Burlington has a long and notable sports history that includes many outstanding athletes, coaches, officials, media, and volunteers. The Burlington Sports Hall of Fame (BSHOF) is dedicated to identifying and honouring the individuals who have created this rich tradition. This year, BSHOF is celebrating its 16th year and is proud to be inducting six new honorees at their 2024 induction ceremony on Tuesday, May 28 at the Burlington Golf and Country Club.
Our next inductees are the father/son Olympic duo, Jim and Brady Reardon.
The father takes up flatwater kayaking, becomes world-class, an Olympian. He then gives his life to helping young athletes find their path, many reaching world-class themselves. One of those kids who took up the sport was his son. The son becomes world-class, an Olympian.
The result? The Reardon family has impacted literally generations of athletes competing in flatwater kayaking for over 50 years.
Jim Reardon was introduced to paddling at the age of 10 and has been involved in the sport in various capacities ever since. He competed at several Canadian championships from 1963–1972 in singles, pairs, and crew events and came away with many medals. While still a competitor, Jim became head coach of the Mohawk Canoe Club in 1970 and the Mississauga Canoe Club in 1971.
Jim’s career preceded the formation of Sport Canada; it was a time when funding was scarce and Canada didn’t always send athletes to the world championships, only to the Olympics every four years. This makes his effort at trying to qualify for Munich even more impressive. One of Canada’s best, Jim then took a year off to vie for a spot against the world’s best at the 1972 Olympics. He was successful in that attempt and represented Canada in Munich in the K-4 1,000 in the stroke position, where he sat in the front of the boat and set the pace, and steered the boat.
This athlete/builder then set out to help others, so he turned to coaching. He coached paddlers from age 14 to the Olympic level from 1965 through to 1988. Having competed at many world championships as an athlete, Jim coached Canada at the junior worlds (under 18) and senior worlds from 1979 to 1987. He was an assistant coach at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles where Larry Cain, whom Jim had personally coached for 11 years, won a gold and a silver medal.
His commitment to others was not confined to coaching. He also saw the transition of the Mohawk Canoe Club’s merger with the Oakville Racing Canoe Club in 1989 to become the Burloak Canoe Club, operating out of its facility at 16-Mile Creek in Oakville. Jim has been on the board of directors from 2002 to the present.
Brady Reardon got involved in paddling at the age of 9 and joined the Burloak Canoe Club in 1996. Father Jim decided to leave the coaching up to the great coaches at Burloak and let them help define his son’s path. That being said, Jim remained Brady’s biggest fan and attended all his competitions.
Brady competed at nationals and won numerous medals in all kayak disciplines and even a few canoe events. To remain on the national team required qualifying every year, so he’d take on any boat he could. He qualified and competed in the ICF World Championships in his first year of senior eligibility at the age of 19. He competed at every world championship from 2007 to 2016, mainly racing K-4 and K-2.
Brady won several World Cup medals throughout his career and is proud that he was always battling to get into finals and competing in finals.
One final that defines Brady’s career took place at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Racing in the stroke position, the same spot in the boat that his father competed in back in 1972, Brady guided his boat into the Olympic final, with his father (and number one fan) on hand to witness it.
ln 2012, Brady began racing K-1 internationally and won a silver medal in the first K-1 500 m race of the World Cup season. He and long-time training partner and Burloak clubmate Adam van Koeverden (who is now Milton’s MP) focused on the K-2 1000 m in 2013 and won a World Cup silver medal in Poznan, Poland.
ln 2014, Brady teamed with Andrew Jessop in the K-2 1000 m at the world championships and recorded one of Canada’s best results of the competition with their seventh-place finish. In 2015, Brady competed in the Pan Am Games in Welland, just narrowly missing out on the podium in two events.
Upon retirement, Brady gave back through coaching and clinics before focusing on his daughters and their paths. After 20 years in paddling, it was time for the goals of the next generation.
Speaking of generations, when reflecting on a great career, Jim stated that being a spectator and seeing Brady compete at the world level, especially in making the final in Beijing, was the highlight of his entire career in the sport.
Two world-class athletes coming from generations of the same family is something Burlington is proud of, and the Burlington Sports Hall of Fame is honoured to induct Jim and Brady Reardon into the Athlete/Builder category.
The May 28 induction ceremony at the Burlington Golf and Country Club is a sold-out event. There will be live-streaming available at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJmRHY3Z-Cw
Viewers have the option to set a reminder for the event.
