Raised in Vancouver, Merv Ferguson was an all-round athlete until stricken with polio. He was one of the few individuals to hold the position of national chairman of three amateur sports organizations concurrently: the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada from 1963-65, the Canadian Lacrosse Association from 1963-65, and the Canadian Amateur Sports Organization (Sports Federation of Canada) from 1964-69. Ferguson is a member of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame and the Canadian Amateur Athletic Hall of Fame.

Ferguson served in countless capacities for countless organizations over the years. He was secretary and chairman of the Vancouver Athletic Commission for eight years, spent ten years with the BC Amateur Boxing Association, and was president of the BC Lacrosse Association from 1943-58.

From 1963-65, he was president/chairman of both the BC Branch of the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) and the national AAU. For many years, he acted as secretary and treasurer on the BC Sports Hall of Fame’s board of trustees, including one term as the Hall of Fame’s chairman from 1972-73.

For the Canadian Lacrosse Association he acted as president, chairman, and treasurer from 1962-63). At the same time he was the CLA’s liaison officer to the International Amateur Lacrosse Federation.

Other miscellaneous positions included secretary and treasurer of the AAU National Boxing Committee, chairman of the Technical Advisory Board for the 1973 Canada Summer Games, and a member of the Commonwealth Games Executive from 1961-77.

Ferguson also had a long association with the Pan American Games serving as Canadian boxing team manager at the 1959 Pan Ams in Chicago and the 1963 Pan Ams in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He served as the Canadian assistant team manager at the 1967 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg and the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand. Finally, he served as Canadian general team manager at the 1971 Pan Am Games in Cali, Colombia.