I (and about 300-odd others) were witness to an extraordinary evening on June 29, for the Len Williams Coaching Legacy benefit fundraiser held in the Legion Hall.
As fundraisers go, many people maybe wouldn't have found it all that unique - but I think there were some really cool aspects of this event.
One was, even though it was held on the Canada Day long weekend, there was a Williams family reunion resulting from this event, with all of Len's siblings there except for his youngest brother Sid. Those present included Hugh, Ann, "Tiger" Dave, Morgan, Heather and Trevor, with many of their families, including a good number of nieces and nephews.
In addition, there were many of Len's past students and even fellow coaches (a bunch came in from Moose Jaw), including from his first year of teaching at Arcola.
There was the live auction of some truly incredible sports memorabilia, like a jersey from Darryl Sittler from the year he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and a jersey from former Islander Bryan Trottier from his own collection, a couple of Rider jerseys (from Brendan LaBatte and John Chick), a signed Oilers jersey from Wayne Gretzky (it got $2,200), a signed and framed jersey and photo by Bobby Orr (fetched $3,200), and the ultimate prize of the evening, two tickets to the alumni box at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, which can be used anytime; this item attracted a bid of $16,500 from Michael and CJ Mainil, and earned a standing ovation.
Len's famous NHL brother, "Tiger" Williams, was able to arrange for some of the Maple Leaf and Blue Jays jerseys, as well as the alumni tickets, and he later told me that his very first job ever was with Jerry Mainil. He added he soon learned he didn't want to be in the oil industry, but made his mark as a tough guy with the Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks.
In the end, the organizers are well over halfway to their goal of raising $100,000 to establish this legacy fund in Len's name, to help coaches get the training they need. It was so good to see so many people who have been helped by Len's coaching come together to support the legacy fund in this way, and to see such solid support from his family as well.
A good coach can mean so much to the development of the athlete not only as a team member but as a person, and we need to have more people who are trained up properly to be good coaches and mentors to our young people - thus we have the importance of the legacy fund. Not only that, but it's good to pay tribute to a great coach in Len.
