University of Toronto Athletics

First Colour T Holder, coach and professor, John "Mac" McCutcheon played many roles while at the University of Toronto, but he will be best remembered for his contributions to intramural sport. He joined the Department of Athletics in 1925, and in 1936 developed a model for intramural sports that became a blue print for intramural programs across Canada and, indeed, around the world.Mac believed that sport could play a pivotal role in creating thoughtful and considerate young people. He felt strongly about the need to give young people opportunities to develop as leaders, an ideal that remain central to the Faculty of Physical Education and Health today, and was evident in the intramural system Mac built.He used his own leadership skills to their optimal advantage as coach of the men's intercollegiate basketball team for more than 10 years. Mac was a longtime member of the Royal Life Saving Society of Canada where he helped to develop a sophisticated volunteer recognition system, and a Director of the Ontario Leadership Training Camp at Lake Couchiching. In his career and his volunteer pursuits, Mac exemplified leadership and administrative genius. In 1969 Mac's contributions to the U of T sport program were recognized with the R. T. Loudon Award. He retired from the university in 1970.