From his early days in elementary school, it became obvious that Dan Ralph had a love and passion for sports. While attending West Ferris Secondary School, he was both junior and senior MVP in volleyball and basketball along with excellent results in a number of sports that led to him being named West Ferris athlete of the year on two occasions and being named North Bay athlete of the year in 1997.
He took up the sport of javelin in 1994 that put him on track to compete at an international level. He captured a 2nd place finish at OFSAA in 1995 and followed that up with a 1st at the Ontario Juvenile Championships, a 2nd at the Canadian Junior Nationals and a 4th at an international dual meet. All of that led to Dan being named to the Canadian Junior Track and Field team. In 1996, he had a 1st at OFSAA, a 4th at the Olympic trials, 2 – 1st place finishes and a 2nd place finish at a meet in Ireland as he continued as a member of the Canadian team. His second OFSAA 1st place finish in 1997 was followed up by a 6th place finish at the Junior Pan Am Games.
His success awarded him a full scholarship to the University of Iowa where he had 2 – 2nd place finishes in Big 10 qualifiers along with a 3rd. He was a letter winner in each of his years at Iowa and upon graduation, he held the position of 4th all time on the Javelin list.
After a brief hiatus from competition, Dan turned his athletic talent to the sport of Ultimate Frisbee. He was part of a number of professional teams and from 2011-2018 he competed in a series of national qualifiers and provincial championships, all while serving as captain of most of the teams he played on. He wrapped up his career competing in the World Ultimate Masters Division championships.