By Mike Bossy

I was in London on business, and had time to pass between meetings. It was approaching noon and I thought I would grab some lunch. Jack Astor’s was my choice.

In the lobby, there was a display cabinet. A picture of a Western basketball team caught my eye. One of the players in the photograph was Harry Wade who played basketball at Western and also played on the 1952 Canadian Olympic team. As chance would have it (as chance led me to see that photograph), the Tillsonburg senior men’s teams in 1952 and 1960 made up the bulk of the Olympic basketball team. As a kid growing up, these men were my idols. I loved basketball and they actually ran a youth league.

It was inspirational. They taught about goals (not just basketball) and the effort it takes to achieve them. All of these chance things that happen in life are not luck. Luck is when hard work meets chance. When an opportunity arises, the hard work pays off and makes it look like luck.

Mike Bossy

P.S. As chance would have it, when I moved back to Tillsonburg, Harry Wade was our neighbour.