Don Rope competed for the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen, and skated for the Canadian ice hockey team at the 1956 and 1960 Winter Olympics. He had been scouted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1949 and played briefly with one of their minor league affiliates, but instead of pursuing a professional career, he finished his studies at the University of Toronto, earning a teaching degree. Rope taught briefly in Sault Ste. Marie, but eventually settled in Cambridge, Ontario, where he taught at the Glenview Park Secondary School, spending his career as a math teacher and athletics director until his retirement in 1987, when he was given the Stewart Award for excellence in teaching. Rope started the Galt Junior Tennis program in 1957, and he and his wife founded the Cambridge Kips Gymnastics Club, and he became a member of Canada’s elite coaching staff from 1975 to 1982. In 1977 he was given the Cambridge Contributor award, renamed the Don and Benita Rope award. Rope’s interests later turned to cycling and he helped start the Tour de Grand in Cambridge, Ontario. He was also a member of the Cambridge Trails Advisory Committee, and worked to build more bike lanes in the city. In 2000, he was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, honored as a hockey player and sports administrator.
Canada