Bruce Kidd
Canadian distance runner and professor in sports
About Bruce Kidd
Born 1943. Bruce Kidd is a Canadian athletics competitor, university teacher, pedagogue, athlete, runner and professor.
Bruce Kidd, (born July 26, 1943) is a Canadian academic, author, and athlete. He is professor emeritus at the University of Toronto where he previously served as the first dean of its Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education and the 10th vice-president and principal of its Scarborough campus.
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he attended Malvern Collegiate Institute before becoming a member of the University of Toronto track and field team. He won 18 national senior championships in Canada, the United States, and Britain. He won a gold (in the 6 Miles event) and bronze medal (in the 3 Miles event) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and was a member of the Canadian 1964 Summer Olympics team (competing in the Men's 5000 metres, Men's 10000 metres and scheduled to start in the Men's marathon). His personal bests included a time of 2:20:18 to win the Peach Bowl Marathon in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 28, 1974, and an indoor best for two miles 8:39.0 in Wembley, England, on March 30, 1964. On outdoor tracks, he had times of 8:38.2, two months later in Modesto, California. For five kilometres, he ran 13:43.8, in Compton, California, when he was only eighteen years old, and 29:46.4 for ten kilometres in 1974 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A short documentary film about him, entitled Runner, was produced and directed by Don Owen and narrated by W. H. Auden.
He received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy in 1965 from the University of Toronto and a Master of Arts in Adult Education in 1968 from the University of Chicago. He also received a Master of Arts in history in 1980 and a Ph.D. in history in 1990 from York University. Kidd has an honorary doctor of laws from Dalhousie University. and later the warden of Hart House. On February 27, 2014, Kidd became the interim vice-president and principal of the University of Toronto Scarborough.
He is an honorary member of the Canadian Olympic Committee and volunteer chair of the Selection Committee, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. In 2018, Bruce was inducted into Scarborough Walk of Fame.
Politics Kidd ran for the Ontario New Democratic Party in the riding of Beaches—Woodbine in the 1971 Ontario general election. He lost with less than 40% of the vote.
Awards and honours 1961 and 1962 – the Canadian Press' Athlete of the Year. 1961 – awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy. 1966 – inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame as an athlete. 1968 – inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. 1988 – inducted into the University of Toronto Sports Hall of Fame. 1994 – inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame as a builder. (Kidd is the only person to have been twice elected to this hall of fame). 2004 – made an Officer of the Order of Canada for having "devoted his life to eradicating sexism and racism in sporting communities around the world".
Selected bibliography The Death of Hockey (with John Mcfarlane, 1972) The Political Economy of Sport (1979) Tom Longboat (1980) Hockey Showdown (1980) Who's a Soccer Player (1980) Athletes' Rights in Canada (with Mary Eberts, 1982) The Struggle for Canadian Sport (1996), winner of the North American Society of Sport History book prize. "Sports and Masculinity (2013)
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Important facts
People in Bruce Kidd's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Bruce Kidd's
Frequently asked questions
Who is Bruce Kidd?
Canadian distance runner and professor in sports
When was Bruce Kidd born?
Bruce Kidd was born on 26 July 1943 in Ottawa.
What is Bruce Kidd's occupation?
Bruce Kidd is an athletics competitor, university teacher, pedagogue, athlete, runner and professor.
What nationality is Bruce Kidd?
Bruce Kidd is Canadian.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Bruce Kidd. https://biography.guide/bruce-kidd/
MLA: "Bruce Kidd." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/bruce-kidd/.
Chicago: "Bruce Kidd." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/bruce-kidd/.
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