• Participated in golf, badminton, and volleyball at the U of A.
• A 25-year member of Canada's national trapshooting team.
• Competed in 6 Olympic Games, 5 Commonwealth Games, 4 Pan American Games, and 19 World Championships.
• Two-time gold medal winner in the Trap Shooting World Championships (1975, 1983) and two-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist (1974, 1978).
• Member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame (1975) and the Order of Canada (1985).

John was born in Ottawa and moved to Edmonton with his parents where he completed all of his elementary and secondary schooling before enrolling in Physical Education at the University of Alberta. After completing a B.P.E (65), and a B.Ed. (66), he taught and coached at Westmount Junior High in Edmonton and then returned to this university to do an MSc. (71). His graduate studies focused on respiratory physiology, an area in which he worked as a researcher for several years following the completion of his degree.

His athletic ability and commitment surfaced early. While still in high school he won the Alberta Junior Golf Championship in 1960. Versatility in sport was also evident and as an undergraduate he was on Golden Bear teams in golf, badminton, and volleyball. John credits the interest and support of his parents for his early introduction to several sports and for his athletic success as a youth and later in his life. His father, Justice Neil Primrose, was a long-time competitor in figure skating and trap shooting, and while in his mid-teens, John followed his father's example and took up shooting. It proved to be an excellent choice. At 20 he appeared in his first World Clay Pigeon Championships (as trap shooting is referred to in international sport) and since then the competitive record he has compiled has been truly outstanding: 12 Canadian Championships, appearances in 6 Olympic Games - the first of which was in Mexico City in 1968 19 World Championships, 5 Commonwealth Games, and 4 Pan American Games.

Twice he defeated the best in the world to take home the gold medal from the World Championships, the first time in 1975, and again in 1983, and twice he captured the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games, in 1974, and in 1978. The gold in 1978 was among the most satisfying, coming as it did in front of an Edmonton audience when the Commonwealth Games were held in this city. Few athletes in any sport could match his longevity at the highest level of international competition. He is currently in his 25th year as a member of the National team. Since leaving teaching he has been self-employed in the investment field. This has not only allowed him the freedom to train and travel to competitions all over the world, but has also given him the time to serve his sport in several important ways. Aside from winning the gold at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, he served as chairman of the Shooting Committee for those games. A stint as the shooting sports representative to the Canadian Athlete's Advisory Council provided a further opportunity to put his experience to work for the benefit of sport in Canada.

Among the many honours awarded this remarkable athlete are induction into the Canadian Amateur Sports Hall of Fame, 1975 and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, 1977; designation as the flag-bearer for the Canadian contingent to the 1982 Commonwealth Games; recipient of the Golden Anniversary Award from Shooting Federation of Canada, 1982, and the Tribute to World Champions Award in 1984. In recognition of his contributions to sport in Canada and internationally, he became a member of the Order of Canada in 1985.