John Korobanik remembers Ernie Gare as a disciplinarian, a believer in education who had no problem reminding his student athletes what their priorities should be.

Korobanik was sports editor of the Nelson Daily B次元官网网址 from 1965 to 1970. He recalls interviewing athletes at then Notre Dame University in Nelson, where GareB次元官网网址檚 personality was ever present.

B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檇 be talking and theyB次元官网网址檙e always looking up, his office is right up there, and theyB次元官网网址檙e always looking out to see if Ernie was watching.B次元官网网址�

But it wasnB次元官网网址檛 until five decades later, when Korobanik began researching his book , that he realized the profound influence Gare had on his students.

In Nelson, the Gare name is well known. Ernie Gare was a defenceman for the Nelson Maple Leafs from 1950 to 1963, and his son Danny was a star for the Buffalo Sabres in the 1970s.

But it was Ernie Gare who changed Canadian sports in 1964 when, as Notre DameB次元官网网址檚 athletic director, he introduced the countryB次元官网网址檚 first university athletic scholarship.

At the time, athletic scholarships were frowned on by the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union. Notre Dame, however, was an independent university and could set its own course.

Gare and school president Father Thomas Aquinas realized there were more junior hockey players who would never go pro than the ones who did. Those players, the pair decided, deserved an opportunity to get a university education at the end of their careers.

B次元官网网址淏ack in the 60s, Canadian universities didnB次元官网网址檛 want athletic scholarships. They thought they were booboo because they saw what happened in the U.S. with the abuse of it,B次元官网网址� said Korobanik.

B次元官网网址淓rnie and Father Aquinas at Notre Dame said, no, weB次元官网网址檙e going to develop the program the way it should be developed. And they did.B次元官网网址�

Scholarships were first given to hockey players, then to skiers. A young Nancy Greene Raine was among Notre DameB次元官网网址檚 athletes before she made Olympic history at the 1968 Winter Games.

But it was the student athletes who went on to live their lives outside the spotlight that Gare had the biggest impact on. Korobanik said this wasnB次元官网网址檛 something he could have understood in the 1960s, but became clear as he reported in his book.

B次元官网网址淭hey attributed their success, not just in the careers, but in their lives, to Ernie and his influence and teaching them that youB次元官网网址檙e more than just an athlete,B次元官网网址� said Korobanik.

B次元官网网址淵ouB次元官网网址檙e an athlete, youB次元官网网址檙e a student, and youB次元官网网址檙e a person, and you have so much to contribute to the country you live in.B次元官网网址�

Notre Dame University was closed in 1977, and Gare died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou GehrigB次元官网网址檚 disease, at age 52 in 1981.

But his legacy has endured. Scholarships are now offered to athletes at universities across Canada. The , meanwhile, continues to provide bursaries to two student athletes every year.

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| tyler.harper@nelsonstar.com
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