Purple Reign!
By Dennis Hinschberger
In the spring, usually its the rain that produces the sprouts . . . but not so for the Western Mustangs! In London, it’s the opposite, the Purple sprouts are what contribute to the Purple Reign! (Yes, I am also a Prince fan!)
In the recent past, probably the most recognized story of Mustang legacy would be the Marshall family, with Greg and brother Blake both being Hec Crighton award winners as Canada’s top university football players, Greg went on to contribute three more outstanding Western footballers in sons Don, Brian and Tom, all of which continued the winning tradition at Western, with Greg as head coach. But this is but one of many examples of Western progeny and its impact on Western athletics.
The Western Mustang Athletic Alumni Association (WMAA), an organization built to support Western athletics and athletic alumni in every way, is chock full of volunteers that have represented Western’s winning tradition across all sport AND contributed offspring to the cause. From WMAA board members Janet Takahashi (Western track and field) – mother of Western wrestler and Olympian, Steven Takahashi, to former WMAA exec Mike Sheffar (Western men’s football), father of current WMAA Communications committee member and former USports track champ/ Don Wright award winner, Jack Sheffar, the list is broad, purple, and deep! Highly decorated former athletes like current Nomination committee head, Patricia Kitchen (women’s swimming) contributed daughter Lenore to both the swimming and rowing teams, current WMAA co-president Dr. Angie Schneider (track and field, rowing) contributed a football player (Rupert Butcher), and son/brother Loughran to the Western track team. I was happy to provide a football player to Greg Marshall’s Vanier cup winning 2017 team! No doubt I’ve missed many more WMAA purple offspring . . . a virtual Purple Blanket factory!
Why does Western win? Why does it compete and succeed at the highest levels across the country and abroad? Well, many reasons of course – however it certainly helps when our best former athletes produce some of our best current athletes, because as former athletes, we understand the quality of education and experience that our kids are looking forward to in London. At the WMAA, we’re all proud to contribute to the Western athletic legacy . . . one PURPLE sprout at a time! Go STANGS!
As many of our readers know, the WMAA hosts the Hall of Fame awards for athletic alumni, annually, and we hope to report on either a virtual or physical date for 2021 in the very near future. We want to invite all of our readers to consider nominating potential inductees for our 2022 class at your earliest convenience, if you know of a deserving Western Athletic Alumni! You can find the nomination forms and further information the Hall of Fame website or by clicking here!
- Dennis Hinschberger, WMAA Co-President
