BY KEITH LACEY
One of the greatest female basketball players Canada has ever produced has lost her long battle with cervical cancer.
| name="valign" top >
Carol Hamilton-Goodale died this week in Oakville. Above, she is pictured with her former coach, the late Peter Ennis.
|
Sudbury's Carol Hamilton-Goodale died earlier this week in Oakville. She was 38.
The Sudbury Secondary star went on to dominate women?s university basketball for several years as the best player on numerous outstanding Laurentian University Lady Vees teams in the 1980s.
After leading Sudbury Secondary to two Ontario championships, she was selected as a university All-Canadian three times in succession between 1985 and 1987 and the outstanding female player in Canada and winner of the Nan Copps Trophy in 1985.
Hamilton-Goodale was also selected Laurentian?s Female Athlete of the Year in 1985 and 1986.
Hamilton-Goodale led the Lady Vees to two Ontario championships and two silver medal finishes at nationals in 1985 and 1987.
After graduating from Laurentian, she was drafted by the Houston Comets of the Women?s National Basketball Association, and then played in Europe for several seasons.
?She would literally give you the shirt off her back if she considered you a friend,? said Shirlene MacLean, who played one year of high school ball and two years at Laurentian with Hamilton-Goodale.
When it came to athletics, she?s never met a more focused, dedicated or intense competitor, said MacLean.
?In sports and in life, Carol wanted to win,? she said. ?Whether is was a game of cards with her friends or on the basketball court, she was always highly competitive and focused. She didn?t like to lose. That?s the type of person she was.?
Hamilton-Goodale was given a clean bill of health after undergoing treatment in Europe after initially being diagnosed with cancer more than two years ago.
However, the cancer returned last August and doctors gave her only a few months to live, said MacLean.
Despite knowing her days were numbered, Hamilton-Goodale never resorted to feeling sorry for herself and maintained a positive outlook while keeping in regular contact with her many friends here in Sudbury, said MacLean.
?We had a big fundraiser here at Laurentian for Carol in January,? she said. ?Carol asked me to speak on her behalf because she just couldn?t make it up here.
?I was very nervous, but Carol phoned me and gave me one of her famous inspirational speeches and I made it through the speech without any problems thinking of Carol all the time.?
MacLean expects dozens of former Lady Vees and Sudbury Secondary teammates, as well as numerous opposition players, to attend Hamilton-Goodale?s funeral set for this morning in Oakville.
Pat Pickard, a former director of athletics at Laurentian, got to know Hamilton-Goodale well during her five years at Laurentian.
Hamilton-Goodale?s battle with cancer brought out the same focus and determination she displayed while on the basketball court, said Pickard.
?I talked to Carol about a month ago and she wanted me to pass on e-mails to many of the people she remembered here at Laurentian,? said Pickard. ?She was very open about knowing she didn?t have a long time left to live?she left me feeling very humbled knowing she could handle the situation with such dignity and focus.?
