Hall of Fame
A 57-year-old native of Ville St. Pierre, Que., Cathy Haig attended Montreal West high school (now known as Royal West Academy), then onto John Abbott College before moving on to McGill.
At University, Haig played four seasons of field hockey at right inner forward in addition to a couple of seasons as a forward in ice hockey, from 1976 to 1980. In her senior year, she took the fall semester off as an exchange at UBC so that she could train with the national team, which centralized in Vancouver, to prepare for the world championships.
On the ice, she guided the Martlets to the Montreal Women's Hockey League championship in her freshman campaign, winning the league scoring title with 21 points in 12 games.
A two-time MVP of the field hockey Martlets, Haig served as team captain and was an OWIAA conference all-star. A prolific player who averaged almost one goal per game, she became McGill's all-time leading scorer.
Haig also starred for the Quebec provincial field hockey team from 1977 to 1981 and played five years as a carded-athlete with the Canadian national squad, including stints at the 1978 World Cup in Spain, a 1979 tour of Great Britain and the 1981 World Cup in Buenos Aires, where Canada placed fifth. She graduated in 1980 with a degree in physical education.
Haig then embarked on a teaching career, working first with troubled youths, in open and lock-up facilities as a child-care councillor, in Montreal and later, in Fort McMurray, Alta. She currently teaches Grades 7 and 8 at Scott Young public school in Omemee, Ont., and plans to retire next year.
In 1983, she married David Phendler, a McGill grad (Engineering '80) and the couple had two daughters -- Joanne and Christine.
