I have written a book entitled A Hero’s Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp. The basic premise of the book is that we are all heroes of our own journey. I am now taking the lessons of “a hero’s journey” from philosopher Joseph Campbell and applying them to local Burlington heroes. The term hero calls to mind anyone who has gone through a journey to make a life for themselves and uses their skills, experience, and talents to impact others and ultimately make the world a better place.
People like Ron MacVinnie.
First of all: the nickname.
A lot of Burlingtonians in the sporting realm would know Ron as “Skinny MacVinnie” as he has been known for decades of refereeing basketball and football for generations of high school and university athletes. But the nickname story goes much deeper. Ron’s father, Jim MacVinnie, was a piano player of renown and at one time played in a jazz trio whose slogan ran “Laugh and grow skinny with Jimmy MacVinnie.” When Jim passed away in 1995, Ron’s good friend and fellow referee Peter Moore gave Ron the ultimate compliment when he said, “Your dad doesn’t need the nickname Skinny MacVinnie anymore, so now you’ll have it.” Some nicknames just stick.
As with any journey, this just scratches the surface of this dedicated and giving man.
Does anyone remember the beginnings of the Burlington YMCA? Well, Ron was there.
Ron got his first taste of life at the Y on Saturday mornings at the Hamilton Y when he was 5 years old, where he first experienced and fell in love with tumbling. He grew to love all aspects of sports — the competition, fitness, teamwork, humility, and lifelong friends. When he got to high school, he started running a gymnastics program through the Y at Lawrie Smith School in 1962. The fledgling Burlington Y, under the umbrella of the Hamilton Y, at the time consisted of Director Ron Edwards and Sylvia Bailey in the office above Kresge’s on Brant Street. Needless to say, if the Y was going to grow it needed volunteers like Ron MacVinnie.
“I joined the YMCA when the Burlington building opened in 1970. I saw how the volunteers helped in my youth, so I decided to volunteer as a fitness instructor. I started a competitive volleyball team and met many lifelong friends,” Ron explains.
One of those friends was YMCA staffer Marg Flint, who Ron “fell head over heels” in love with. She has been Marg MacVinnie since 1983. They both live by the Y motto of “Body, mind, and spirit,” but other influences also played a role.
Did I mention that Ron started volunteering? Well, that volunteer commitment lasted for 27 consecutive years, and twice Ron was named YMCA Volunteer of the Year. He also served on the Board of Directors for ten years. Not only was Ron a key volunteer but he recruited others to get involved, most notably Bob Hall, who would become a president of the Burlington YMCA.
Nobody becomes a local hero without others who came before him and mentored him. For Ron, it started at home with Jim, who one year played the piano at the TiCats Schenley Award gala at the Pagoda Restaurant in Hamilton, and mom Marie, who instilled in Ron and sister Jan the values of giving and contributing. Marie ran a youth bowling league and a makeshift beauty salon in her kitchen and never charged a dime. Those lessons live on in their children.
Jim was pre-deceased by Marie, who passed away in 1989. The unfairness of his mom’s death really hit Ron: after so many years working with and for others, she had one healthy year after retirement before she faced a two-year battle with cancer. But her death gave Ron and Marg a direction they wanted to take on their journeys.
“I worked at Cumis for 20 years as a sales rep dealing with credit unions and I loved the job because it meant putting people first. But after watching what my mom went through, I decided that life wasn’t about work. I retired early and Marg and I took the approach of ‘is that all there is?’”
They have lived that motto ever since. They love to travel, and both are leading an active and involved life. Marg is a member of the Top Hat Band, taking up the saxophone when most people would be afraid of such a challenge. Marg, though, has never been afraid of challenges and continues with the fitness regime she has had her whole life. She loves to play pickleball and recruits others to join that very social game. Ron, with a lifetime filled with the love of all sport, has a legion of friends and refereeing buddies who get him into as many golf games as life allows. And, of course, he has always been active year-round refereeing football and basketball.
Ron got into refereeing basketball after he stopped playing in a men’s league. He officiated high school and rep games for almost 40 years, being selected to handle many championship games. Football, though, is probably his true sport love. He has been involved in the game for 67 consecutive years. He started playing for the Burlington Midget Braves when he was 12, and went on to play high school football at Central and then with the Burlington Braves (the junior football league team that moved to St. Catharines in 2015). He started officiating football in 1982 thanks to a push from good friend Peter Moore, whose own well-known nickname is “26.”
He again achieved success as an official, doing nine Halton high school championships while also doing Stampeders Rep Championships, OFSAA Finals, and two Canadian championships. He has also earned a position as an official in the OUA (Ontario University Athletics), which saw him referee university football for ten years, being selected to referee at provincial and national championship levels. He was the first recipient of the Referee of the Year Award in the OUA, an award voted on by OUA coaches. He also earned referee of the year recognition from the OFOA (Ontario Football Officials Association). He then added another seven years as a supervisor.
In between all this officiating, Ron also gave back through coaching. His coaching tenure includes BMFA house league, Stampeders Bantam Rep, Lord Elgin High School seniors, Central High School seniors, and two years with the Burlington Braves.
“The most rewarding part of sport [that] I cherished was coaching. On many of the teams I coached, I probably learned more from them than I could teach them,” Ron says. “I feel coaches often are the unsung heroes of sport. Getting a bottom-place team and having them get steadily better through the season was a great thrill. It’s always a thrill for me when I see a player I refereed or coached progress to the next level.”
This attitude was taught to Ron by two big influences in his life. His high school coach Ward Russell and his Burlington Braves coach Bernie Custis showed him that great coaches do so much more than teach the basics. They instill life lessons just by doing things the right way, showing their players how to follow suit.
Ron gave much more to both sports off the court or field. He got involved with the executive of the Lakeshore Football Officials Association, one of the strongest officials’ associations in the country. He was on the executive for 25 years, ten of those years as president. With the Hamilton/Burlington area being a hotbed for basketball and with many basketball “lifers” available to run big events, Ron was part of a committee that included Mike Morton, Peter Moore, Cecilia Carter-Smith, and Bryce Leggatt, which hosted four boys’ and five girls’ OFSAA provincial basketball championships. He also got involved in the Rotary Club, where he ran an athletic scholarship fund for 20 years. On top of that, Ron also gave of his time to the Burlington Sport Alliance and just recently stepped down from a 16-year executive commitment to the Burlington Sports Hall of Fame.
The winner of the 1986 A. J. Dunn Award, which honours those who show outstanding leadership and initiative for the advancement of sport in Burlington, Ron MacVinnie earned the respect in this community for his strong commitment to sport.
But it’s his commitment to a life well lived that is most impressive about this local hero. Seven years ago, Ron was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and has taken that battle on as what he called “a fact of life.” He was given a new reality, and he has not let it deter him from doing the things he loves. Ron has continued to live the life he and Marg had talked about so many years ago. They travel a lot, do the fitness things, and the “together” things that make them happy.
Now that’s what I would call a hero’s journey.
Chris Dooley’s book, A Hero’s Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp, is available at Different Drummer Books on Locust Street or at indigo.ca and check out the website at aherosjourney.ca. The author will be at St John’s Christmas Market at Brant and Blairholm on Saturday November 23 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
