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Pursuit: The fascinating life of John Mealin

Sudbury resident John Mealin started studying karate at age 74 and was a brown belt within three years. It’s just one more interesting wrinkle in a life that is full of interesting wrinkles
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Sudbury’s John Mealin (centre, with his instructors shortly after receiving his brown belt) has lived an interesting life as a CEO, pilot and martial artist. He took up karate at age 74 and was a brown belt by the time he turned 77. Pictured, Mealin poses with Sensei Al Feit (left) and Sensei Brodie Hicks (right) at Shintani Wado Kai Karate in Peterborough.

At the tender young age of 74, some three years ago, John Mealin began to study karate. 

By the time that he turned 77 last year, the Sudbury resident, who was born in Burma (when it was still called Burma; it has been known officially as Myanmar since 1989), had acquired his brown belt in under four years, a feat, I am told, that is extremely rare.

And yet the irony is that when it comes to the life and times of John Mealin, this notable tidbit might not even crack the top ten of interesting facts for a man whose interest, pursuits and journey are about as fascinating as they come.

Given the nature of this column, I will tend to focus largely on his sporting interests, the first of which began in Calcutta, India, the city where Mealin did most of his schooling. 

“In many ways, the sports were not that much different (than what Canadian children might know),” explained the father of three.

Mealin spent some eight years in the United Kingdom before making his way to Canada. He lived for the next 30 years along the Toronto to Barrie corridor, before joining his daughter and son in Sudbury (with one other son and family living in Peterborough).

“We played football, which is what we know here as soccer, and we played field hockey as opposed to ice hockey – we didn’t have any rinks – and then we played all of the other sports like volleyball and basketball and such.

“The exposure to sport (in India) depended a little on what school you attended,” Mealin continued. “Although everyone played soccer and field hockey, cricket was also very big in areas with the English influence. I was in a British school with Belgian Jesuit teachers – and every season had a sport.”

With plenty of sporting options in front of him, Mealin settled on running.

“Mostly the 400m and 800m, that was my area,” he said. “In my last three years of high school, I excelled at it. I won the inter-school in the 400m and won the junior state championship in the 800m — and I had already taken up judo as well.”

In fact, it would be martial arts that would remain the constant activity for the next 50 years or so of Mealin’s life. Martial arts would remain even as his career took interesting twists and turns. From the National Coal Board  in the UK, with a knowledge of actuarial sciences and the investment side of employee benefits, then moving on to work with global giants like Mercer Human Resource Consulting and Marsh McLennan.

Along the way, he would develop a keen interest in the entire area of information technology (IT), co-founding International Systems Group with his brother, a company that was subsequently acquired by AT&T. From there, Mealin co-founded Anvil Technologies, an outfit that specialized in emergency wireless communications for first responders, with his knowledge in the field leading to worldwide travel and consulting assignments as an expert in the field.

His commitment to studying both judo and aikido eventually led him to karate, providing a physical outlet for Mealin that compliments his other pursuits — his interests include being a qualified pilot and conducting extensive research into Second World War espionage activities in Burma.

“It’s funny because people often believe that if you become very good at judo, then you are brilliant in self-defense,” said Mealin. “When you first learn judo, it’s nothing like that. The first thing you learn might be to run away very quickly,” he continued with a laugh.

“Aikido is closer to real self-defense in the sense that it’s the art of using your opponent’s strength and momentum to throw them or put them into a ground lock or whatever.”

While he is quite comfortable in stating that had he pursued the belt options in judo, he likely would have reached third or fourth ‘dan’ (the ranking system used in many martial arts) black belt status by now, this simply wasn’t a priority at the time.

“I was teaching judo at the National Coal Board, but I never focused on belts,” he said. “At that time, they were not worried about what belt you had. You just trained and trained and trained, and someone would come along and you would get graded.”

Through it all, it’s that starting point in martial arts that is likely his source of greatest comfort.

“Because I have done judo for so long, I have always preferred judo,” said Mealin. “Of all of the martial arts that I have experienced so far, judo is probably the one that tries you the most. In judo, you learn everything from throws to groundwork and break falls. I think judo teaches you break falls better than any of the martial arts.”

John Mealin should know.

As he noted very early in our discussion, he has been fortunate enough to experience far more than what the average person likely has, and his affinity for sport is but a small part of that picture.

Randy Pascal is a sportswriter in Greater Sudbury. Pursuit is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.


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