A portrait of a champ as a young man
By Ryan Rogers
Sports Editor
October 3, 2007
 The University of Windsor came home from the WESPY Awards heavily decorated for their accomplishments from last season.
Eight Lancers were honoured at the third annual Windsor Essex County Sports Persons of the Year awards at the Caboto Club last Tuesday.
At the top of the list, and recipient of one of the six major awards handed out at the end of the evening, was Lancers Men’s Basketball head coach Chris Oliver, winning the AM 800 CKLW – Coach of the Year Award, for his outstanding achievements during the 2006-07 season.
Oliver has been with the Lancers for only two seasons, and has already won a Wilson Cup for the OUA Provincial Title, and qualified for the Canadian Interuniversity Sports National Championship tournament in Halifax. The Lancers Men’s Basketball team was also nominated for the Team of the Year, for their accomplishments.
Oliver believes that his players deserve as much of the honour as anyone. “I think the main part is obviously the players, the player development and recruiting. We’ve done a pretty good job of developing the players we have, and recruiting the players that can take us to the next level,” said Oliver. “I consider a coach’s award a team ward,” he continued. As a testament, the WESPY Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Year was awarded to the 6’3 forward, Kevin Kloostra, demonstrating the talent on the Lancer squad.
The coach is happy to have won the award, but is relieved that all of the accolades are now behind them. “I’m really happy that all the awards and recognition is officially done and we can focus on this year,” said Oliver. “We’re approaching this as a new season and what we did last year will have no impact on our approach this year,” he continued.
With all of their achievements, the rest of the league will be marking their calendars in preparation for the Lancers, and Oliver says his team can’t rest on their laurels if they want to succeed this year, too.
“I think you’ve got to focus on yourself, and our big challenge is not to be complacent with our success this year,” he said.
This is the third consecutive year that the Head Coach Award has been given to a member of the Lancers, as Cross-country and Track and Field head coach Dennis Fairall won the first two years of the WESPY’s existence. “I keep joking with Dennis that he’s just lending me some of these awards for a year at least,” said Oliver.
“His success here is absolutely remarkable we hope to emulate the cross-country and track and field success,” said the coach of the perennial achievements of the Fairall’s track and field teams.
Along with Kloostra and Oliver were six other Lancers to represent the University of Windsor at the banquet.
The Lancer women were awarded for many excellent performances across a variety of sports. The Women’s Volleyball Athlete of the Year was won by former OUA All-star Andrea Eanson, the Women’s Track and Field Athlete of the Year was won by CIS All-Canadian Jackie Malette (her second win in a row), and the Women’s Hockey Athlete of the Year went to goaltender Jamie Tessier for her 0.92 save percentage in her rookie year.
For the men, the Track and Field Athlete of the Year went to multiple gold medalist Derek Watkins, the Volleyball Athlete of the Year went to Dave Binder who finished eighth in points per game and kills per game, and the Football Athlete of the Year went to Olympic Shield recipient and Hec Crighton award winner Daryl Stephenson who won the CIS rushing title for the second year in a row and was named the most outstanding football player in Canada.
The WESPYs were created in order to “salute and recognize the top performances of [Windsor’s] athletes and teams of each season,” says the official website, www.gamedaysports.ca.
It continues, “These awards will reassure that the roots of [Windsor’s] sports will forever be recognized.”
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