- Nominations
- Inductees
- Alexander, Lisa
- Attard, Larry
- Bailey, Angela
- Balding, Al
- Bard, Alex
- Biggar, Howard
- Borthwick, Gayle
- Boyd, Mabel
- Brenneman, John
- Brown, David
- Brown, Louise
- Brydson, Gordon
- Carver-Dias, Claire
- Chambers, Carlton
- Christie, Marc
- Clare, Lou
- Clark, Karen
- Coffey, Paul
- Distelmeyer, Wallace
- Doty, Fred
- Dudley, Rick
- Ealey, Chuck
- Edwards, Dwight
- Eisele, Sylvia
- Fee, Earl
- Finlay, Matt
- Forshaw, Sheila
- Gilbert, Greg
- Gray, Gerry
- Greenwood, Jill
- Gurowka, Joe
- Hamilton, Stu
- Harris, Susan
- Hattin, Heather
- Hawley, Sandy
- Henderson, Paul
- Hibbert, Curtis
- Hicken, Blair
- Hickox, Mac
- Hinds, Sterling
- Hollett, Frank W.
- Homer-Dixon, Marjorie
- Hughes, Gord
- Kelly, Bob
- Kern, Ben
- Kerr, Jane
- Laumann, Danielle
- Laumann, Silken
- Lay, Jeff
- Loek, Fred
- Love, Jerry
- Martin, Peter
- Marland, Robert
- McCallion, Hazel
- McClintock, Joel
- McClintock-Messer, Judy
- McFater, Al
- McKenzie, Merv
- McQuaker, Charles (Red)
- Morris, Ted
- Oldershaw, Bert
- Oldershaw, Dean
- Oldershaw, Reed
- Oughtred, Wally
- Owoc Chennette, Andrea
- Pallett, Howard
- Paterson, Charlie
- Patey, Larry
- Plaxton, Hugh
- Pogue, Jim
- Poulin, Dave
- Preston, Karen
- Primeau, Joe
- Reddon, Lesley
- Riddell, Sam
- Rider, Fran
- Roach-Leuszler, Winnie
- Ross, Bill
- Ryder, Gus
- Samuel, Ernest
- Serwetnyk, Carrie
- Sicinski, Bob
- Smylie, Doug
- Stanfield, Fred
- Stanfield, Gord
- Stewart-Pellett, Ellen
- Tanti, Tony
- Toth, Mike
- Umeh, Stella
- Van Kiekebelt, Debbie
- Volpe, Nick
- Waites, Al
- Wilson, Bruce
- Wirkowski, Nobby
- Wood, Art
- Wood, John
- Young, Mike
|
|
|
|
Name:
BARD, Alex
Sport:
Gymnastics/ Builder
|
|
|
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
|
In terms of physical presence, at 5 foot 4 inches or thereabouts, he’s by no means a towering giant. But as a gymnastic coach, Alex Bard stands with the tallest of them all — and even towers above most. In his first 26 years as a coach at the Mississauga Gymnastic Club, Alex Bard played key role in transforming it into one of the most successful organizations in Canada what was, at the time he arrived in 1977, an ambitious but still fledgling club. Under his guidance it has become gym dandy operation with world-class credentials.In the process, Bard had 24 gymnasts from his club representing Canada in the Olympic Games and World Championships — a feat no other Canadian coach had achieved before.That passport that landed him in Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame on June 5, 2003. A long way for Alex Bard. When he first arrived in Mississauga , he was greeted by a headline in The Mississauga News: “From Russia with love.” Born in Alma Ata, Khazastan he was exposed to gymnastics first as a competitor and later at 22 and still actively competing, also as a coach in the famous Soviet Red Army military sports academy.As he worked his way up, his coaching abilities earned him respect and recognition. But qualified as he was, his Jewish roots had placed a ceiling limit on his prospects and when the Soviet Union allowed some of its Jewish citizens to leave the country, Alex was granted permission to emigrate. He left the Soviet Union in January, 1975.The post Soviet chapter of his life took him, and his concert violinist wife Nelly, via whistle stops in Austria and Italy, to Detroit. He was given a chance to resume his coaching career. He soon discovered that coaching in the U.S.A. was not quite a milk-and-honey existence. The small print he couldn’t quite grasp locked him into a long-term contract that allowed him to earn 10 dollars an hour but could work only 16 hours a week — hardly a chance to showcase his abilities or even earn a decent living. A change of clubs later provided better prospects all around. Even though he had never coached female gymnasts until he arrived in Detroit, Bard soon made his mark, coaching Berry Mulozbech to a U.S. junior girls title. An international gymnastic meet in Kitchener took him across the boarder to Canada where he met Susan Harris, co-founder and queen pin of the Mississauga Gymnastic Club.The rest is a bright chapter in Mississauga gymnastic history. Soon Alex found himself in Mississauga hired to be assistant coach to Brian McVey. It took several anxious months to cut through the red tape of Canada’s immigration system before his wife Nelly could join him. She also made a significant contribution to their new city as long-time first violinist of the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra.When he arrived, the Mississauga Gymnastic Club (as it was known then) had 127 competitive athletes. When the new millennium arrived, Gymnastics Mississauga (as the club is now known) counted more then 2,000 members. |
His vision, expertise, willpower, quiet determination and relentless quests to win helped forge a successful organization enabling the club to achieve international level. In his first 26 years, Bard has guided his athletes to four Olympic Games between 1988 and 2000; 10 world championships; three Commonwealth Games; and a Pan American Games berth. Two years after he arrived, Melissa Hawrylyshyn became the first Canadian national champion in the club’s history, winning the novice title. In 1988, Alex became head coach and soon guided Andrea Owoc to her first appearance on the international stage. In 1984, Owoc was named to Canada’s Olympic team, another first for the club. Gymnastics Mississauga’s international reputation received further boosts and was solidified through a string of highly successful gymnasts who followed in Owoc’s footsteps — Debbie Johnstone, Alexandra Borowich, Janine Rankin, Loretta Giacco, Janet Morin, Stacey Galloway, Jamie Hill, Allison Rudesi, the incomparable Stella Umeh (who has also been inducted into the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame) and more recently, Ashley Peckett. In 1993, when Umeh and Galloway both competed in the world championships, Gymnastics Mississauga qualified 13 girls for the Canadian nationals, and eight girls and seven boys for the Ontario provincial finals. In the same year, the club’s high performance team (Umeh, Morin and Galloway) was chosen Mississauga’s Team of the Year.Alex Bard’s contribution to gymnastics extends far beyond Mississauga’s borders. “The definition of sport is competition. You must have a goal and the goal is to do something better today than yesterday,” he explains his vision. “I have made my contribution to gymnastics in Canada and did my best to change the mentality that we can be as good as anyone. Why be afraid to be good?” |
|
|
