Two former Olds College athletics leaders are among 50 inaugural inductees to the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Hall of Fame.The ACAC will induct Ray Rocheleau, who coached curling, cross-country, badminton, men's basketball and women's and men's volleyball teams at the college from 1973 to 1994, and Albert Qually, who served as an athletic director, recreation coordinator and coach over a 31-year career at the college, into the new Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Edmonton on May 10.Both men still call Olds home.Qually, 71, began his career at the college in 1964 and coached men's and women's volleyball, curling and golf.He is credited with pushing Olds College into the ACAC in 1966 when he was the school's recreation director and subsequently served as ACAC president for two terms.In an interview on April 23, Qually said he was “humbled” when he learned he was one of the ACAC Hall of Fame's first inductees.“Never thought about being recognized in that way so it's pretty humbling and I appreciate the fact that Olds College supported my nomination.”He was at the helm of the school's 1978 men's volleyball team that won the ACAC and 4 West western Canadian championships and silver medals at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) championships in Montreal.In 1989, Qually was recognized as the ACAC and CCAA volleyball coach of the year.He also taught at the college, served on its board of governors from 1986 to 1990 and was the faculty association president for two terms.Qually said he has many great memories from his career with the college and recalls a number of standout moments.“I guess the real highlight was coaching the team to the western Alberta championships and the western Canadian championships and then the silver medal in Montreal at the Canadian championships in the first Canadian championships that was held in ... 1978,” he said. “Other than that, I guess just the association with some great coaches, both at Olds College and across the province and Canada for that matter."From the time he joined the college's athletic department, he added, to the time he retired in 1995, there was major growth in the school's athletic department and the school's teams provided “great entertainment” to fans at home and on the road.“The athletic conference was just starting at the time as Western Inter-College Conference,” Qually said. "Then they became the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference just about the time we dropped the designation of being Olds School of Agriculture and became Olds Agricultural and Vocational College at that time. We were able to get a new gymnasium, which was another part of the push to play at a higher level."It afforded us an opportunity to join and play with our counterparts, young men and women of the same age attending post-secondary institution at a level just below the university level."Outside of the college, Qually played professional fastball in the Western Canadian Major Fastball League in Red Deer, coached the Alberta men's volleyball Can-Am Games team in 1976-77, served on the Alberta Sports Council and was the director of sport for the 1983 Alberta Summer Games.He is currently a National Golf Rules official with Golf Canada and teaches golf rules in Canada and overseas.Rocheleau served as manager/convener for the 1989 CCAA curling championships hosted at the college.He was the college's representative to the Alberta Summer Games Legacy Foundation, which was responsible for allocating scholarships, the media release states.Outside of the college, Rocheleau coached a Zone 2 boy's provincial selection volleyball team and the Alberta men's volleyball Can-Am Games team and he earned National Coaching Certification Program Level 2 and Level 3 coaching certification in several sports.He was also an ACAC executive member and sport convener and was on the executive of the Alberta Intercollegiate Women's Fastball Association.In an interview from his second home near Shuswap Lake in B.C., Rochelau, 65, said he appreciates the recognition of his coaching successes at the college.“It tends to make you reflect on many of the things that transpired during one's involvement,” he said. “It brings back some very, very good memories.”He worked at the college from 1973 to 2009 but stopped coaching in 1994 when the school's athletic program was cut.Rocheleau added the “highlight” of his coaching career at the college was hosting the CCAA curling championships.“Ray strongly believed that the focus of properly conducted intercollegiate programs should be on student development through the pursuit of sporting excellence,” the ACAC's release states. “He believed that an intercollegiate athletic program benefited not only the participants but the college and society at large. Consequently, his greatest sense of accomplishment and satisfaction from coaching came when hearing about former Olds College athletes coaching teams in their communities.”Bob Murray, Olds College's current athletics, fitness and recreation director, said in an email that "the Broncos family are pleased to have these two special leaders in the ACAC (Hall of Fame) representing not only our college but our extended community of Olds."The ACAC decided to establish its Hall of Fame this year to celebrate the conference's 50th anniversary.It has been announcing the 50 Hall of Fame inductees in batches of 10 over the past few weeks and the final 20 will be revealed on April 28 and 30.Mark Kosak, the ACAC's general manager, said Rocheleau and Qually are Olds College's only two inductees this year.He said the ACAC created the Hall of Fame to celebrate those people who have contributed to the conference over the past five decades and the organization wanted to make sure there was a distribution of inductees “among our member institutions.”Kosak added Olds College put forward the names of people it felt were worthy of inclusion in the Hall of Fame.“It's a fairly challenging process to have a small committee try to pick. So what we asked of each college, we said if you were to nominate X number of people from your institution from your past, who would they be?” he said. “Those nominations came to us from Olds College, the people who understand and know their history better than we do.”In the future, Kosak said, the ACAC will likely induct five to 10 people each year.~With a file from Joseph [email protected]
