Peter Corkum
Peter Corkum
Category: Athlete
Sport(s): Football & Hockey
Years Active: 1957-61
Year Inducted: 2004

A lot can be said for athletes that exemplify determination, integrity and sportsmanship. When these characteristics are associated with an athlete throughout a 50-year career (and counting), Peter Corkum’s athletic prestige goes without saying.

As a student athlete at Dalhousie, Peter was on the varsity rosters for both football and hockey. It was an exciting time for football at Dalhousie in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Peter‘s contribution to the legend started with the Nova Scotia Football League’s Rookie of the Year honours in 1957 and continued through five years of football that ended in 1961 with a Dalhousie record and a declaration. At that time he was the highest scoring player in Dalhousie’s football history and the University recognized Peter and the late Ted Wickwire by declaring November 11, 1961 “Corkum and Wickwire Day.”

Peter tested every position on the football field before settling in at running back. His player statistics report gaining 2,199 yards in 357 carries for an average of 6.2 yards per carry. He caught 27 passes for 316 yards. His 172-point scoring career was the best Dalhousie had ever seen. But Peter’s contribution to the football Tigers ran deeper than the numbers. For the 1961-62 season, Peter was awarded Dalhousie’s Climo Trophy and the Neil MacKinnon Trophy. The former was awarded to the male athlete of the year who most represented athletic ability, sportsmanship and team spirit, the latter for most outstanding in integrity and sportsmanship. Peter also earned Dalhousie’s Little Award for most outstanding football player for the 1959 season.

Wearing the black and gold, Peter laced up as a hockey Tiger for three seasons; 1957-58, 1959-60 and 1960-61. In his rookie year, Peter began as a forward and then made the decision to shift to the defence line-up for the latter two seasons. The move proved to be a wise one as he was named Most Valuable Player for Dalhousie men’s hockey (1959-60) following the switch.
 
In 1958-59 and 1960-61, Peter was presented the Silver “D” and Gold “D” in respective years. The Gold “D” was a prestigious athletic award presented for three years of outstanding individual varsity performance. Similarly the Silver “D” was presented following two years of the aforementioned contributions. Peter graduated from Dalhousie University in 1961 with a Diploma in Engineering.

Outside of his varsity commitments, Peter found time to excel in golf and curling. He earned a 3-handicap during many years of play at the old Ashburn Golf Club. A most noteworthy year was 1964 when Peter recorded a score of 64 on the par 67 Ashburn course followed by 5 consecutive par rounds.

In 1965, Peter’s curling foursome earned the right to represent Nova Scotia at the Canadian championships. They repeated the feat in 1967 and 1970. He also represented Nova Scotia at the Canadian senior men’s championships in 1992, 1993, 1997 and 2003. Although still an avid player, Peter’s highest curling honours came as a coach. In his fifteenth year as a high-level curling coach, Peter coached the Dacey rink to a world curling bronze medal this past season. As the previous coach of Colleen Jones’ championship rink, Peter remains the only person to have coached a men’s and women’s team at the world level.