She has been with the Moncton Mystics and the Maritime Women’s Basketball Association since day one.
A constant source of help, imagination and drive with Moncton general manager, Shannon Parlee.
And it hasn’t just been the Mystics for Judy Vautour.
A lifetime of giving back and helping the Moncton sporting community has certainly been a forte for Vautour, who will be enshrined Saturday night into the city’s Sports Wall of Fame.
Vautour has transformed athletics in the region through her roles as a multi-sport coach, official, administrator, and mentor, while being an accomplished athlete in her own right.
When she began teaching physical education at Harrison Trimble High School in 1983, girls’ soccer had no sanctioned provincial league. Vautour worked over five years to successfully secure full New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association (now Scholastic Sport New Brunswick) sanctioning, permanently expanding access and equity for female athletes in New Brunswick.
In her 33 years at HTHS, Vautour was also head coach of varsity soccer for 28 years, field hockey for 21, and basketball for 10 while also coaching track and field and badminton.
Outside of the school year, she coached Codiac AAA provincial boys’ soccer teams for 16 years and represented NB in two national championships; officiated soccer for 32 years at the college and university levels and was appointed chief referee liaison officer for the FIFA Women’s U20 and FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015.
For 25 summers she was senior coach at MultiSport Camp Moncton, and for over 40 years she has contributed to the Legion Youth Leadership Camp, including 11 as camp director.
Previously an Atlantic University Athletic Association (now Atlantic University Sport) All-Star in field hockey at Université de Moncton, Vautour returned to competitive university basketball at age 47, becoming the oldest woman in Canada to do so.
Today she serves as director of the Moncton Mystics and is a constant presence at MWBA games in Moncton and on the road.
– With files from the Moncton Sports Wall of Fame. (MSWF Photo)
