Professor Dorothy Nichol was inducted as a builder to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame.
Dorothy Annabelle Nichol was born in Toronto on June 18, 1928 and resided in Pointe Claire, Que., until the age of 72 when she was stricken with cancer and died on Jan. 8, 2001. An accomplished physical education undergrad at McGill from 1945 to 1949, she was a skilled guard and captain of the basketball team and earned a bachelor of science.
Upon graduation, she joined the department of women's athletics as an instructor and basketball coach, staying on staff for 40 years until retiring in 1989. She was a leader in the 1960s, an inspiration to women's athletics in Canada and laid a foundation for the future.
An assistant and associate professor at McGill's Macdonald College campus in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue from 1952 to 1970, Nichol became one of the first female directors of women's athletics, holding the position for 15 years, from 1955 until 1970.
As an associate professor in physical education from 1970 to 1989, she would lecture all day and would coach and referee in the evening, organizing workshops and providing guidance in basketball, hockey and soccer.
One of the first qualified female referees in basketball, volleyball and hockey, Nichol officiated games in the "Big Four" conference which included teams from McGill, Western, Queen's and Toronto.
She organized and actively lobbied for the development and funding of women's intercollegiate sports program in basketball, hockey and soccer. She arranged numerous clinics and workshops for basketball coaches and referees.
She also chaired the Canadian officials rating board which trained referees in women's sports, particularly in basketball and volleyball.
A strong advocate of women's sport in the smaller college and university system, Nichol organized and managed many intercollegiate tournaments and was an instigator for the formation of the Stewart Intercollegiate League in women's basketball with teams from Macdonald College, Carleton, McMaster and Guelph.
She also entered the McGill and Macdonald teams in the Montreal Ladies City League. She pushed for growth of a women's intercollegiate league and eventually overcame enough hurdles to become a founding director of the Ontario-Quebec Women's Conference of Intercollegiate Athletics.
