BOB WANZEL: THE GUIDING FORCE OF SPAD, IF NOT THE CREATOR
Written by Randy Pascal, SPAD 1985
Bob Wanzel is many things to the Laurentian University Sports Administration program.
The founding chairman of the ground-breaking initiative, Wanzel was a member of the 1967 Vanier Cup championship University of Alberta Golden Bears squad, the very institution that supplied him with the bulk of his post-secondary academic degrees. Now 75 years old and living in Guelph, he is also the man who had the single greatest influence on the direction of SPAD.
He is not, however, responsible for the very creation of the concept itself.
That distinction goes to professors Kenneth Loucks (commerce) and John Dewar (physical education). “The two of them had heard (NHL president) Clarence Campbell speaking, saying that the NHL had to get away from simply hiring ex players to handle marketing and business positions,” said Wanzel recently.
“They flew to Montreal, met with Campbell and asked him exactly what he was proposing.”
The outcome of that meeting, a concept that was presented and approved by the L.U. Board of Directors in 1972, would certainly intrigue Wanzel, living in Edmonton at the time and still with a different career path in mind.
“My goal was to be the head football coach of the Bears at some point,” said the father of two (Kyle and Jill). “But my advisor in Alberta mentioned that Laurentian University was looking for a new type of professor for a new type of program. He thought I might fit the bill with some background in journalism and media, in sport, in teaching, and my PhD.”
Truth be told, Wanzel was likely as much salesman as academic, at the outset, desperately needing to bring the power brokers of Canadian sport on board if the new offering in northern Ontario was to survive and prosper. “There was a lot to overcome, including the fact that we were situated in Sudbury,” he said.
“You had to convince these people that you knew about business, about education, and were still comfortable in a sport environment.” Some of the groundwork had already been laid, with folks like Loucks, Dewar, Kit Lefroy and Dave Lankhorn creating an advisory board, a who’s who of sport leaders in Canada, the very folks who interviewed Wanzel for the position.
With that behind him, the real work would begin.
“If I had started this program at the University of Alberta, there would have been a lot of people to lean upon to help, with all sorts of guidelines on how to start a program,” said Wanzel. “When I arrived at Laurentian, I was welcomed, given an office and a secretary, and wished good luck.”
“There were no existing textbooks for sport marketing and sponsorship and such. I had to figure out how to fully develop a curriculum. When I thought of programs that were very much like a beacon of light in the distance that you could strive for, Harvard Business came to mind. I looked at how they developed their program.”
“The advisory board and the university wanted me to ensure that the program was national in scope,” he recalled. “I was travelling across the country, almost like a prophet, trying to make everyone believe that this program could work.”
And work it would.
The first intake of first year SPAD students would take place in 1975, with 30 keen sports enthusiasts admitted. “In that first year, I don’t think we had a whole lot more than thirty applicants,” said Wanzel. “But within two to three years, I would be sifting through 600 applicants for thirty positions on the floor of my house.”
Looking back, Wanzel takes the greatest pride in achievements that were also key to the growth of Sports Administration at Laurentian. “We had “X” number of things that we had to do, and in just about every case, we reached whatever the goal was,” he said. “I had hoped the alumni would be well trained, and they were.”
“I hoped that the kids that got jobs immediately would do really well, because that was going to help the ones that came behind them and that happened quickly. We wanted; we needed to have word spread about the program.”
For in as much as he may not lay claim to the light bulb moment in which the concept of SPAD was conceived, the program itself was certainly the baby of Dr Bob Wanzel – and we are all better for it.