Athletic Lives of Distinction - M - Z
M - R
Partington, Fred '67 - Soccer
Fred Partington from the Class of 1967 began his career with the Lower School soccer team, coached by Ted Morgan. In his final season, the team was outstanding, going undefeated with only one tie. He tried his hand at a number of sports, including hockey, cricket, Under 16 football; one year he even made it to the boxing finals, “only to have Ross Dunsmore kick the beejeebers out of me,” he recalls. By the time he left Ridley to attend Bishop’s University he had given up boxing in favour of soccer and hockey. He played four years of Varsity soccer, never winning a championship but enjoying great camaraderie. For three years he was a top scoring member of Bishop’s Junior Varsity hockey team. In 1975, as a young professional in Edmonton, he had fond memories of Tuesday night shinny at Ridley, so he organized ice time for his coworkers. Interest spread throughout the business community so he decided to run a tournament, organizing it down to every last detail. He notes: “I even had to buy a used trophy, strip the engravings and re-plaque it for the tournament winner.” His belief in the power of sport to unify and build a sense of community is evident in his creation of the Western Canada hockey tournament, which continues to this day, rotating between western Canadian cities, even though he has long since moved on.
P.O. Box 3013, 2 Ridley Road St. Catharines, Ontario L2R 7C3 Canada 905 684 1889
With more than 700 students from 60 countries, the largest boarding programme in Ontario and the third largest in Canada, Ridley College is a truly international, co-educational, day and boarding school of the world that prepares students for the world. It has provided enriching learning and life-shaping experiences focused on the arts, academics, and athletics since 1889. Ridley’s Lower School offers JK-Grade 8, its Upper School consists of Grade 9-PG, and Ridley graduates attend some of the top universities and colleges around the world. Ridley is the only co-ed independent boarding school in Canada and one of only three in North America authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) continuum programme.
