The “old-school” coaching methods of Mike Ross may not have been for every athlete.
But they helped inspire Martin McDonnell to pursue a career in teaching and coaching the football team at Terry Fox Secondary School.
The team was founded by Ross when the school was still Port Coquitlam High. He died last April in Edmonton, following a fall. A celebration of life will be held for him Oct. 26, from 2 to 4 p.m., in the theatre at Terry Fox Secondary.
McDonnell, who played for Ross in 1979 and 1980 as a junior and senior, remembers his old coach as a “bigger than life character” who was “part Winston Churchill,” right down to the fat cigar he liked to smoke while driving his beloved truck around town, often ferrying players to and from morning practices.
The truck, in fact, played a big role in Ross’ training regimen for his players, recalled McDonnell. He’d be driving it alongside the team as it ran sprints up and down Coast Meridian Drive to get their legs and lungs into game shape.
“He was definitely a my-way-or-the-highway kind of guy,” said McDonnell, who was also part of the school’s wrestling team that Ross coached as well.
Ross began his teaching and coaching career at Coquitlam's Montgomery Junior Secondary School in 1968, where he also started a competitive junior football program that went undefeated from 1971 to 1973. He moved to PoCo High in 1974 to teach physical education until his retirement in 1999.
Along the way he won a AA provincial football championship in 1989 and some of his players, like quarterback/kicker Bret Anderson, went on to collegiate and pro careers. Three of his wrestlers — Dan Payne, Chris Rinke and Steve Marshall — represented Canada at the Summer Olympics.
In a Facebook message, Rinke called Ross “a great guy” who showed him and others “the way in realizing what we were capable of.”
Ross was also an administrator, serving as president of the BC Secondary School Football Association in 1973 and again in the early 1990s. He earned a place on the Terry Fox Secondary Wall of Fame in 2005 and in 2019 he was inducted into the BC Football and the Port Coquitlam Sports halls of fame.
Still, McDonnell said, it was Ross’ dedication to getting the most out of players that resonated with him as an athlete and motivated him to follow in his coach’s footsteps.
“He had a huge heart, he’d do anything for you,” said McDonnell.
That was especially true when it came to organizing experiences, like trips south of the border to play exhibition games against tough American teams, that would resonate with his athletes and push them to be their best.
McDonnell, who's now retired, said such trips created indelible memories that he wanted to be able to pass on to his charges when he became a coach himself.
And when McDonnell and Ross became teaching colleagues, he discovered there were still more lessons in store from his mentor.
“I learned I have to be a bit more organized,” said McDonnell with a laugh, remembering the time he was helping tidy Ross’ desk in the athletics’ office at Fox and discovered an old, handwritten game roster with his name on it buried beneath a high stack of papers.
To RSVP for the celebration of life, email organizer Bruce Kiloh. A fee of $10 is being charged to cover expenses with any left over money to be divided between Terry Fox Athletics and the Terry Fox Foundation.
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