Robert "Bobby" Beaton was an Atlantic Canadian

Atlantic Canada

Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...

 hockey player

Hockey

Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...

, boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 and boxing referee.

Hockey

Beaton was born in Port Hood

Port Hood, Nova Scotia

Port Hood is a seaside community on the west coast of Cape Breton Island and the shire town of Inverness County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Local residents are predominantly English-speaking Roman Catholics, the population core having Highland Scottish ancestry; MacDonalds/MacDonnells mostly...

, Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....

 and played hockey in Atlantic Canada in the early 1930s. He moved to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1938 to play for the Stratham Lions and Brighton Tigers, winning the European Championship in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. The next year he played for the Falkirk Lions of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Returning home to Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, Canada, he played and coached teams in Pictou

Pictou, Nova Scotia

Pictou is a town in Pictou County, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Located on the north shore of Pictou Harbour, the town is approximately 10 km north of the larger town of New Glasgow....

, Truro

Truro, Nova Scotia

-Education:Truro has one high school, Cobequid Educational Centre. Post-secondary options include a campus of the Nova Scotia Community College, as well as the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in the neighboring town of Bible Hill.- Sports :...

, Stellarton

Stellarton, Nova Scotia

-External links:*...

 and New Glasgow

New Glasgow, Nova Scotia

New Glasgow is a town in Pictou County, in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the banks of the East River of Pictou, which flows into Pictou Harbour, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait....

, winning seven A.P.C. (Antigonish, Pictou, Colchester league) titles, three Nova Scotia Championships and three Maritime titles in the 1940s and 1950s.

Boxing

Beaton boxed professionally as a welterweight

Welterweight

Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...

 and his record was 12-0 with nine TKO

Knockout

A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...

s. In 1941 he began refereeing. Until his retirement in 1983, he officiated at over 500 boxing bouts, including 41 Canadian, five British Commonwealth and one World Championship. Beaton is credited with conceiving the three-judge system in boxing, now standard practice in the sport. He was Referee-in-Chief and Adviser to the Nova Scotia Boxing Authority from 1978 until 1994.

Hall-of-Fame inductions

Beaton was inducted into the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame, the Nova Scotia Sports Heritage Hall of Fame, the Pictou County Sports Heritage Hall of Fame and the Cape Breton Sports Heritage Hall of Fame.

Other facts

• Beaton's great-grandson Evan Chambers, at age 17, represented Canada in boxing at the 2007 Canada Winter Games.
• Beaton was a mentor to Hubert Earl, current Referee in Chief, Canadian Professional Boxing Federation and The Nova Scotia Boxing Commission.
• Beaton lost the sight in one eye in a sledding accident at the age of three.