Class of 2010: Athlete
Born in 1866 in Kingston, Ontario, George Meagher was a figure skating pioneer in Canada and in Europe. He is best known for both his talent on the ice and for the co-founding of the Minto Skating Club in Ottawa, Ontario. In 1891 he won the Amateur Championships of the World (Ottawa) and in 1898 won the Professional Championships of the World (Vienna). Media reports from the day described his skating. “His repertoire of steps, tricks and figures is now a long one. Among other things he can do twenty-three different grapevines, fourteen spins and seventy-four figure eights, and over one hundred anvils on one foot without stopping… He does all these things with a grace and suppleness which leave the novice little idea of the real intricacy and difficulty of the figures and the risks he takes in his jumps.”
Meagher also published three books on skating technique; his best known titles are Figure and Fancy Skating (1895) and Lessons in Skating, published in 1900. Meagher is also credited for introducing ice hockey to Europe in 1894 while on a figure skating trip to Paris. He passed away in 1930 at the age of 63 at his home in Montreal, Quebec.
Inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame 2010.
