About John F. Mayell

John was a native Calgarian who attended Balmoral, King George and Crescent Heights High Schools, where he was an outstanding athlete in football, hockey and track & field; which were the only sports offered at that time. In 1942 he went overseas with the RCAF as a Navigator. After the war he attended the U of Washington in Seattle, where he received his teaching degree. One of John’s early experiences was at New Dayton, where he coached basketball and track & field. In 1948 he was hired by the Calgary Board of Education as a PE teacher at Western Canada High School, where he also coached basketball and won 2 consecutive City Championships in the 1948-49 and 1949-50 seasons. After 5 years at Western he was offered the job of Director of High School Athletics for the city and he remained in that position for 25 years, retiring in 1978. His wife Helen was also an educator and I might add, a fantastic math teacher! John was the proud father of 2 children, a son Jack who is an architect in Calgary and a daughter Linda who lives in Edmonton. Under John’s leadership physical education and athletics became an outstanding program in Calgary that was admired by all. He was also instrumental in bringing both the Calgary Board of Education and the Calgary Separate School District together in athletics under the operational umbrella of the CSHSAA; and Calgary is the only successful program in Canada to do so.

John was the first Secretary-Treasurer of the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association and held that position until his retirement in 1978. On the national level, he was part of a committee which created the Canadian Federation of Provincial Schools Athletic Association in 1974, to better serve all of Canada in high school athletics. John was also honoured as the first recipient of the Bob Routledge Award for Outstanding Service to the Province of Alberta in Physical Education. In 1973 John was selected by the Calgary Booster Club as Calgary’s Sportsperson of the Year. Finally, in 2007 at the age of 91 years, John was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame as a most worthy pioneer in high school athletics.