The movers and shakers in the Alberta Junior Hockey League saluted long-time supporter Bob Russell with a special ceremony Friday.
The pre-game tributes at Grant Fuhr Arena, prior to the start of the AJHL final between the Spruce Grove Saints and Fort McMurray Oil Barons, left the driving force behind the Friends of Alberta Junior Hockey Society scholarship program misty-eyed.
“It meant a great deal because you put years in as a volunteer, and we’re all volunteers on the scholarship committee, so it was recognition for not only myself but the whole committee and the program as well,” Russell said. “They also honoured my wife Joanne too and that was pretty special. Over the years she has taken many, many phone calls from student players asking questions about the qualifications and criteria.”
Never at a loss for words, Russell was nonetheless speechless when he showed up for a pre-game meal in Spruce Grove only to discover he was the guest of honour.
“What a surprise! I was expecting to have dinner with Bob Starko and a couple of other people and then go over to the arena. We get there and the place was packed. I though maybe there was a celebration going on and I wondered if we would get a place to sit,” said the former St. Albert councillor. “We go inside and I couldn’t believe it. Members of the league right across Alberta were there. So were the scholarship people. So many people were there and that meant a lot to me to have them all show up.”
As the AJHL’s vice-president in 1980, Russell helped create what would later become the Friends society.
“I can remember the meeting so well. It was like yesterday. Billy Warwick was the one that started the discussion. He said we’ve got to think about a scholarship program. Everybody said no because we can’t afford one but he persisted and I supported him,” Russell said. “His main argument was we’ve got to differentiate ourselves, the AJHL, with the other junior teams in Canada and the Western Hockey League. At that time the Western Hockey League didn’t have scholarships but they finally did get on board. We were also competing for players and he said this is one way of getting boys who are going into junior hockey or playing midget and they’re trying to decide where to go and the one advantage we’ll have over the Western Hockey League is the scholarship program.”
In 1983, an agreement was reached with Alberta Advanced Education to work with the Heritage Scholarship Program on a joint venture to develop a scholarship program. The first AJHL scholarships were $500 and they were awarded in 1984. Individuals and businesses provided money for the scholarships before the society was formed and registered on Aug. 1, 1985, with Russell as the charter president. The first event to raise funds was a raffle, which generated $4,200.
“Most of our money now, and I want to give credit to the gaming commission, comes from the casinos that we operate.”
The program has gone on to provide $500,000 in scholarships. In January, 24 scholarships totalling more than $35,000, ranging in value from $1,500 to $2,000 apiece, were handed out at the annual AJHL scholarship banquet. In recent years, scholarships have expanded to include AJHL alumni, athletic trainers and on-ice officials in addition to current players.
“When the scholarship applications come in, they’re vetted and put on a spread sheet. Up until now I would look at them first and sort them out and make sure that the boys have all their material in.”
The former volunteer and president of the Saints during their early years in St. Albert stepped down as president of the society in June of 2008 but remains on the board as an active member.
“I’m proud, thrilled and very grateful to the wonderful people on this committee. They work very hard,” said Russell, who will celebrate his 80th birthday this year.
Another part of the program Russell had an active role in was counselling players and their families when approached by colleges and universities in the United States.
“I had a long list of questions they had to ask the recruiter. What happens if my boy gets sick? What happens if he gets injured? Can he come home and can you assist his trip to come home? If we come and visit him are there accommodations?” Russell said. “It came to the point with all the work involved in chairing the scholarship committee, with getting 50 some applications and all that work, I could not do both so we actually hired a part-timer and we still do that counselling. It’s very important for them to rationally take a look at what is being offered and ask questions. Quite often I’ve had parents come back and said, ‘Boy, I’m glad we had that meeting with you because we got a better deal for our son than they were trying to offer us.’”
Russell wished there were scholarship opportunities when he toiled as a left-winger in junior playing for Lethbridge before trying his luck with senior hockey in Whitehorse.
“It didn’t take me long to figure out to get another job.”
