On September 25, 2009, the Tantramar Titans suffered a devastating 82-0 loss against the MacNaughton Highlanders.
It’s a loss Titans head coach Gordon “Scott” O’Neal will never forget and one he credits as the turning point in his coaching career.
“ I woke up the next morning and I said, ‘I gotta get better or I’m not gonna do this.'”
So he reached out to coaches at Mount Allison University, started attending coaching clinics and worked to get better. He went on to coach the team through five consecutive provincial championships and retired as head coach in 2024, finishing that season with a sixth provincial win.
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In recognition of his successes with the Titans program, O’Neal is one of two new faces being added to Tantramar’s Sports Wall of Fame this week.
The other is an equally influential coach in the community, Jack Drover. Drover coached hockey and soccer at the university level, starting at Mount Allison in 1974 coaching men’s soccer until 1990 and men’s hockey until 1998. Then, starting in 2002, Drover coached the Mount Allison’s women’s hockey team until he retired in 2009.
He also had a significant presence in youth hockey and soccer in the region. In an effort to provide an opportunity for his own children, as well as others in the community, Drover and his wife helped start a youth soccer program in Sackville.
“ We put it in the Tribune in a note,” he said. “We ran off 35 applications and about 80, 85 young children showed up.”
After that, the foundation had been set.
Drover and O’Neal will be honoured during a ceremony on Thursday, June 11 at 6:30 pm in the Tantramar Regional High School auditorium. Both are being inducted under the builder category, which, according to Tantramar’s Sports Wall of Fame page, recognizes those whose work in sport over an extended period of time has been outstanding in the organization or successful coaching of leagues.
In O’Neal’s case, it is for the way he turned an underdog team into one of the most consistently successful teams in the league.
In a letter in support of his nomination, former player and current CFL Ottawa Redblacks player Lucas Cormier said O’Neal “laid the groundwork for what it means to play Titan football that will last for generations.”
Still, O’Neal, who also coached hockey, finds it difficult to be honoured for a sport so reliant on teamwork both on and off the field.
“So it’s hard to be recognized, but I do realize that you need a leader, you need a head coach, you need somebody to make sure everything’s running properly. So I’m very grateful, very grateful.”
For Drover, it’s for five decades of supporting the development of hundreds of young athletes across whatever roles needed filling, from coaching to sports administrator to volunteer.
Perhaps an indication of why they are the great coaches they are, neither man takes their wins alone as their proudest moments. O’Neal sees the turn he and the team made after that 2009 loss, picking themselves up and continuing on, as his best moment.
And when Drover—who measured success as participation and opportunity—looks back, he sees getting more females involved in youth sports as his crowning achievement, especially winning U14 soccer.
”We had two girls on the team at the time, and one of them scored,” he said. “And they all had an opportunity to celebrate together.”
The other induction categories are athletes and teams. The Sports Wall of Fame Induction Ceremony takes place every two years and has been recognizing local sports greats since 1989. Some faces already featured include Bob Edgett, George Chambers, Chester Cole, Wallie Sears, Wayne MacKay, Peter Hess, the 1952-53 Sackville Eagles, Gail LeBlanc, Bill Johnstone, David Burns, Bruce Harper, and many others.
