By Ottawa Sports Pages executive director Dan Plouffe
The bittersweet day we always kind of dreaded has indeed arrived – Martin Cleary is calling it a career after more than 53 years covering amateur sport in Ottawa.
For me, it’s almost been the five stages of grief since Martin hinted the moment may be near, and if you’ve been a follower of local sport at any point during his unmatched run reporting on our city’s amateur sports scene, then you’re probably experiencing something similar.
But after meeting Martin for a wonderful, and emotional, lunch earlier this week, I’m happy to say I’ve now arrived at one overpowering feeling – gratitude.
The words to properly say thank you simply don’t exist. Nor can they adequately explain the immense impact he’s made with his exceptional storytelling, tireless research, attention to detail, and his unwavering dedication to largely-overlooked amateur sport.
But if you’re among the generations of athletes, sports figures and unsung heroes Martin has covered, then you certainly understand it. And then you multiply that by well over 10,000 – a rough count of the total number of stories he’s written – and the appreciation you get for those contributions… Truly no words.
Martin first dabbled with the idea of retirement 14 years ago when he concluded 39 years of working full-time work at the Ottawa Citizen. Now 75 and having moved to a smaller residence with his wife earlier this year, Martin says the time has now come.
Some people mistakenly thought the celebration we had to mark Martin’s 50 years in local sports journalism was his retirement party. There were of course some fantastic reflections alongside that milestone moment, but they couldn’t have been more wrong.
Read More: MARTIN CLEARY: My half-century of Ottawa amateur sports storytelling
After receiving a Letter of Commendation from Mayor Mark Sutcliffe at that 2023 event, Martin continued to pile up awards in each of his last three years of writing, building on an already-storied career that notably included Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honours.
He was named Media Member of Distinction at the 2024 OUA Honour Awards, he earned the Canadian Online Publishing Awards’ distinction for Best Patriotic Story of 2025 with his article on Wendy Alexis’ experience at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Florida, and he shared in the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Media Award for outstanding coverage from Gymnastics Ontario in 2026.
I feel especially grateful for these final chapters because I never expected that Martin would have this extraordinary run of nearly six years with Ottawa Sports Pages.
From our initial plans to provide a news website home for the Twitter threads he was producing during the pandemic, Martin carried on to write another 1,000+ stories shining a light on local sport.
Martin wrote his final article for OSP just before the Thanksgiving weekend. That one served as a reminder of how many high achievers there are in our community, showcasing six news items that were all deserving of recognition.
Martin is irreplaceable. His dedication to the local amateur sports beat is unmatched. Period.
But he’s certainly provided endless inspiration and motivation for us to continue sharing these stories in the years ahead. Our publication probably wouldn’t even exist without Martin’s efforts, because a generation would have no idea what’s happening in Ottawa’s amateur sports scene. We know how important this work is to our community and we will do our very best to carry the torch going forward.
Martin included a humble personal sign-off note to share with readers as he filed his last column, here it is:
This is my 1,191st and final High Achievers’ story for the award-winning Ottawa Sports Pages. It has been an absolute honour and privilege to tell the fascinating amateur sports stories in our growing city.
Dan Plouffe has done a remarkable job presenting this best-kept-secret in Ottawa sport and is a true professional as a publisher, writer and leader.
A special thank you to all athletes, coaches, administrators, teams and clubs that have allowed me to put the spotlight on your hard work, dedication and rewards.
For more than 53 years, I had the opportunity with the Ottawa Citizen, the Ottawa Sun and Ottawa Sports Pages to experience the capital’s sports scene in a unique manner. I am forever grateful.
– Martin
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Note to readers: you are welcome to add on to the comments we collected around the occasion marking Martin’s 50 years of local sports reporting below: