Rob Massey

Rob Massey has been a fixture on the Guelph sports scene for 34 years.

Massey arrived in Guelph in 1986 to become the Sports Editor of the Guelph Mercury and he remained at the daily newspaper as a sports photojournalist until it closed in 2016. After the newspapers closure, Massey continued covering sports in Guelph with stories and photos on his own Guelph Sports Journal (guelphsportsjournal.com) website that helped fill the void in local sports coverage.

“I remember as a kid reading the Bowmanville Statesman,” said Massey who grew up in Mitchell’s Corners, Ontario, northeast of Oshawa. “I could read my name in there for playing house league hockey and that sparked my interest in journalism.”

While at the Mercury, Massey’s work was honoured as he was a finalist for several Ontario Newspaper Awards (ONA) including three in 2014 when he was nominated in the sports writing, photography and multimedia categories.

Massey was the winner of the ONA’s sports photography award for newspapers in the Mercury’s circulation category in 2011 for a photo of a trampolining display during halftime of a Guelph Gryphons basketball game.

In 2019, Massey was honoured with a pair of awards for his coverage of university sports by both the national (U Sports) and provincial (Ontario University Athletics) sports associations.

Massey was named the recipient of the U Sports Fred Sgambati Media Award that is presented to a member of the media in recognition of major contributions to the development and growth of Canadian university sport.

He was also named the recipient of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Media Member of Distinction Award which is presented to a member of the media that has made a major contribution to the development and growth of Ontario University Athletics. By receiving those awards, Massey became only the second person to be named recipient of both the U Sports and OUA media awards in the same year.

Inducted into the Guelph Sports Hall of Fame – Builder category – on May 18, 2022