One day couple of young lads were rolling around in the grass as boys will often do when they were interrupted by a brusque young man who had stopped his car outside their Maillardville home.
He waded into the fray, grabbed them by the collar and said: "That's not the way you roll. Do it properly."
For several minutes the man showed them how to roll - his arms clasped around his bent knees. Then he demanded the youths do the same, complete with a final flourish on two feet.
Eight-year-old Neil Godin and his brother, age 10, couldn't believe it. "Mom, mom, mom. This man showed us how to roll," they yelled when the man drove away.
It was 1950 and a few days later the youths showed up in the basement of Notre Dame de Lourdes in Coquitlam not knowing what to expect from teacher Don Cunnings. Soon Cunnings, a nationally-ranked gymnast, had them chair tumbling and forming human pyramids in what would became Coquitlam's premier sport in those days before baseball, soccer and lacrosse.
Four years later, Godin and some of his fellow students went on to become national champions with Godin performing a couple of Canadian firsts including the first triple-twisting back somersault. In 1959, Godin qualified for the Pan Am Games and was a national coach. Cunnings went on to run recreational programs at Riverview Hospital and became Coquitlam's first parks and recreation director, leaving behind a legacy of parks and facilities in the city before retiring 1993.
Today, Godin, a business speaker, trainer and author, credits Cunnings with putting Maillardville on the map with his gymnastic troupe and Cunnings expressed admiration for his former student for his skill and athleticism. The two will be inducted tonight, Thursday, into Coquitlam's Sports Hall of Fame.
The honour is a surprising cap to a long and rewarding career, said Cunnings, who continues to advise Coquitlam's Leisure and Parks Services, all the more so because he is being inducted at the same time as Godin.
"My apothegm has always been don't follow where the path may lead, go where there is no path and leave a trail. I never thought a branch of that trail would lead me to be in the same hall of fame as Godin," said Cunnings.
Cunnings recalls Godin as a man of superior and skill and talent who went on to compete with youths much older than himself at UBC in 1954, but who still won the championship. First at Notre Dame de Lourdes and later at Como Lake high school, Cunnings taught gymnastics routines that were so skillful the youths were invited to perform at the Pacific National Exhibition and regattas around B.C.
At the Cultus Lake regatta for example, the gymnastics team formed a human pyramid, using only two vertical ladders as supports, on top of a 30-foot diving platform.
The summer lake crowd went wild, Godin recalls, acknowledging Cunnings as an amazing teacher who inspired him to achieve goals that he would otherwise never have dreamt of.
"It was absolutely life changing. It's hard to imagine what would have happened with my life if Don hadn't come by."
A video of Neil Godin's exploits dating back to 1959 is on YouTube.
The Mann Cup-winning Senior 'A' Adanacs team from 2001 is also on the honour roll. Other inductees are as follows:
Other 2012 inductees are:
Gail Harvey Moore had established an impressive golfing resume by the age of 15, when she won the first of three straight Canadian junior championship titles. In 1961, Harvey Moore placed second at both the Canadian Ladies Amateur and Canadian Closed championship. She also represented Canada in a number of international competitions.A near-fatal car crash in 1969 slowed Harvey Moore down, but didn't stop her. She recovered to win both the B.C. and Canadian Amateur women's titles in 1970. She passed away in 1993.
Norm McLeod was a member of Canada's first-ever World Cup soccer team, scoring the nation's first goal in the tournament.As an 18-year-old, he was a member of the national team that toured the Soviet Union in 1960. McLeod, who played four times for Canada, was also a dominating force on the provincial soccer scene. As a member of the B.C. All-Star team, McLeod put the provincial squad on the map - including a vaunted win over touring Tottenham Hotspur. He was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005, as well as the B.C. Softball Hall of Fame.
William Azzi's name has become synonymous with soccer in B.C. Involved as a coach and volunteer with the old Cape Horn association, Azzi was a founding member of the Metro-Ford Soccer Club in 1984. The club, under Azzi's guidance, became a dominating force on both the youth and senior soccer levels, resulting in 26 provincial champions and four national champions.
Lois McNary heard an advertisement in 1983 for a job position with the Special Olympics in BC and made it her cause. The Coquitlam native started as a volunteer and helped establish a Special Olympics Coquitlam branch. She's filled numerous roles and postings with Special Olympics BC, currently servicing as vice president, sports. McNary is also a founding member of the Coquitlam Sports Hall of Fame.
