Don Hinnegan
Return to All Inductees
Don,
who was inducted into the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame in 2004, was born in
Wallaceburg in 1911, and moved to Chatham at a young age. He attended
Chatham Collegiate Institute and had a great high school athletic career
taking part in most of the sports offered including softball (pitcher),
hockey (center and team captain) and rugby.
While attending CCI he played for the original Chatham Senior Maroons during the 1927-28 season when he picked up the nickname “Honey Boy” because he was such a “sweet” player.
Don continued to play for the Maroons through the 1930s in the old Michigan-Ontario Hockey League but saw his hockey career pretty much come to an end after the 1938-39 season when the old arena was condemned and a new one was not built until 1949. Maroon teams he played on were very successful. The 1930-31 squad went all the way to the Ontario Hockey Association finals before losing out to the Royal Military College. The team won the Michigan-Ontario leaguer title in 1933 and lost to Falconbridge in the All-Ontario Allan Cup finals in 1935. The Maroons, with Don helping to lead the way, also won the OHA Senior ‘B’ championship in 1938. The title was the first provincial crown for a Chatham team and Don scored the winning goal in a 3-0 victory over Niagara Falls.
Don was not only outstanding at, but was also a superb softball pitcher for over 20 years and hurled the first no-hitter in the history of the Chatham City League. He was also an excellent five-pin bowler and won many titles over the years, including a fifth-place finish in 1982 as a member of the Ontario Golden-Age team at the Canadian Five-Pin Bowling Championships.
Following his active athletic career Don went on to manage, coach, officiate, umpire and referee games in the sports that he loved. Along with all these contributions Don volunteered his time as an off-ice official for many years with his former Senior Maroon Team.
Don passed away in 1994.