Donald McKee

Donald “Don” McKee spent 34 years working for what is now the Waterloo Region District School Board, as a teacher, physical education consultant, curriculum superintendent, and principal.

In 1964, Don began to volunteer with the Kitchener Minor Hockey Association, coaching junior hockey teams in Kitchener, Cambridge, and Guelph while maintaining his full-time job as an educator.

Don co-founded the Kitchener Hockey School in 1974, which ran every summer for six weeks until 2004. The school offered high performance hockey instruction from coaches with a teaching and playing background.

From 1985 to 1998, Don served as Head Coach of the University of Waterloo Men’s Varsity Hockey Team. He guided the Warriors to 13 winning seasons, 2 Ontario University Athletic Association (OUAA) West Championships, and 1 Queen’s Cup Championship. In 2006, Don was inducted into the Waterloo Warriors Athletics Hall of Fame.

Since 2010, Don has volunteered as Head Coach with the Canadian Deaf Ice Hockey Federation. In addition to coaching, Don spearheaded fundraising programs to help send men’s deaf teams to competitions around the world.

Don’s accomplishments have been recognized by numerous awards, including: Coach of the Year – Ontario University Athletic Association (1989), Father Kehoe Memorial Trophy (1989), 3M Coaching Canada Award (1997), Gordon Jukes Award (1998), Coach of the Year – Central Professional Hockey League (2001 & 2002), and Volunteer of the Year – Canada Deaf Sports Association (2013).

Photo courtesy of University of Waterloo Library, Special Collections & Archives. Kitchener-Waterloo Record Photographic Negative Collection