History of the A's
Remembering Ron Roy
February 29, 1936 - December 5, 2007
Long
time Athletic standout, Ronald Gordon Roy, passed away at the age of 71
after a courageous battle with leukemia. Roy played for the Junior
Athletics from 1953 to 1956 and along with line-mates Don Baker and Les
Howard, formed one of the most fearsome scoring trios in Ontario Junior
"A" lacrosse. A nephew of Hall of Fame legends Jack (Wandy) and
Jim McMahon, Roy scored 40 goals in his rookie season with the Senior
Athletics in 1957 and accumulated more than 500 regular season and playoff
tallies in an outstanding senior & pro career. He was the O. L. A.
Senior "A" leading scorer in 1960 and was then added to the post
season lineup of the Port Credit Sailors for their successful Mann Cup
run. A true gentleman on and off the floor, Roy's last season with a St.
Catharines team was the pro Golden Hawks of 1969. Roy coached with the
Buffalo Bandits and Columbus Landsharks of the N. L. L. as well as the St.
Catharines Major Athletics. He was also a leading figure in minor lacrosse
in Fonthill and in St. Catharines. Ron Roy is a member of the Ontario
Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
and from the December 6th, 2007 issue of
The St. Catharines Standard:
by the Canadian Press...Ron Roy, who played or coached lacrosse for most of his life, lost a year-long battle with leukemia Wednesday. He was 71.
Roy was selected as St. Catharines Athletics player of the decade for the 1950s and he was a member of the Mann Cup-champion Port Credit Sailors in 1960, when he led the Ontario Lacrosse Association in scoring.
Ted Howe played with Roy in St. Catharines.
"He was a real smoothy," Howe said. "I used to wish I could run and shift like he could.
"He was a real smooth, all-around good player. He also was a very personable guy who was well-respected."
In senior, major and pro leagues from 1955 through 1974, Roy scored 379 goals and assisted on 226 in 235 regular-season games. He had 133 goals and 65 assists in 82 playoff games.
The numbers don't tell the whole story.
"He was an outstanding player and a great person too," Bobby Allen said from California, where he is on the coaching staff of the National Lacrosse League's San Jose Stealth.
Roy was picked up from St. Catharines and Allen from Peterborough to help the Brooklin Redmen in the 1964 Mann Cup series.
"You get to meet a lot of people through sports and he was certainly one I admired as a player and as a person," Allen said.
Roy is a member of the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
He was a former president of the Pelham Minor Lacrosse Association, he helped revive senior field lacrosse in St. Catharines in the late 1970s, and he and his wife Ethel volunteered many hours as fundraisers for the national field lacrosse program.
Roy joined the Buffalo Bandits staff as a scout and technical analyst in 1998 and was named an assistant coach of the N.L.L. team in 2000. During the summers of 1999 and 2000, he coached the St. Catharines senior team.
He was named general manager and head coach of the N.L.L.'s Columbus Landsharks in 2002 and built a solid, young team in the Ohio city that later moved to Arizona where it enjoyed consistent success with many of the prospects developed by Roy.
"I never had as much fun in my life," Roy had said of the Landsharks experience, which included 10-hour train rides to home games with players living in Ontario.
Dan Dawson broke into the N.L.L. with the Landsharks and fondly recalls the impact Roy had on his development.
"He drafted me and took a chance on me," said Dawson, now one of the pro league's star attractions. "Such a class act, such a players' coach. He went to bat in sticking up for the players. I can't say enough good things about him."