Contact Les Wingrove's cellular voicemail service and it sounds like same old, same old.
"You've reached Les Wingrove from the Coquitlam Adanacs. Please leave your number and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you."
There's only one slight problem. The long-time general manager Wingrove is no longer with the Adanacs.
After more than 30 years in the Junior A's and Senior A's organizations, Wingrove is stepping down and shipping over his Western Lacrosse Association files to Randy Delmonico, who, rather reluctantly, accepted the job to serve as his replacement. Later Thursday, it was announced that A's president Donald 'Doc' Hedges was also leaving his post of 25 years.
The sudden revelation of the GM switch via a press release by new A's president Ed Ponsart means the end of an era, as the chatty Wingrove and the devout Hedges have been an integral part of the Adanacs' tremendous success over the years, including steering the squad to its first and only Mann Cup national championship crown in 2001. Last season marked the first time in 15 years the A's failed to make the playoffs.
The A's seldom made money during Wingrove's tenure, often relying on the generosity of Hedges and other supporters to make ends meet. Even the Cup-winning year in '01 was merely a "break even" campaign, Wingrove once said, after incurring the steep cost of renting Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum to host it and having to buck up to the WLA to help send a team back east for the Cup the following year.
Last season, Wingrove was fined $1,200 "out of my own pocket" by then-new WLA commissioner Casey Cook, who felt his comments to a reporter regarding the referees after a June rhubarb versus the Burrards in Maple Ridge were deserving of that hefty levy.
Wingrove started the season engaged in what became a long, drawn-out battle with the city of Coquitlam and Coquitlam Minor Lacrosse over floor time for his team, and in July 2010 his son, Trevor, succumbed to cancer.
Calls into Wingrove to comment for this story were unanswered Thursday afternoon.
"I was surprised as much as anyone else that [the A's executive board] asked me to do it," said the 56-year-old Delmonico, who told The Tri-City News on Thursday he's seven shifts away from retiring as the Burnaby fire captain and is gearing up to run for a seat on Coquitlam council in the November civic election. "They twisted my arm until it broke. I'm not sure I shouldn't have my head examined."
While Delmonico has coached lacrosse for 31 years, including 11 at the Jr. 'A' level and another five in Sr. 'A', he has never served as a team's GM.
Last year, he served as an assistant coach along with Dennis Quigley to A's bench boss Bob Salt. Delmonico, Quigley and Salt are deep-rooted boxla buddies from their former playing days right through to the coaching ranks.
"I talk to Bob and Dennis all the time," said Delmonico, who said he has yet to speak with Wingrove about what the job entails specifically. "I've known them forever... since the 1970's."
With his vast experience on the bench, Delmonico said he and Salt agree he'll remain there despite taking on the GM's duties as well. "We'll have to see how that all works out," Delmonico said. "I'm going to have to figure out what the rules are [as GM]... the paper work and all that."
