Dr. William "Bill" Stanish

Dr. William "Bill" Stanish began his academic career at Prince of Wales College in 1961. During his two years at PWC he played football, hockey, and basketball. In 1962 he was named "King" of PWC athletics at the annual college day. He served on the Amateur Athletics Association along with Joe Ghiz and Jack Hynes, and chaired the Association in 1962-63. As star of the football team, both years  he won the Gordon De Blois Memorial Prize awarded to the best all-round athlete.

Bill went on to medical school at Dalhousie University, where he was captain of the Dalhousie football and hockey teams in the same year - the first Dal student to hold leadership positions with both clubs. In 1965 he was named Dal’s most outstanding male athlete and is considered one of the finest ever to attend the school.

Bill embarked on a distinguished career as a world-class orthopedic surgeon in Halifax. In 1976, he founded the Sports Medicine Clinic to rehabilitate many injured athletes.  He went on to work with Canada’s elite athletes at the national and international level, starting with the 1976 Olympics, and continuing on as chief medical officer for the Canadian team at the Los Angeles and Seoul Olympic Games. He was team doctor at the Pan-Am Games and several times served as team doctor for the Canadian Gymnastics Federation.

He now practices medicine with the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Clinic, where he is the clinical director. Dr Stanish's surgical expertise combines cutting-edge techniques with conservative theory and pain management. He is also Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the Dalhousie University, where he has taught for over 25 years, earning him a world-wide reputation as a lecturer. He carries out an active research program that focuses on ligaments and tendons, and has contributed to more than 182 publications. He is the co-editor of one of the world's major sports medicine texts.

In 2007, Bill was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame for his contribution to sport medicine. Said Premier Rodney MacDonald at the induction, "His ability to deal with patients and to sell Nova Scotia has been instrumental in facilitating the recovery of his patients and in recruiting doctors, coaches, and athletes to this province."

Even though he’s spent most of his life in Halifax, Bill hasn’t forgotten Charlottetown: each year he returns home to play golf in the Charlottetown Boys and Girls Club fundraising tournament, which his foursome won this summer.