux’s thirty-five years of yeoman service at K.C.A., his many former students and lifetime friends presented him and his wife Marion with a vacation trip to Rome.
Following departure from his much beloved Kings County Academy in 1962, Barteaux, a major in the Army Cadet Corps, a past president of both the Nova Scotia Teachers Union and the Nova Scotia Headmasters Association, a highly respected umpire and referee in baseball and hockey and an inductee to the Kings Amateur Sports Society and KCA Sports Hall of Fame and a member of the Acadia Hockey Honor Roll, was engaged by the federal government to teach science at a Teachers College in Barbados.
What an honor it is to induct posthumously to the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame, Wallace Barteaux, a highly skilled athlete, an inspirational leader and a renowned educator.
