Builders

Ed Ashmore (2015)

Ed Ashmore

Ed was coaching gymnastics at the Victoria YMCA IN 1964 when Art Burgess asked him if he could help by coaching wrestling as well. That conversation turned into a 52-plus year involvement with the sport of wrestling. Ed’s dedication to wrestling led Victoria to become a powerhouse in the late 1960s and into the '70s. Some of Canada’s best wrestlers at that time had their start in the wrestling room at the Y.

In 1969, Ed coached Canadian Wrestlers at the first Junior World Championship held in Boulder, Colorado. Taras Hryb won the bronze medal at that event and become the first Canadian to win a medal at a Wrestling World Championship since the Berlin Olympics in 1936. After that event, wrestlers who have had their start with Ed have won a number of World Championship, Commonwealth and Pan American Games medals, including Clark Davies, 1981 World Senior Silver Medalist.

The quality of wrestlers that were coached by Ed in those days was amazing. Ironically, there was no wrestling program at the University of Victoria and so many outstanding athletes went to UBC where they excelled. In one year, five wrestlers from Ed’s program all won gold at the CIAU championships and secured the team title for UBC.

In those early years, Ed also became involved as a wrestling official. Nationally he officiated at many Canadian Championships in the early '70s, and he represented Canada as an international FILA official in Mexico City and in Santa Domingo.

Ed continued to coach junior and senior high wrestlers in the '80s and his involvement with the sport continues to this day. Ed chaired the Organizing Committee for the BC High School Championships in 1969 and 1994, the 1997 North American Indigenous Games, and two BC Summer Games in Victoria and in Nanaimo. In addition he was the Assistant Technical Director for wrestling at the 1993 Commonwealth Championships and the 1994 Commonwealth Games.

More than five decades later and now over 80 years old, Ed is still coaching. After his retirement from teaching, he continued to coach at the club he started, the Victoria Commonwealth Bulldogs. Recently Ed was honoured as one of the original coaches at the first BC High School Wrestling Championship in 1965, but the real news was that he was still actively coaching at the 2015 event.

When Ed goes to coach at a school, he not only coaches wrestling -- he also instils a holistic approach to sport with an emphasis on proper mental preparation, nutrition, character development and sportsmanship.

Jim Reed (2014)

Jim Reed

As Executive Vice-President and Vice-President Partner Relations and Facilities for the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Jim successfully negotiated a lasting Games legacy for the city. Through the inter-municipal capital building program, the region acquired an aquatics centre, a velodrome, a lawn bowling facility and club house, and three new running tracks. Through Jim's vision, UVic gained two new major residence facilities, a multi-purpose track, a field hockey pitch and an improved Centennial Stadium.

Since the Games, Jim has remained heavily involved in community enhancement through participation in the United Way Campaign, the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame and the Duke of Edinburgh Awards (B.C. region). During his years as organizer for the Lions Society Vancouver Island 24 Hour Relay for the Kids (which UVic co-sponsors), the annual event at Centennial Stadium has raised close to $2 million for children with disabilities

George Heller, CEO of the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, said:

"There is no one more deserving of this induction into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame than Jim Reed. I honestly believe that there would be no PISE (Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence) had it not been for him driving this great project from concept to the world-class facility it is today. It was very quickly apparent to me that Jim was a first rate executive, tough-minded, visionary, an excellent negotiator and possibly one of the best communicators I have had the pleasure to work with. When we realized the Commonwealth Games left a surplus, Jim championed leaving a legacy in the form of a sports development centre in Victoria. He was convincing and visionary as always and single-handedly convinced the Hudson's Bay Company to contribute two million dollars to it."

There is no doubt that without Jim as the driving force and the inaugural chair, PISE would not exist today. The large numbers of Olympians who train in Victoria are a direct legacy of the games.

This amazing person has served on the following boards in different capacities:

- Executive Vice-President Commonwealth Games Association and Foundation of Canada
- Former chair of Pacific Sport Group -- Canadian Sport Centre
- Minister's Council for Employment for Persons with Disabilities
- 2005 World Curling Championship
- The United Way of Victoria
- The Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame
- The Duke of Edinburgh Award (B.C.)
- The Board of Trustees for Athletes Assistance Fund
- Chair Canadian Curling Association
- The Lions Society Vancouver Island 1995-2000. Founding Chair of the 24 hour relay for children with disabilities. Committee member to find a location for the Easter Seal House
- Victoria Hospice Foundation. Chaired a major fund-raising swimathon netting approximately $500,000.
- Past Director on Victoria Hospice and Palliative Care Foundation
- Special advisor to Vancouver 2010 Olympic bid
- National fundraiser for Canadian athletes to travel to the 16th and 17th Commonwealth Games

Jim's contributions have been recognized with the University of Victoria Community Leader Award (2009) and the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award (2012).

Builders

Ed Ashmore (2015)

Jim Reed (2014)

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