Mahone Bay Old School_A Life and Times_Bob Sayer

Three Celebrities of the 1940s: Home Town Heroes
Three ‘Mahoners’ who had finished school in the 1930s achieved some extraordinary
fame in the 1940s. They became household names locally and had a much wider
celebrity status. They were champions in their fields.
Fred Bruhm, Circuit Athlete, International
Marathon Runner
The Boston Marathon: Fred ran the Boston in 1943, representing Maritime Canada.
He had dominated Maritime Canadian running and the Boston papers said he ‘was
second only to Johnny Miles in Halifax.’ Those were the days when only the elite
ran. He finished 15th, beating two marathon legends and former Boston Marathon
champs, Clarence H. Demar and Ellison ‘Tarzan’ Brown. Fred, below, trains in the
army vest he wore at Boston. Below, second from left, at New Glasgow.
Photos: Courtesy Bruhm Family.
Fred was an all-round athlete, winning trophies for cycling, boxing and other sports. Some
samples are below: on right, “Feff” spars with his sister, Verda,
who won the Girls MVP Trophy at the 1935 Schools Festival meet. She became a longtime
teacher [Verda Zinck] at Blockhouse Elementary.
Fred had graduated from Mahone Bay school in 1934, and, in his grade 11
year, wrote a Nova Scotia Track and Field article for the May Highlight. He wrote
about Empire Games prospects and empathized with Lunenburg sprinter, Fred Fox,
who, like himself had no track and no official trainer. It was not ‘til he went into the
army that he got professional coaching. Fred, who was also a fine musician in the
Town and military band, died, tragically young, at the age of 30. His daughter, Bev.,
became a South Shore Champion and provincial silver medal badminton player in the
late 1950s and early 1960s. His son, Fred Jnr. ran the 1993 Boston Marathon as an
anniversary tribute to his father, and is one of only three Nova Scotians inducted into
the Canadian Road Running Hall of Fame. Both Bev [Ernst] and Fred Jnr. were also
Mahone Bay Old School graduates.
Above, Fred at 16 years and part of his Highlight 1934 Article.
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