President's Message
By Dennis Hinschberger, BA'86
A very happy and joyful holiday wish to all you Purple fans of Western athletics!
By the time my message reaches you, the WMAA will finally have inducted the most recent class of Western Athletic Hall of Famers and on behalf of the Western Mustangs Athletic Alumni Association (WMAA), congratulations to all of the individuals and team members who were so honoured in London on November 19th. I specifically would like to acknowledge our lifetime achievement award winners, Jack Cowin, BA'64, LLD'00 and Helen Luckman, MEd'82 who join a group of truly our most illustrious Western sports alum, and deservedly so. I also want to thank the members of the WMAA and Department of Alumni Relations staff who were instrumental in finally achieving an in-person event in these difficult times. Thank you sincerely, from the board and from all of the individual committee members of the WMAA.
Books for the holidays
A great way to reminisce about past athletic successes and endeavours at Western, is to peruse books dedicated to our past athletic prowess. Past sport leaders, legends and philanthropists lovingly share these stories, starting of course with Bob Gage’s book, “Mustang Tales” – The History of Men’s Sport In the 20thCentury, at Western, and then its companion “Mustang Tales” – The Story of Women’s Sports at the University of Western Ontario, authored by our illustrious Helen Luckman and Pat Morden. Both editions provide numerous photos and stories from the past to reflect on and enjoy. Bob Barney delivered “Mustang 100”, A Century of Western Athletics, which provides even deeper insight into our beginnings, our ascension to athletic excellence, and a chronology of the people who facilitated our athletic successes as a school.
These excellent books led to efforts to produce some “sport-specific” narratives, such as, “The Mustang Legend: A history of Western Football from 1908-2018", by Paul Gleason, a sentimental favourite of mine!
Recently and not to be outdone, another illustrious Western sports icon, and former men’s hockey boss – Ron "Whipper" Watson, penned the history of Western men’s hockey. “The Rink Rat”, describes Ron's 55-year journey as a both a supporter and coach. It looks back at the development of Western’s hockey program from 1906 right-through to 2020. Having experienced a brief episode of this history hanging out with some of the hockey lads from 1983-86, I’m looking forward to reading Ron’s view of that group! Hopefully, you’ll pick an edition up for a fun read over the holidays. All proceeds benefit the men's hockey program. See details in this edition of our newsletter here.
New board members
Recently, the WMAA was happy to announce the addition of three new board members: Tamra Walji (track & field), Abigail Tulloch (track & field) and Alexander Marchand (cheerleading). We also announced new committee members Randy McAuley (Governance), Jon Hamilton (Hall of Fame selections), Annette White (Events), Jack Sheffar (Metras Museum), and Therese Quigley (Metras Museum), and Amy Samson and Heather Raymond - our new J.P. Metras Museum curator and assistant curator.
Despite the challenges of COVID-19, the WMAA remains a growing and robust organization ready to help lift Western athletics to the pinnacle!
Coming up
As we begin to finally think about normalization, the WMAA is planning for the 2022 Hall of Fame induction, a Coaches and Captains event for April 2022, and the Ring Ceremony for graduating athletes. We’re also investigating ways to kick start fundraising for athletic scholarships using some of the financial leverage we have at our disposal. So, look forward to these events and initiatives in 2022.
May we all enjoy a healthy and happy (Purple) New Year!
