The Dalhousie Tigers - Dalhousie University

Lois MacGregor exemplifies what is best about sport. Her philosophy is to give every athlete the chance to improve by developing a strong team where everyone is involved.  This philosophy has obviously paid off as can be seen through the many successes of her teams.

After playing for the Tigers for four years (1966-70), Lois took over as head coach in 1975 for a ten year span.  During that time, her teams won five conference championships and a CIAU silver medal in1984.  The highlight of her coaching career came in 1982 when she led Dalhousie to a gold medal at the CIAU national championship.  Her volleyball team is still the only one from Atlantic Canada to ever accomplish this feat.  As well, she has been honoured as Atlantic University Conference Coach of the Year four times and was twice named Dalhousie’s Coach of the Year.

Thanks in large part to her leadership, many of her players won significant conference and national awards and several went on to compete for Canada’s national team.

Lois is one of the co-founders of the Dalhousie Volleyball Classic, one of Canada’s most competitive and best-organized national level university tournaments.  Additionally, she co-founded the Dalhousie High School Volleyball Tournament, an event which has grown into one of Canada’s largest high school competitions.

But her success is not limited to building strong teams. Her former players agree that she is also excellent in building strong people.  She endeavoured to help mold women who would go on to be fine members of the community.  Lois states, “I always tried to help my athletes be the best they could be individually and as a team while still having fun. I hoped my athletes would feel good about themselves from their participation on my teams and that they would continue to enjoy their sport and perhaps get involved in coaching other young people like themselves when they graduated from Dal.”  As one of her former players, Joan Matheson says, “Although she was a tough taskmaster, Lois always went the extra mile to make our experience a positive one and during all of that, she never lost her sense of fun.” 

When we speak about her contribution to volleyball at Dalhousie, we are really only scratching the surface when it comes to the full scope of influence Lois has had in volleyball in Nova Scotia and even across the country.  Her tireless volunteer work with groups such as Volleyball Nova Scotia as a coach educator, clinician, and administrator have been invaluable to the development of the sport, particularly at the grass roots level.  After retiring from her post at Dalhousie, her coaching continued at the junior and high school level. As an educator, Lois has shared her love of the sport with countless teachers, university students and professionals. She has long been an advocate of introducing volleyball to elementary school students with modified equipment and skills. 

A few highlights of her many honours and awards include being inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame in 1998 in the builder category and in 2002 as coach of the 1982 CIAU championship team. She was also the recipient of the coveted Dalhousie A.J. “Sandy” Young Memorial Award in 2003.  This prize honours individuals who have contributed significantly to sport in Nova Scotia.

Lois is a faculty member in the School of Health and Human Performance and each year, has been selected as a mentor professor for the annual Academic All-Canadian luncheon.  Many of her students rave about her enthusiasm and commitment to their development.