RECOLLECTION OF: Dave Bush Chapter 1

 

September 1968

In 1968 as a new teacher to the Toronto Board, I became a colleague of Lorne at East End High School; a collection of about 35 portables, an old public school brick building, and large elongated hut-like structure that housed the cafeteria and a minuscule gym. Lorne was the head of the Physical education department at the one year old school, having come from Eastern Commerce and a stint in Pembroke Ontario.

This was an all boys school set up to educate basic level students who had been streamed through their academic or behavioural records, to this institution, seemingly unable to make the grade at a technical school or collegiate. These students were especially challenging but Lorne, and his ability to channel one's energy through sport into constructive behaviour, was remarkable.

I was charged with coaching the midget football team, all young lads who had never played contact football before, to be coached by myself, who had never coached before. A lot needed to be learned in a short time.

Lorne was coaching the senior football team but despite that workload he always had time to give me advice and instruction. I got a glimpse of his organizational skill that I got to observe throughout his life. He handed me a sheet of paper which listed about 20 skills I would have to teach the team by opening day. Heck, my primary task at the moment was instructing the team how to put on the equipment and now I had a clear path of what would be next and so on ‘til all the boxes were checked off.

Lorne had an amazing ability to organize and saw a route through to his goal. He kept meticulous records longhand with his neat handwriting. All these records could be on computer now but Lorne was old school and never adapted to the tech of today. The quality of his records is not bettered by today’s technology.

Through his wrestling team Lorne brought out character and confidence in many students and the teams he coached competed extremely well against the Collegiates and instilled a swagger and pride in his team, showing what they could accomplish.

Brent Goodenough, Brian Ransom, Lyndford Flemming, Bernardo Caviliere, Sam Teresi - some of the talented wrestlers that Lorne coached.

As an aside, because students had to walk in the outdoors to get to various classes, when the rains came so heavy that getting saturated was likely, the principal would cancel classes for the day. The students learned quickly and would wet themselves from puddles to encourage the principal to close the school down. It became a widespread technique and rumoured that even some teachers were soaking themselves. Legend persists.    Snopes says✅  True