With words by Kadin Burnett, son of Jim Burnett

The Collingwood athletic program would be drastically different without former Collingwood Head of School and Athletics Director Jim Burnett. For a school that so consistently sits on the mountaintop of competition, we would not have been able to reach such heights without a pioneer carving our course. 

In the late 80s, Collingwood underwent its first expansion, and with that came a new gymnasium with a sprung floor. The previous gym had been elementary-sized and half was converted into a library. Needless to say, Collingwood was not known as a school for athletic success. Mr. Burnett had just taken on the role of Director of Physical Education and basketball coach at the time and had the honor of throwing the ceremonial ‘first dunk’ – except, he missed! This could have been a bad omen, but by 1994, the boys won the North Shore basketball championship and the girls came second, leading to a Provincial Championship in 1995.

Collingwood’s athletic prowess isn’t necessarily measured in success. Yes, our new gymnasium is coated in banners, however, that isn’t indicative of success, it’s indicative of the standard to which we hold ourselves. Mr. Burnett believed that success is measured not by wins, but by the grace and integrity it takes to achieve them.

It started with track and field league titles, and would eventually manifest in our dynastic programs like rugby and field hockey, but nowhere was the standard more evident than in the 1995 Senior Girls Basketball season. His standard illustrated that the pursuit of greatness can't halt in the face of adversity. For two years prior, the Collingwood Senior Girls Team had reached the provincial final game, only to fall short. However, never one to coach teams that wilt, Mr.Burnett took the team back to the final for a third year in a row, ultimately winning what serves as Collingwood’s girls basketball one and only provincial banner.

Another sign of Mr. Burnett’s influence on athletics at Collingwood was in track and field. In 1985, Collingwood earned only seven points at the North Shore Track and Field Championship. In 1993, by the time those same athletes made it to the Senior team led by Coach Burnett, Collingwood scored 661 points. This was a phenomenal achievement: the smallest school on the North Shore beat all of the big high schools and won the championship. 

Mr. Burnett went on to serve as the School’s Athletics Director until 2004, preceding Mr. Speirs. Speirs now presents the ‘Jim Burnett Award’ every year at the Senior Athletic Banquet to the year’s ‘unsung athletics star.’ Beyond his role in athletics, Jim Burnett also stepped up to lead the school as acting Head following Graham Baldwin's departure, eventually earning the permanent position. It was a role he embraced with the same quiet dedication he brought to everything.

If you’ve met Mr. Burnett you’ll know him as a soft-spoken man. With a calming presence and measured speech, his openness and sincerity draws out the best in people and leaves a lasting impression on colleagues and students. You would, however, likely never come to learn about the provincial and state titles he’d won as both a player and coach, and you would certainly never know about his time competing for the United States at the Olympics in the 60s. This is because Mr. Burnett never cared to tout his resume, that was never his style. His achievements, much like the banners in our gym, speak for themselves.

His legacy at Collingwood will not be his endless hours spent on coaching or classroom preparations or the many victories he led, but rather a coach, teacher, friend, and colleague whose mentorship and example made a difference in every life he touched – and turned Collingwood into a school worthy of 51 provincial championships.