CIS 50th Anniversary Success Stories (Week 5)

OTTAWA – As part of its 50^th Anniversary Celebration, Canadian Interuniversity Sport presents the CIS 50^th Anniversary Success Stories series. Each week throughout the 2011-12 season, CIS will profile two alumni from CIS member institutions who have made outstanding contributions in areas such as sports, business, politics or in the community.

Tracy MacLeod: Inspirational MacLeod now encouraging a new generation

A rookie basketball player turned a horrific injury into a source of inspiration for all CIS student-athletes and now focuses on a new generation of students

When Tracy MacLeod arrived inBrandonin the fall of 1992 she was an energetic 20 year-old eager to start her first season of university basketball.

Fast forward 19 years, and some things have changed, while some things have not. What hasn’t changed is her love of basketball, her passion for life, and her unbreakable positive attitude.

What’s different is her last name (now Johnson), she’s a mother of four, and a she’s a grade 9 teacher at Canora Composite School in eastern Saskatchewan. What’s also different is that she has a national award for inspiration named after her, something the 20 year-old version of her never would have predicted, but then again no one could have foreseen the series of events that led her to where she is today.

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Andy Murray: A coaching success story on every level

Former NHL and Team Canada head coach credits his professional success to a start at Brandon University

Andy Murray’s career came from humble beginnings, but his accomplishments are truly remarkable. Three-hundred and thirty-three wins as an NHL head coach. The first head coach ofCanada’s men’s hockey team to win three IIHF gold medals.  Over thirty years of experience coaching almost every level of competitive hockey. And to think it all started because of a hockey fight.

Murray, a native of Souris, Manitoba, got his first coaching job in 1976 when he was 25 years old. The Brandon University alum had spent three years as quarterback for the Brandon Bobcats and four seasons playing for the ‘Cats men’s hockey team before a brawl in a junior hockey pre-season game left the Brandon Travelers in need of a replacement coach.

“Right at the start of the season they were in need and they happened to give me a call, and I was just excited to have the opportunity,” recalls Murray. “The next day I was a head coach in theManitobajunior league against coaches that had been coaching a lot longer than I had. I was obviously very green but very enthused and excited for the opportunity.”

COMPLETE STORY AT:

(Source: Michel Belanger, CIS Manager Media & Communications)