Donald McPherson

Class of 1995: Athlete

As a young four year-old Donald began skating at the Stratford Figure Skating Club and went on to become an exceptional athlete and claim a number of firsts in the history of figure skating. Competing at the senior level he claimed runner-up honors at the 1960, ’61 and ’62 Canadian Championships.

In 1963 he became the first man to claim the Canadian, North American and World Senior Men’s titles all in one year without having won any of them previously. Donald was the first man in world championships to jump from fourth to first place and, having just turned 18 years of age, the youngest man ever to win the world title. Retiring from amateur competition in 1963 and overcoming enormous physical hardships, he went on to star with “Holiday on Ice” in Europe for 10 years. In 1965, he won the Men’s World Professional Championships.