R.H. King graduate named to Laurier's university's sports hall of fame

MICHELE MCLEAN

November 3, 2009

A former Scarborough football player has made into the Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) Hall of Fame.

James Hitchen, a graduate of R.H. King Collegiate Institute has left Scarborough, but has continued to excel in sports.

He was inducted into the 2009 Golden Hawk Hall of Fame on Oct. 2 at the ceremony at the university in Waterloo.

During his four years at Laurier - he graduated with a double major in kinesiology and communication studies - he was an offensive lineman with the Hawks football program. He earned the Laurier football Rookie of the Year Award in 1997.

In his third season he was named an Ontario University Athletics (OUA) second team all-star and helped Laurier reach the Yates Cup for the first time in four years.

In his final year in 2000 he was named team captain. The team made it to the Yates Cup again, Hitchen earned an OUA first team all-star award and was also named a Canadian Inter-University Sport (CIS) first team all-Canadian.

Besides football he was the all-time team record holder in bench press and squat at WLU.

He credits former coach Frank Quinn for breaking weight lifting records.

"Frank Quinn was the reason that I broke all the weight lifting records at WLU," Hitchen said. "He is a great man and a friend."

After graduating he continued with the football program as an offensive line assistant coach from 2003 to 2005. The team won both the Yates Cup and the Vanier Cup in 2005.

Hitchen graduated with honours distinction from Durham College. He played two years with the Oshawa Hawkeyes of the Canadian Junior Football league. He was selected team captain and played both sides of the ball finishing the season ranked 27 in the country in defensive points playing as a defensive tackle.

He then attended Daemen College and graduated Magna cum laude, with a master of science in education.

That's quite an accomplishment considering he had to not only overcome dyslexia, but the stigma that goes with it.

"I graduated even though when I entered high school many thought that my learning disability was too severe and that I would be 'lucky to survive in community college'," he recalls.

His father, Edward, also was an athlete and suffered from dyslexia.

Edward tried out for the Toronto Argonauts in 1970 and considered a career in professional wrestling.

Although Edward's health has deteriorated - he was injured on the job, which left him disabled, and suffers from arthritis - James said his father is still one of his greatest influences.

"It was easy practising when you were tired after watching your father crawl up the stairs day after day just so that you could have the chance to go to university," he said.

Edwards attended James' induction ceremony at Laurier.

"I'm very proud of him (James)," Edward said.

While attending R.H. King, Hitchen was captain of the hockey team. He also played baseball with the Birchmount baseball league.

Although he currently lives in Kitchener with his wife and children and teaches at Bluevale Collegiate Institute, he admits he has fond memories of Scarborough.

"I miss my family and my friends," Hitchen said. "Sometimes when I am home I'll go to R.H. King and drive around the lot sit on the arches. I've also visited Commander hockey arena and Highview Park where I played a lot of hockey and baseball growing up. Mostly though I miss the people. Don't get me wrong, Waterloo is a great family community, and I know that Scarborough gets a bad rap. But as a kid I was always surrounded by caring genuine people that gave selflessly of their time for the benefit of kids."

It's no surprise Hitchen is very active coaching sports at Bluevale.

He has coached five members of the powerlifting team to provincial medals as well as coached a national champion.

The girls' hockey team has made the playoffs each year with Hitchen at the helm and he has coached Laura MacIntosh, who is currently at Ohio State and plays in the National U18 team. He has also coached track athletes to two Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) gold medals.

So far this year, Bluevale's junior football team has a record of 10-3.