Frank Baldwin

Frank Baldwin

Doctor of Civil Law

To anyone who knows the sport in Nova Scotia, “Mr. Basketball,” as he is affectionately known, has enjoyed a distinguished career as a coach and administrator. He founded the Saint Mary’s Basketball Huskies and set them on the path to excellence. He is still to be seen around the basketball court at The Tower on the University, offering the benefit of his unmatched experience to both coaches and young players.

Assuming his first coaching role in 1939, with the Oxford Junior High School team, in 1950 he coached the Queen Elizabeth High School team to the Canadian Juvenile Championship.

Mr. Baldwin first came to Saint Mary’s in 1952, as the manager of the University’s bookstore and canteen. At the same time, he started coaching the men’s basketball team and remained with it until 1962, when he became recreational director for the Canadian Martyrs Church, Halifax.

Throughout the 1970s, he continued to coach at both the provincial and national levels. His service to the game has brought him many honours, including introduction into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in 1979. He was co-founder of the Halifax Juvenile Boys Basketball league. From 1972 until his retirement fourteen years later, he was basketball coordinator at Sport Nova Scotia.

The success of Frank Baldwin’s career has been based not only on his love of basketball, but on his love for people. “People have always been my priority,” he said in an interview a few years ago. At the same time, when asked to recall the highlight of his career, he replied in typical fashion “Every day was a highlight.”