WMAA Co-Presidents' Message

WMAA- say that five times fast!

If a tree falls in the forest, does anyone know what the WMAA stands for? We know that sounds a little funny . . we were trying to get your attention because talking about incredibly passionate purple athletic alumni is usually only a scintillating topic for the old dodgers like us!

But sit back a second and indulge us, because there isn’t a lot that goes on at Western in the sports arena that doesn’t attribute at least some of its success to the members of the Western Mustangs Athletic Alumni Association (or WMAA for short). All of our incredible volunteer committee and board members, who range in age from 24 – 75, were previous athletes at Western at some point in time, with varying degrees of success, (and we all have nose-stretching stories of past personal sports glory to prove it!), but we all came away believing that what we really got at Western wasn’t just an education – it was “purple” inspiration. It helped make us who we are and we can’t wait to help current and future athletes at Western graduate with the same perspective.

We aren’t a loud group, so not a lot of students, or even alumni, are aware of our rich history – almost 70 years – of organized “athletic support”,  . . . or that we actually established and still run the J.P. Metras Sports Museum – the largest museum dedicated to university athletics in Canada, (which I strongly advise you visit online- Metras Museum). Through donations from previous passionate sports enthusiasts – most particularly, Bob Gage, a former local sportswriter - the WMAA is a fairly well-healed organization. We seek to use our wealth of donations to build the support tools that aim to maximize the personal success of all of our athletes. We also strive to encourage ongoing additional support from the vast pool of highly successful Western athletic alumni across the country and across the globe – most of which we chummed with back in the day.

The WMAA helps recognize deserving Western Sports Hall of Fame inductees annually, we support the Mustang Athletics ring ceremony that provides special recognition of each and every graduating athlete at Western. The Mustang Athletic ring is available for purchase for all Athletic Alumni who graduated before the adoption of the ring ceremony which was established in 2014. Rings can be ordered on the Baron Rings website.

We continue to explore ways of supporting all of our athletes at Western, through work-study programs, meal programs, scholarship programs – you name it! We might even be able to develop an engagement App for all of our athletic stakeholders - a work-in-progress, but a prime example of what we seek to achieve for the Purple cause.

So the next time you spend time at a Wall of Champions golf event for football, a regatta on Lake Fanshawe supported by the Old Oars or a wrestling tournament organized by the Cauliflower Ear Club, or the Wall of Honour celebrations hosted by many of our sports, you’ll know that there is a parent organization behind all of these great sports specific alumni groups, and we are absolutely committed to supporting and progressing athletic achievement at Western, for the brave who choose to compete. We engage, we advocate, and we support all athletic alumni – past, present or future . . .for all athletic Mustangs! Connect with us by clicking here or sending an email to wmaa@uwo.ca and consider getting involved! 

-      Angela Schneider and  Dennis Hinschberger, WMAA Co-Presidents