Lethbridge College celebrates its Olympic connections

Marianne Leeson (second year, Therapeutic Recreation — Gerontology) finished fifth in the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, the highest finish for any Canadian female alpine snowboarder.

In her words:

"I have so many amazing memories from the Olympics, but I can recall one memory that really stands out from the rest. I will never forget standing in that start gate just before I was about to take my turn and hearing the roaring crowd all the way from the bottom of the slope. I experienced a sudden rush of emotions and pride that gave me more confidence and a now-or-never attitude. My family with their unwavering support was in that roaring crowd and I will never forget their huge smiles and their flailing bodies as I came across that finish line. I am a huge believer that it takes a team to build a champion and my family was at the forefront of this team. I can't express the feeling it gave me to have them in Russia watching me fulfil a dream that they were apart of and supported since day one."

In her own words, Wendy Hilliard, a service specialist in Testing Services, shares a memory from 30 years ago Feb. 13:

"My husband Les and I were lucky enough to dance the two-step to Ian Tyson and Gordon Lightfoot singing Four Strong Winds and Alberta Bound in the Opening Ceremonies for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, which was an amazing experience! We started practising about 1.5 years before the big day, which meant driving from Beiseker, Alta., to a warehouse in Calgary once a week for six months, then twice a week for the next six months, and then two, three or four times a week for the last six months. We did get a two-week break in the middle of August, which was perfect timing as our youngest was born on Aug. 13, exactly six months before the Opening Ceremonies. Ten days later we were back at rehearsals. Luckily grandmas and grandpas were available for babysitting or we never would have been able to get through.

"We still have memorabilia and our costumes — the ladies wore long, hot pink skirts, jackets, hats and gloves with fur trim, and black lace-up boots; the men wore royal blue slickers, black jeans, boots and Stetsons. The network had us do a dry run rehearsal a few days prior to the actual day which they taped, just in case there was a blizzard on the actual day and they weren’t able to broadcast the event live. The day of the rehearsal was a beautiful day, sun was shining, snow was melting and water running down the streets. We were almost too warm in our costumes, but on Feb. 13 it was very cold, most of us wore extra layers under our costumes to stay warm, but luckily there was no snow, so the show went on as planned. Our part took between two to four minutes, a lot of time spent waiting (we were on the bus at 6 a.m. and left home at 4 a.m.) but it was so amazing, running on to the field at McMahon Stadium, hearing the cheers of the crowd, seeing the Olympic Rings in the stands (all the spectators has windbreakers that made the shapes of the rings), listening to the music and smiling from ear to ear. It was so worth it!"

Hilliard says she and her husband Les are briefly visible on this video from the opening ceremonies, front line, second row from the left.

This Lethbridge College Olympic connection was first reported in Wider Horizons Winter 2016 issue. At that time, J.J. Straker (Recreation Facility Operation 2005) was the head ice technician for the Arizona Coyotes. He said his big break in the ice-keeping industry came when he was asked to volunteer at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. During the Games, Straker was asked to drive the ice resurfacer for the gold medal hockey game, one of the biggest, most closely watched events in the Winter Olympics. That smoothed the way for his move into the National Hockey League. These days, he’s the manager of engineering and ice operations for the Oilers Entertainment Group in Edmonton.

Sarah Orban, a Lethbridge College General Studies student (2013-2015), is at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang as a spectator, as she continues to chase her own Olympic dream.

The former Kodiaks soccer standout and sprinter, was identified as a potential future Olympian, a “diamond in the rough” needing a push to a next level of competition.

Orban won an intensive provincial competition called RBC Training Ground, and has now joined four other top young talents at the Winter Olympics where they are attending competitions with CBC Sports and RBC representatives.

To get there, she emerged as the top female athlete at a qualifier event to earn a spot in the final with 100 other top athletes between ages 14 and 25. From that elite group, she triumphed as the winner of all the male and female athletes.

In the final, we did a 30m sprint, six-second bike sprint, push-and-pull strength testing, triple jump/broad jump and assault bike,” she says by email from South Korea.

Based on her results, she was invited to do more specific testing with Canada’s national organizations for rugby, skeleton, cycling and athletics.

“I am now with Cycling Canada, training as a development athlete in a fast-track program.”

In addition to pursuing her Olympic dream, she is studying kinesiology and psychology at the University of Lethbridge, where she is just three classes away from completing her double major.

“Being at the Games motivates me to continue to keep working toward my dreams of becoming an Olympian and to compete at a world-class level. I’ve been watching Canadian athletes compete here and seeing them win medals and do so well is very inspiring. I am going to hold on to these feelings of being at the Games and use it as motivation to keep working towards my goals.”

If you've watched the Olympics coverage on CBC, you've probably seen Orban prominently featured in an ad for RBC Training Ground. She’s front and centre on the program’s website, too. 

Niles McMackon, the manager of Grenville Printing, can trace his family tree to the 1908 London Games, which were an entirely unique Olympics.

“I have a relative who won a silver medal at the 1908 London Summer Olympics," he says. "My great-great-grandfather, David McMackon, was part of the second place Trap Shooting team for Canada. He was 50 years old when he competed. Here is the link to the Canadian medal results for that event. Unfortunately, that is all I know about David as he passed away in 1922.”

Factoids about the 1908 Summer Olympics:

• The Games were originally to be held in Italy but were reassigned to London. Italy’s resources were shifted to rebuilding Naples, following an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in April 1906.
• The London event opened on April 27, 1908. The closing ceremonies were held Oct. 31, 1908.
• The Games featured the first time competitors paraded behind their country’s flag in sportswear.
• The Olympic website features two photos from shooting, but the individuals in the photos aren’t identified.

Terri-Ann Fitz-Gibson, the college's student experience and assessment co-ordinator, has a family connection to a Winter Olympics legend, and a gold medal feat that wouldn't be repeated for a half century.

Her father-in-law Billy Gibson was a member of the Edmonton Mercurys, which won gold at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway. Back then, there wasn't a national tournament to decide which amateur team would represent Canada at the Olympics. Gibson and teammates were all employees of the Waterloo Mercurys car dealership in 1950 when they won  the World Championship, earning them the Olympic opportunity.

At the Olympics, the Mercurys were dominating with a number of lopsided wins. The team outscored opponents 71-14 and was undefeated through the tournament. Only a tie game against the United States threatened their perfect record.

"He was the top scorer with 16 goals and seven assists in the eight-game tournament," she says. "It would be another 50 years before Canada would win gold in hockey, in Salt Lake City."

Gibson was born in Merritt, B.C., but spent most of his life in Lethbridge.

"He was a car salesman and was approached to play the big leagues, but his young family took priority," she says.

For years, his gold medal was kept in the drawer of his nightstand. Later, the family had his Olympic memorabilia framed for him. Although his health was failing, he was able to attend events with other former Olympians, including a gathering to celebrate Vancouver's successful bid for the 2010 Games. He passed away in August 2006.

"He was definitely a character," she says.

Theresa Cody, a distance instructor with Early Childhood Education, was just 10 years old when her father, Tom Foley, was killed in a car accident on St. Patrick’s Day 1960. Less than a month earlier, the sports journalist had covered the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, Calif., for broadcasters across Canada. He was 38.

“I remember when he returned and shared stories of the Winter Olympics and had some amazing official photos of varied sports,” she says. “I was just so fascinated and enthralled by his experiences and the fact that he interacted with people from many countries.”

Her dad was raised in Milk River and entered sports journalism at the Lethbridge Herald. According to a May 25, 2013 story in The Herald, Foley had been at a tennis tournament in the U.S., and the team’s accomplishments weren’t published in the newspaper. When he called the newsroom to ask why, he was told to write the story and submit it. He did. It led to a part-time reporting job and more.

 “He was the first sports editor for the paper,” Cody says. “He moved to Ottawa and worked in military communications during the war. He actually took films of hockey games to the military personnel serving overseas.”

After the war, he was hired to cover sports and manage a new radio station in Ottawa, CFRA. He was the first host of CRFA’s “Sports at Six” program. He was a host of Hockey Night in Canada and announced play-by-play for the Ottawa Rough Riders football team. He got baseball legend Yogi Berra to admit he enjoyed watching hockey more than his own sport, and he was the first to interview goalie Jacques Plante about his groundbreaking mask.

In 2013, he was inducted posthumously to the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame.

“I'm not sure how he accomplished so much at his age but he instilled a strong work ethic in all his children — four girls,” Cody says.

Jody Alston, an English as a Second Language instructor, is in South Korea taking in some of the Winter Olympics and reconnecting with old friends. She also attended the Summer Olympics in Seoul. You might remember the Seoul Games as the source of some heartbreak for Canadian Olympics watchers.

In her words:

Thirty years ago in 1988, I was fulfilling a dream of travelling in Asia. My first stop was (South) Korea; a land I knew little about, and what I knew was mostly from MASH, a TV series. It was supposed to be for a two-week stint, prior to heading off to Mainland China. Well, I fell in love with Korea and ended up teaching English at an academy there (Pagoda Institute — which happens to be a sponsor of the Pyeongchang Olympics). 1988 was the year Seoul hosted the summer Olympics, and I went to several events — tennis, basketball, volleyball. But the highlight, of course, was going to the big stadium to see track — Flo Jo (Florence Joyner), Edwin Moses, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Karl Lewis, and, best of all, the Canadian star Ben Johnson. I was in that stadium when Ben Johnson won gold — the FASTEST man in the world – 9.79 seconds. And he was Canadian. I was so happy for three days, making everyone celebrate with me, and then Monday morning, my students had to tell me that he was stripped of his gold medal because of cheating. I sat in a funk for the whole day.

I ended up living in Korea for 14 years and left after the World Cup was co-hosted by Japan and Korea. Then I started teaching here at the college in our ESL department. So, now 30 years later, I’m headed “home” to take in some Winter Olympics. I'll be there for two weeks. I’ve got tickets to the women’s (hockey) gold medal match — so hoping it’s not Finland and Sweden — that would be a bummer! So go girls! I hope to see a few other events but we'll see. Koreans know how to party, so I know it’s going to be a blast!

General Studies instructor Florian Linder is working as a technical coach with the South Korean bobsled team in Pyeongchang and sharing photos from his latest experience on our website. Did you know he has another golden Olympic connection as well? His wife, Jill Bakken, won a gold medal for the U.S. in two-woman bobsleigh at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002. Her medal moment is now featured in a “United in Sports” ad from Dick’s Sporting Goods. Check out the ad, and Jill’s golden moment starting at about the 31-second mark.