Versatile athlete, led UBC to Western Canadian football championships in 1929, 1931 and 1933 while also playing UBC Varsity basketball. BC football All-Star with UBC. Later became respected Vancouver high school coach and administrator.
When Doug McIntyre graduated from Vancouver, BC’s King George High School in 1926, he was regarded as one of the finest teen-age athletes ever seen. At King George he starred at rugby, baseball and track, winning city championships in rugby and setting a record in the 440 at the Vancouver Inter-High track meet. He was the star protege of Bob Granger, who had designs on Doug running in the 1928 Olympics. However Doug did not want to concentrate on one sport and upon enrolling at UBC in 1926/27, promptly made the Varsity rugby team (at age 17), played on both the Varsity and Senior B basketball teams and was the star newcomer on the UBC track team.
As a freshman on UBC's McKechnie Cup winning rugby team, McIntyre was described as having "keenness and tackling ability and is a player of real class." UBC basketball coach "Dode" Tuck described his new recruit as "the fastest breaker I've ever seen on a basketball court." In track, freshman McIntyre was the new 440 champion defeating former UBC record holder Charlie Mottley with a time of 52.9 sec.
McIntyre decided to pursue dentistry at the University of Southern California in 1927/28 and again excelled in athletics. That year he made University of Southern California’s freshman track, baseball and basketball teams.
Thinking teaching would be more "fun" than dentistry, McIntyre returned to UBC in 1929, entered the Faculty of Education and concentrating on football, played a role in UBC's Hardy Cup victory over the University of Saskatchewan.
After taking a year out, McIntyre returned to UBC to have a great year in 1931. He was described by football followers as a "brilliant broken field runner - one of the most consistent ground gainers in the west." Doug and Gavin Dirom were considered in 1931 as "perhaps the most outstanding athletes to ever attend UBC." In UBC's 1931 Hardy Cup victory over Manitoba, "McIntyre gave an example of twisting, dodging and running that time and again saved UBC from defeat." That same year he made the Varsity basketball team and together with Bob Osborne formed "one of the nicest guard combinations in the city."
McIntyre again played UBC football in 1932 as well as seeing action with the Blue and Gold Varsity basketball team during 1932/33.
UBC came back to win the Hardy Cup in 1933 with McIntyre as "a tower of strength." At season's end McIntyre was one of three UBC players to be named to the Vancouver Province newspaper’s 12 man BC All-Star football team.
While at UBC during the summers, McIntyre pursued yet other athletic endeavours, playing both baseball and lacrosse. Having had the distinction of being a Canadian on a US college baseball team, he starred in local baseball leagues particularly with ex-King George in the tough Terminal League. For several summers he also played field lacrosse, principally with the Bluebirds of the Inter-city league, playing among many future lacrosse Hall of Famers.
In 1934/35 Doug took the opportunity to work on his Masters degree at the University of Alberta and was asked to coach the Alberta men's and women's basketball teams, succeeding another UBC alumnus, Arnold Henderson. McIntyre later returned to Vancouver to teach and in the 1940's coached Senior 'A' Men's Basketball.
For more than 30 years after his graduation, McIntyre was a high school coach, principal, athletic instructor and organizer. He was very well liked by his students and many times was thanked for everything he had done for them in sports. "He was a good example and brought out the best in his students." An avid golfer in his later years, he won the teacher's city championship two months before cancer claimed his life.
Buck Yeo, one of Vancouver's outstanding referees as well as coach and sports authority, wrote about McIntyre's "...modesty and fine sense of sportsmanship - outstanding figure in our sport world of today."
Researched and written by Fred Hume, UBC Athletics Historian
