Fame of our Father

By Joseph C. Gloria

The Basilian Fathers now have their own MVP in B.C.'s Hockey Hall of Fame.

Father David Bauer, a Basilian priest from St. Mark's College, UBC, touted by many as the father of Canadian Olympic hockey, has been inducted posthumously to the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame. This is his third hockey hall of fame induction.

During his priestly hockey career Father Bauer led Toronto's St. Michael's College team to the Memorial Cup, established Canada's first permanent national hockey team, and coached the Canadian team at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics in 1980.

Father Bauer fostered the idea of a Canadian national hockey team made up of amateurs and former junior stars still attending school, as well as the virtue of hockey as a microcosm of influence on young peoples' lives.

He was appointed chaplain to St. Mark's College at UBC in 1961 and served there for 27 years until he died of cancer in 1988 at the age of 64.

"What he did was not alien to what Catholic educators do," said Dr. David Sylvester, president of St. Mark's and Corpus Christi Colleges. "We're not just teaching a subject in a classroom or coaching, we're working with young people as mentors."

Ordained in 1953, Father Bauer coached the junior hockey team and taught at Toronto's St. Michael's College, leading the team to win the Memorial Cup in 1961.

When he was transferred to St. Mark's College he became coach of the UBC Thunderbirds hockey team.

Father Bauer stressed the importance of higher education to students he coached because at the time, many junior hockey programs in Canada forced young men to choose between pursuing an education or playing sports professionally, said Dr. Sylvester.

"The odd ones that made it into the professional leagues were rare," said Dr. Sylvester. "In the process, many put their education on hold and they were exploited ... they were basically used up, and were given nothing in return."

Years earlier, Father Bauer had had to make this decision himself, when he received an offer at the age of 16 to play with the Boston Bruins, the team his older brother, Bobby, played for.

Father Bauer turned down the offer and attended St. Michael's College and, later, the University of Toronto.

"Father Bauer understood that you could be a student athlete, and advocated for a model in Canada that helped young men not just become hockey players, but grow as people intellectually and spiritually," said Dr. Sylvester. "That was his whole approach to the Olympic hockey team."

Indeed, as Father Bauer planted this philosophy during his time at St. Mark's College, his efforts met with success. His amateur hockey team, made up solely of students, was Canada's first permanent national team and competed in the 1964 winter Olympics in Austria.

Father Bauer went on to coach Canada in the 1968 Olympics in France and was managing director for Canada in the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. "Respecting the dignity of the human being - I think that was the secret to his success, the root of team building. That's what he was doing," said Dr. Sylvester.

Father Bauer has received a great deal of recognition. He was named to the Order of Canada in 1967. He was elected to the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989 and the International Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997, both posthumously. Father David Bauer Olympic Arena in Calgary is named for him, as is the roadway Father David Bauer Drive in Waterloo, Ont.

He died in November 1988 at the age of 64 in Goderich, Ont., and was buried in his family plot in Mount Hope Cemetery in Kitchener, Ont. Twenty years after his death his legacy is still being passed down to students and faculty at St. Mark's College.

When Dr. Sylvester came to Corpus Christi College in the 1990s, his mentor and precursor was Father James Hanrahan, CSB, who "liked nothing better than to sit down with a glass of scotch whiskey and tell you about Dave Bauer."

Father Hanrahan was president of the college when Father Bauer was chaplain and managed the correspondence for his team, said Dr. Sylvester.

On July 1, Dr. Sylvester will leave Corpus Christi and St. Mark's for a position as principal and vice chancellor of King's University College in London, Ont. Before he goes, Dr. Sylvester wants to ensure the legacy of Father Bauer continues to linger in the halls of St. Mark's by setting up a display of Father Bauer's awards and memorabilia.

While a new president of Corpus Christi and St. Mark's is being sought, "I will sit down with my successor to pass on what I know about Father Dave and certainly have a glass of scotch with him," said Dr. Sylvester.

Father Bauer's "love of hockey and his love of working with young men came from his own understanding as a Basilian priest that, as Catholics, we work with all kinds of people," said Dr. Sylvester.

"Father Dave was a representative of what we're all called to do: to work with young people and help them to become the individual they can be."

UBC's Thunderbird Winter Sports Centre, which will host hockey and sledge hockey events during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, includes a new stadium arena, a new practice arena, and the refurbished Father David Bauer arena.