Gertrude Phinney

• Type: Athlete
• Sport(s): Track and Field
• Year: 2022

Gertrude Phinney, Canadian Track and Field Star from Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia

Among the very earliest of several amazing Nova Scotian female sprinters; she qualified for the 1928 Olympics; followed by winning gold medals in the Maritimes and in Canada in multiple events over many years, then returned to university at Acadia where she starred in basketball. A great all-round athlete at a time when women where almost completely over-looked.

Gertrude Phinney was born in Lawrencetown, Annapolis County, on 18 January 1909. Her parents were Horton and Florence Phinney. Gertrude received much of her early education in Wolfville. Following high school graduation, she enrolled at Dalhousie University where she became a member of the Dalhousie Basketball Squad. In 1926, she helped the X-Dal Women’s Basketball Team capture the Eastern Canadian title.

In following year, at age eighteen, that she began her meteoric rise to the top of Canadian Track and Field after a brief two-week training regimen. In her first meet on 23 June 1927, she won the 60-yard hurdles, the 50-yard, 100-yard, and 200-yard dashes, as well as the running long jump. By the end of 1927, she held Canadian records in the indoor 50 and 220-yard dashes. In 1928, she repeated these victories and added a first in the javelin. That same year, in Saint John, she was again the individual standout, winning the high aggregate and Halifax-Chronicle trophy for the second time. At the Olympic trials in Halifax, she won gold in the 220-yard dash and placed second in the 60 and 100-yard dashes behind the legendary Myrtle Cook. The 1928 Olympics saw women’s initial forays into track and field, but she did not compete due to the prevailing attitudes of the times regarding women in sport. However, a comparison of winning times from those Amsterdam Olympics clearly indicates that Gertrude would have likely captured one or more gold medals. In 1929, at the Maritime championships, Gertrude won gold in all three sprints, the relay, and the standing long jump. By the end of July, she held Canadian records in the indoor 50-yard, the outdoor 60-yard, and the indoor 220-yard ashes. Later that year, in Montreal, Gertrude placed first in Canada in the running broad jump.

In 1929, Gertrude transferred to Acadia University at Wolfville where she continued to star in Varsity Basketball, playing on the1930, 1931, and 1932 intercollegiate championship teams. For three years she was also a key member of the university’s gymnastics club and an outstanding performer on the Varsity Tennis team. She graduated from Acadia University with her Bachelor of Science. She worked as a dietician for a time; she also taught home economics in Lawrencetown.

In recent times, Gertrude has been inducted into the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame, the King’s County Sports Hall of fame, and presented with the prestigious “Dalhousie Award” for major contributions in Nova Scotia Sports. Gertrude Phinney died on 8 March 2006, at age 97.