The tributes for Owen Sound Sports icon Jack McGregor continue to pour in, shaded with sadness on his passing this week, but without fail, the memories are warm and fond.
My first solo encounter with Jack McGregor was in a breakfast diner in Nanaimo, British Columbia one morning in Septmber of 1989.
As President of the NorthStars Lacrosse Club, he was excited about the Presidents Cup tournament game that night, and it struck me that as President of the eventual National Champion NorthStars, he was very relaxed and calm that morning.
Jack wasn’t always calm, as I witnessed one night in Owen Sound that summer when he vaulted from the timekeepers box at the Bayshore to confront referee Jimmy Richardson.
The game between the NorthStars and Fergus, as always, was intense and about to boil over when Jack snapped, jumped on the floor and promptly got ejected from his role as timekeeper
Afterwards both Jack and Jimmy laughed about it- they were good friends and in both cases they did their very best to support the game of lacrosse in Owen Sound, and far beyond.
Sometimes Jack McGregor was relaxed. Sometimes Jack was the polar opposite.
But thing of it is, Jack McGregor, calm or not, was always there.
Game after game, season after season, year after year, sport to sport from the 1960’s right up to this Fall, when he realized he couldn’t do it anymore.
When Jack was away, infrequent as that was, and now that Jack has fully departed, his replacements always did a solid job, but in truth, and as a sporting legacy that stretched through 6 decades, Jack McGregor will never be replaced in Owen Sound.
I’m Fred Wallace