Curtis Wayne Coward
- Type: Athlete and Builder
- Sport(s): Baseball and Basketball
- Year: 2017
Curtis Wayne Coward: a talented Nova Scotia multi-sportsman and coach/mentor: a native of Sydney who attended Sydney Academy, then moved to Halifax to complete his schooling and played basketball at Halifax-West High.
Curtis played professional baseball in the Major Leagues with the St Louis Cardinals and was the first African -Nova Scotian to do so where he played with and competed against some of baseball’s icons, including Hall of Famers’ Lou Brock and Willie Stargell, as well as Jim Rice, Pete Rose, Lloyd Moseby, Ryan Sandburg and more. He then played with Calgary Cardinals of the Pioneer League in 1978 & 1979, with a quality ERA and winning won-loss record.
After that he returned to Saint Mary’s University, played basketball with the Varsity Huskies and earned two honours degrees in Business Management and Marketing. He has an additional certificate in Real Estate Management and works as a property manager for the Metropolitan Regional Housing Authority.
However, perhaps his greatest contribution to sport has been in coaching youth competitive teams in both baseball and basketball. The list of accomplishments is extensive. From 1996-2015 in baseball: Curtis coached Pee Wee, Mosquito in Cole Harbour/Woodlawn, including a silver medal and provincial title; followed by hosting baseball clinics from 1994-2015 in six provinces. Curtis was also an assistant-scout for the Pittsburg Pirates for four years, hosting tryout camps locally for two years.
Baseball Book: in 1994, he became an author of “Kid’s Baseball Book” for kids, parents, coaches, with the proceeds used to sponsor youth baseball. That is an impressive example of giving back to others, something important in the selection of nominees for the Maritime Sport Hall of Fame. Well done, sir!
Basketball: From 1993 – 2016, his contribution to youth basketball is equally as significant: co-founder of the Cole Harbour Minor Basketball; coaching numerous girls and boys competitive teams, including girls and boys medalists/champions, with Metro and provincial champions at Auburn, the Community Y and a championship minor boys team from East Preston.
he complete list of coaching achievements, medals and championships is far too lengthy to do it justice here today, but surely impacted literally thousands of youth, with a dozen and a half competitive titles/medals or more, and over 24 years and counting of coaching would be considered a lifetime of achievement for most, but he hasn’t finished yet. During the course of his work in Dartmouth-Cole-Harbour, Curtis also helped to develop great male and female basketball student-athletes through the Auburn JC Rockets program. Perhaps his best known protégés include Mark Ross, Stephanie Hiltz, Shyana Sonders, Sondra Medley, Rachelle Coward and Justine Colley, all of whom played varsity basketball in a number of quality university programs in Canada and the USA – with Justine also playing for the Canadian National team. What is critical here is at that all of the above individuals attained and extended a quality education during this process, something that will allow them to compete in life well beyond their playing days. In doing so they emulated Curtis’s own path to success in becoming a well-balanced, educated, respected and responsible person within his adopted community in HRM. His contribution (giving back) to youth is admirable and continues today.