Maurice Sauvé

Rating among the great Glengarry versatile athletes of any era is Alexandria’s Maurice Sauvé. His career in the realm of several sports began as a farm school boy playing bantam hockey way back when the parish priest of Glengarry, as he was popularly known, Father Gauthier, was rector of St. Alexander’s Lochiel parish and Maurice’s father, Adelard Sauvé, was considering that an income in the field of real estate would be greater than farm fields at Fassifern.

Son of Adelard Sauvé and his wife the former Rosabelle St. Pierre, Maurice has been selected by his peers as a worthy candidate to be enshrined in the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame and he will be inducted next Wednesday, September, 12th, at the annual dinner following the formal ribbon cutting ritual declaring the opening of the new hall building.

From minor hockey and still only 15, Maurice Sauvé displayed soccer skills with ruggedness that impressed the management of the Lochiel club to sign this promising teenager. This was a wise move. Maurice played as a regular with Lochiel in the Glengarry Soccer League for the next 18 years.

Summer’s gruelling soccer play was ideal conditioning for Maurice to participate in Glengarry District high school athletics. He was among the pillars of the Gaels in school football and found time to be a leader in track and field competitions. Maurice Sauvé set a 44 foot, 10 inches, 12 lb. shot put record, shared with John Tkachenko, that still stands during the past 29 years. That year at the Glengarry Highland Games heavy events Maurice added to his laurels placing second in the caber toss. All the while, he has continued to play tennis.

And what, one may wonder, did Maurice do in the winter season? Then miles, racing pace, cross country skiing nearly every day. This led to competitive racing and in again a gruelling sport. Maurice won the Alexandria X-C ski race loppet once and finished second in two other races. He also completed several X-C races and then moved up to the top class, the 55 km, participating in the Gatineau 55 World Loppet and the 50 km Montebello cross country ski race.

When Maurice retired from soccer, his former high school football coach, Stanley Fraser, knowing his natural talent, invited Maurice to team with him in the Raisin River spring canoe race. Old friend Stanley will wager, never dreamed that his challenge would be the launching of Maurice Sauvé into a career of canoe racing that will last longer than the shot put record.

In our interview with Maurice, he stated: “After my initial race with Stanley I really got serious with my entry into canoe racing.”

The following in sequence are the records of Maurice Sauvé’s canoe racing with his partners at the time: in 1980 he won the Raisin River race with Tom Bryson; in 1981 a repeat with Maurice Deguire; 1982 and 1983 were firsts with Pierre Pinard; 1984 and ‘85 saw third and second respectively with Bruno Major; in 1986 he came first with Bruno Major and in 1987 he lost first by two seconds with teammate Bruno.

Maurice won the Ontario Master solo championship each year from 1984 and fished second in 1989 and ‘90. In the Canadian Masters Solo championships Maurice was third and fourth in his two entries.

In the doubles, Maurice, teamed with Williamstown’s Bruno Major, won the Ontario Master championship three times; they finished second in two other races in this class; third in 1988 and fourth, in ‘89 all with Bruno Major.

In 1987 he came first in the North Bay 40 mile canoe race again with Bruno. Sauvé won several masters solo races in N.Y. state during the 1980’s , and completed the longest canoe race in the world five times, 125 miles in three days “La Classique International de Canot” at Trois Rivières.

In the last three years, Maurice completed the 70 mile “General Clinton” canoe race at Cooperstown, N.Y. in the average time of nine hours. Despite the time consuming canoe racing activities during the past 10 years and his professional association with his father and colleagues at Sauvé Real Estate, Maurice is a genuine sportsman as evidenced by his organization and leadership in the interests of the community.

Maurice was the founder of the Alexandria Cross Country ski loppet, several canoe races in Alexandria, also triathlons, tennis tournaments and the Terry Fox canoe flotilla.

Maurice Sauvé will truly be the enshrinement of a versatile athlete in the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame, one week from tonight.