Don Jackson- Minto Skating Club

    Don Jackson, who is currently the Executive Director of Skating and an Honorary Life Member of the Minto Skating Club, has been an integral part of international figure skating and continues to be an ambassador for Canadian amateur sport. 
      In 1954, Jackson was recognized by the Minto Skating Club as a promising, young skater and was invited to train with the Ottawa club after it was discovered that he was planning on training in England. For four years, Jackson represented the Minto Skating Club and in Jan. 1955, he won a gold medal at the Canadian Men\'s junior championships. In Mar. 1956, Jackson won the silver at the Canadian Men\'s senior championships.
      Jackson\'s fondest memories of his figure skating career are his bronze medal at the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley, California and winning the gold medal in the 1962 World Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. At the World Championships, Jackson became the first person to ever land the triple lutz (which wasn\'t duplicated for 12 years), the first Canadian in this century to win this title and the first person to ever receive seven perfect marks for free skating (this hasn\'t been equalled or bettered before or since).
     While Jackson said that it would\'ve been nice to remain an amateur athlete until the 1964 Olympics, there wasn\'t any money available at the time to fund his career.
      Jackson has since returned to the Minto Skating Club and has been the Executive Director of Skating for the past 17 years. While Jackson occasionally coaches young figure skaters in conjunction with other coaches at the club, he still keeps busy by skating and loving every minute of it.  Since 1998, Jackson has been actively involved in the Oldtimer\'s Hockey Challenge where he is on a “Dream Team” with some of hockey\'s greatest legends, such as Guy Lafleur and Bobby Hull. This “Dream Team” travels all over Canada and the United States challenging local police and fire departments in charity hockey games with all proceeds going to the Special Olympics fund.