The Nova Scotian will be inducted into the WBC Hall of Fame on Saturday
As an athlete, Walter Dann competed in everything from track and field and swimming to weightlifting, but wheelchair basketball was his No. 1 sport.
Born in Vancouver and raised in Halifax, N.S., Dann contracted polio as a three-year-old. Despite the life-changing diagnosis, Dann continued with his aspirations in sport turning his attention to wheelchair sports.
“I just loved wheelchair basketball so much,” he said. “There was a lot of competition and a lot of good athletes, and it was just one of those things that was in me. I just loved it. I was involved in track and field, shot put, javelin, swimming – I did all that stuff, too. I was one of the athletes from back in our day, that if you played basketball, you also did something else, too.”
Dann began playing wheelchair basketball with the NS Flying Wheels in 1968 and debuted with Team Canada that same year at the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv, Israel – the first time the Canadian Men’s National Team competed at a Paralympic Games.
He won gold with Team Canada at the 1970 Pan American Games in Jamaica and was a member of the Men’s National Team at the 1972 Paralympic Games in Heidelberg.
“I started in 1968, and that year, I got picked to go to Israel. When we were playing over there, it was so hot. All of our games were played at night outside. It was great. But all the Olympics were great,” said Dann. “I got picked for three Olympics, three Pan Am Games and World Cups and everything – it was proud moments when I got selected to represent Team Canada.”
Reflecting on his wheelchair basketball career, Dann credited three coaches for his success on the court.
“A coach that did a lot for wheelchair sports was Dick Loiselle. He was our first coach, and he went on to be one of the national coaches for Canada for many years. He was really good. He got us started,” said Dann. “Brian Peters, who lives in British Columbia, led us to the National Championship, and he was a great coach, too. He spent a lot of time with us, helping us. Doug Wright, a Nova Scotian, who was with us for 10-15 years, really helped us and kept us coming to the gym all the time, which was very important.”
Before briefly retiring from the National Team, Dann competed at the 1975 World Cup in Brussels and the 1976 Paralympics in Montreal. Dann returned to wear the Canadian colours at the 1982 Pan Am Games in Halifax and participated in the 1983 Gold Cup in Halifax before retiring permanently.
“I played basketball for close to 40 years, and when I retired, I was playing in the Nova Scotia league; I was 65, so that’s how much I enjoyed it,” Dann said. “I enjoyed the other accomplishments in the track and field, swimming, weightlifting, and all that. I enjoyed that, too. But basketball was number one.
Dann was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
Family, friends and fans can leave a congratulatory message for Walter here.