Nora Young was born in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England (September 8, 1917), the youngest of ten children, and her family immigrated to Fort William (now Thunder Bay) when she was two years old.

She grew up playing hockey on Lake Superior and in backyard rinks, with Eaton's catalogues under her wool socks for shin pads, always the only girl on the ice.

A national champion in three sports (cycling, javelin, basketball), Young competed in top venues all over North America during the Golden Age, in front of the likes of William Randolph Hearst and Mary Pickford.

For example: She was an ace player at Sunnyside Stadium (famous across North America for women's softball) where she was coached by legendary athlete Bobbie Rosenfeld.

She was a member of the Toronto Ladies hockey team when it was invited to demonstrate the sport at Madison Square Gardens in New York, and then participate in a “barnstorming” tour, playing games across the United States.

As a masters athlete, she competed in Canada, across the U.S., and even in Australia, in cycling and a number of other sports, accumulating numerous medals and setting many records, and often beating others much younger than she was.