.
 Rick Tremblay who died on July 5 in Salmon Arm, B.C. from a heart attack, is pictured here with his family, from left, daughter Sheena, wife Nancy Trotter and daughter, Dawn. He was a man who had a passion for sports, healthy lifestyles and kids. - Photo courtesy of the Tremblay family |
Yellowknife (July 13/01) - Yellowknife laid to rest one of its finest on Wednesday.
Funeral services were held on Wednesday afternoon at a crammed Northern United Place for Richard Harold (Rick) Tremblay -- a well-known Yellowknife wrestling and track and field coach.
Tremblay died of a heart attack on July 5 while vacationing with his family in Salmon Arm, B.C. He was 54 years old.
His death is a big blow to Yellowknife and the NWT sporting community. He spent many hours with kids, teaching them the finer points of wrestling and track and field.
Barry Lange was a pallbearer at the funeral and knew Tremblay by working with him at the Department of Health and Social Services and through track and field.
Lange said young athletes in Yellowknife will sorely miss Tremblay.
"The real losers here are the athletes," said Lange. "He had a real passion for sports and kids and wasn't afraid to get involved."
Instantly recognizable in town due to his long, bushy, black beard, Tremblay served as director and president of the NWT Wrestling Association. He also served two terms on the Sport North Federation Board.
In 1999 he was the NWT wrestling coach at the Western Canada Summer Games. In 1991 he won Sport North's Ruth Inch Memorial Award for contributor of the year.
Sport North executive director, Doug Rentmeister, said the North can ill-afford to lose dedicated volunteers like Tremblay.
"He drove a lot of agendas behind the scenes in the wrestling association and track and field," said Rentmeister. "Who takes that role now?"
Raised in Windsor, Ont., Tremblay first came North in 1971. He and his family, which included wife Nancy Trotter and daughters Dawn and Sheena, moved to Yellowknife for good in 1987. But they also lived in Fort Simpson and Fort Smith.
While he worked as a health educator, physical education and recreation teacher over the years, Tremblay was a health promotions consultant at the time of his death.
In recent years Tremblay fought hard on the anti-smoking front. He was a driving force behind establishing municipal anti-smoking legislation in Yellowknife and the Territorial Tobacco Strategy.
A Rick Tremblay Athletic Scholarship has been established. Donations can be made to this fund at the CIBC branch in Yellowknife.
