For the majority of the hundreds of youngsters whose lives Wayne Eadie has touched through his involvement in amateur sports, he is likely to be remembered mostly for his role as a team manager with the Sudbury Lakers hockey organization.
Yet it was his love of sports — the first glimmers of which date back to his youthful treks down the hill near the city centre water tower to the since-demolished Sudbury YMCA on Elm Street — that formed the foundation of the man who was to become synonymous with the Sudbury Lakers organization.
The eldest of three boys in the family, Eadie was born in Little Current, but moved to Sudbury at the age of six.
He recalled, with great fondness, his time spent at the “Y,” in swimming, gymnastics, basketball and hockey, with a rink in those days adjacent to the property.
But it was another gentleman, far less associated with Sudbury sports, who impacted Eadie the most early on.
“Red McCarthy lived across the street from me when I was a kid,” Eadie said. “He was always interested in sports and he kind of got all the kids on the street interested in sports.”
McCarthy would go on to serve as recreation director in the Town of Espanola for several decades, heavily involved with the junior hockey program in the paper town. He is also credited, in part, with the creation of the sport of ringette, alongside fellow northerner Sam Jacks of North Bay.
I would like to be remembered as a developer of sports, giving kids an opportunity.
Wayne Eadie,
former team manager, Sudbury Lakers
However, it was on the basketball court that Eadie enjoyed his greatest success as an athlete, falling one step short of a high school provincial title thanks to an overtime loss as a member of the Sudbury Mining and Technical School Blue Devils.
Sport was a year-round pursuit as Eadie moved on through his secondary school career.
“Sport was always seasonal,” he said. “In the summer, I played baseball, in the fall, it was football, and in the winter, it was hockey and basketball.”
With post-secondary stints at Queen’s University in Kingston and the University of Michigan, Eadie eventually landed at Teacher’s College at the University of Toronto. Thankfully, his first teaching assignment returned him north, and, not surprisingly, right back to sports.
“My first teaching job was in North Bay and I played for the Garland Pepsi’s (basketball team),” Eadie said. “We won the Ontario Intermediate Championship and were inducted into the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame later as a team.”
After four years in the Gateway City, Eadie returned to Sudbury, or Chelmsford, more specifically. For the next 21 years, he called Chelmsford Valley District Composite School (CVDCS) home, handling classes in machine shop, math and science.
The Lakers’ organization, as it were, was created during the 1974-75 season, somewhat by happenstance.
“The Sudbury Minor Hockey Association (SMHA) was looking to introduce an atom division, at that time, called novice,” Eadie said. “We had the concept of getting a sponsor for each kid. It’s a lot easier to get one sponsor for one kid, than trying to get one big sponsor for all of them.”
The framework for a minor sports team, which now seems almost a given for countless squads these days, was born from that concept.
“We were going to call ourselves the Sudbury Merchants, but that was already taken,” Eadie said. “Marcel Nadeau was president of the SMHA at that time, and he suggested that since most of our kids were from the Minnow Lake area, why not just call them the Minnow Lakers.”
The “Minnow” was quickly dropped by the wayside, but a whale of a sports organization emerged. Sustained largely through Eadie’s involvement with local bingo’s and Nevada ticket sales, the growth of the group included multiple sports over time.
“Certainly, I couldn’t have done it alone, it’s just impossible,” Eadie said.
With wife Lucy always at his side, Eadie benefited from the volunteer help of countless people — the likes of Dave Lee in hockey; Robert McIlvena and Kevin Houle in basketball; and Gary Tymchuk with the baseball crew. “Our philosophy has always been that we are a development organization,” said Eadie. “In some years, we’ve had very good teams, in some years, not the best.”
Through it all, recognition of his role in sports grew. In 2004, Eadie was awarded the prestigious Angus Campbell Merit Award by the Northern Ontario Hockey Association, while the SMHA honoured the long-time couple by instituting the Wayne and Lucy Eadie Spirit of the Game Tournament just a few years back.
Now 78 years young, Wayne Eadie has created a legacy. “I would like to be remembered as a developer of sports, giving kids an opportunity,” he said.
Randy Pascal’s local sports history feature appears the first Tuesday of every month in Northern Life.
