CARSTAIRS - Bob Clark, a longtime Carstairs resident, was thrilled when he recently learned that he has been selected to Hockey Alberta’s Hall of Fame.
“I was very honoured and very surprised,” said Clark. “I think it was a combination of coaching minor hockey and my involvement as minister of youth as well as with the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) and the Olds Grizzlys.
“I’ve just managed to be in the right place at the right time and I’ve had some great people I worked with.”
Clark is among some top-notch hockey talent in the 2020 induction class, including five-time Stanley Cup champion Randy Gregg from the Oilers, women’s hockey legend Cassie Campbell-Pascall, and former Ranger goalie and announcer John Davidson.
The induction event will take place in July in Canmore.
“I was lucky because I got a chance to see Randy Gregg, Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Jamie Macoun and John Davidson do their thing,” he said. “I accepted the honour on behalf of all the coaches, referees, volunteers, and moms and dads that make minor hockey possible.
“If it wasn’t for the parents we wouldn’t have hockey. I’m very fortunate, very humbled, very honoured.”
Clark has had quite the storied career, both as a politician and as a hockey builder.
In 1960, he was elected to the Alberta legislature at the young age of 23. Three years later he was appointed the first-ever minister of youth in Alberta.
“Back then there was quite a commotion about hockey being controlled by teams and the NHL,” he said. “Players couldn’t go wherever they wanted to play. We put together a group of people to look at that as well as look at what government can do.
“We ended up starting up clinics for coaches and referees in Alberta in about 1969. We were the first in Canada to do that.”
Clark played his minor hockey in Carstairs as a goaltender in the days before masks. He retired from playing at the age of 18 and took up coaching.
He coached midget and juvenile teams from 1961-66, including a midget team that won the 1962 Southern Alberta Provincial C championship.
After retiring from politics, Clark became actively involved in minor hockey in Carstairs.
As chair of the Carstairs Recreation Board, he oversaw the creation of the Carstairs Minor Hockey Association.
Clark later became the general manager of the Olds Grizzlys, where his teams won three straight Alberta Junior Hockey League championships (1992-94) and the Centennial Cup national championship in 1994.
“I spent 10 years as general manager of the Grizzlys and 10 years as chairman of the board of the Alberta Junior Hockey League,” he said. “We won the Canada championships, which was held in Olds oddly enough. That was a fun event.”
Clark also spent six years as a board member with the Hockey Alberta Foundation.
He was inducted into the Alberta Amateur Sports Hall of Fame in 1974. He’s won several other honours including the Hockey Alberta President’s Award in 2003 and Hockey Canada’s Outstanding Volunteer Award in 2009.
Clark was also Alberta’s first ethics commissioner in 1992 and the first information and privacy commissioner in 1997.
“I’ve been very lucky,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of chances to do things and been in the right place at the right time.”
Clark said overall that the state of hockey in Carstairs as well as beyond in Alberta is doing well.
“I think it’s 10 per cent of kids in Alberta play minor hockey,” he said. “I think we have to continue to broaden that base.”
One initiative of the Hockey Alberta Foundation that Clark is proud of, in particular, is Every Kid Every Community.
“They give communities money to provide hockey opportunities to those who aren’t playing,” he said. “Hockey is very expensive. So they really try and provide every kid with a chance to play. I think that’s very important.”
