Like many in Canadian basketball circles, I am deeply saddened at the news of the passing of Greg Francis on Sunday, one of the most influential and respected figures in Canadian basketball over the course of his playing and coaching career.
Many might remember his sensational performance in the first-round of the NCAA tournament when he drilled eight three-pointers against Vince Carter and North Carolina and very nearly led 16th seed Fairfield University to the first upset of a No.1 back in 1997.
Legendary Tar Heels head coach Dean Smith joked afterwards that he wanted to shake Francis’ hand but was worried because it was too hot.
But that was just the start of Francis’ role at the centre of perhaps the most significant era for basketball ever known in Canada. He was already a Toronto basketball legend, having led Oakwood Collegiate to three consecutive provincial championship medals in the early 1990s at a time when the high school scene in Ontario was incredibly competitive, as Grade 13 was still in place and the trend of the top players heading to the U.S. for high school hadn’t taken hold.
He played in the summers for a powerhouse Kingston-Galloway Lancers program in Scarborough that would dominate at AAU tournaments across the U.S. in the summer. So much of the talent that eventually spilled over the border from the Toronto area was still competing for bragging rights locally during the high school season, and Francis’ Oakwood teams were perennially among the very best, culminating in an Ontario title in 1993, his senior year.
His teammates were in the midst of organizing a reunion to celebrate the achievement when messages began being exchanged about something they couldn’t begin to contemplate.
“It’s one of those things, you can’t believe this person is gone,” O’Neil Kamaka, who played two seasons with Francis before playing Division 1 basketball himself told me. “Fluid shot, quick release, incredible shooting fundamentals. I remember once he raised his eyebrows and I went for it, but his shot was so quick and smooth he would get you.”
“He was so natural playing basketball. He was so smart, calm and would pick you apart. And at Oakwood they called him ‘wonder boy’ because he was playing senior in Grade 10, back then you didn’t play senior until Grade 12, he was just special.
“But as a person he was always smiling, always laughing,” Kamaka said. “It was always positive with Greg. That’s why it’s sad for me.”
Francis then went on to play on the Canadian national team for several seasons. Most notably at the 1998 FIBA World Cup and at the 2000 Sydney Olympics alongside the likes of Steve Nash, Todd McCulloch, Rowan Barrett, Sherman Hamilton, Michael Meeks and others on the Jay Triano-coached team that shocked the world with a 5-2 record before losing in the quarterfinals to France.
He was known as the calm one, an intense and proud competitor who was always able to maintain perspective no matter how heated the situation was.
As with several of his teammates, Francis eventually did his most significant work helping grow the infrastructure for the sport to meet the demand of an ever-expanding population of elite young talent.
After a brief professional career, Francis transitioned into coaching and then became the rare administrator with elite playing and coaching experience. He was the junior national team head coach from 2006-2011 and later an assistant on the national team through 2014.
As junior national team head coach, he also headed Canada Basketball’s National Elite Development Academy (NEDA), a short-lived program where some of the country’s best high-school-aged players centralized to train year-round in Hamilton. Canadian national team and Utah Jazz forward Kelly Olynyk attended NEDA in his Grade 11 year and later played for Francis on the junior national team at the under-19 FIBA World Cup in 2009 on a team that included Cory Joseph of the Detroit Pistons and Tristan Thompson, who combined have 23 NBA seasons and two championships to their names.
“He was a great coach for me at that age and for a lot of people at that age just because of how recently he had come from playing and how he could relate to everything we were doing and all of that, but just his energy and his enthusiasm and his passion for the game and wanting to get people to advance in the game and get better and take their career to new heights,” Olynyk said to me Monday. “He was awesome in that whole aspect and it was a blessing to have played for him and get to know him on a personal level and a lot of my development at that age was because of him and what he deemed important and thought was the way the game was moving.
“[With Greg] you always felt welcome, felt included. He did a fantastic job – especially at that age – of continuing to make basketball fun and enjoyable and continue to grow that passion for the game that I had and love the game the way it’s meant to be played. He radiated that. It just came naturally to him. It was a natural skill.”
Francis later became a head coach with several U Sports schools, most successfully at the University of Alberta, where he led the Golden Bears to a silver medal at the national championships in 2012.
In 2015, Francis was appointed as the Manager of Men’s High Performance at Canada Basketball where he helped shape a number of programs designed to further elite athlete development and talent identification. While part of the program Canada won gold at the 2017 men’s basketball under-19 World Cup, Canada’s best-ever result at a FIBA tournament.
He helped support the launch of the Canadian Elite Basketball League and in November Francis was appointed as the Director of Sport Development for the Ontario Basketball Association. He provided leadership, strategic direction and support for all high-performance programs, youth development, and coach education training throughout Ontario.
“Greg was a tremendous teammate and fierce competitor who always had a positive outlook and brought fun and levity to any group he was a part of,” said men’s national team general manager Rowan Barrett, who played at the Olympics with Francis. “Greg’s understanding of the game of basketball together with his exceptional interpersonal skills made him a tremendous basketball coach and administrator. He will be missed as a fun-loving man of character who was a great, friend, devoted family man and dedicated his life to serving others.”
On a personal note, I got to know Greg shortly after he finished college and was embarking on his national team career, and especially during his days as the junior national team head coach. I was reporting on basketball for the Globe and Mail and the game was undergoing massive change, with grassroots talent exploding and a local infrastructure not properly equipped to meet the demand.
The trickle of kids from Canada heading to the U.S. for high school was quickly turning into a flood and the emergence of AAU basketball as the dominant path for elite players to try to reach their basketball goals was well underway. As with anything relatively new, there were a lot of unknowns and confusion about the entire process and what was the best way to serve young athletes.
The reality was there was no one perfect way, and Greg was always an insightful, reasoned voice on any topic who could easily see issues from all sides, without judgement. Everyone respected Greg. I learned a tremendous amount from him and always valued his warmth and wisdom.
“He had tremendous role building the foundation of what we are seeing in Canadian basketball today,” said Barrett. “He had these young guys in the gym and was a steadying and trusting presence and was a tremendous leader of young men. He had walked the path as a player and always wanted to best for players he coached and gained their trust and the trust of their families.”
He helped so many people. The shortlist of elite players he touched is long: Joseph, Olynyk, Thompson, Khem Birch and Kevin Pangos are just a few of the best-known players he mentored on their way up, but the roster of people he helped, inspired and had a kind word for is endless. Social media is filling up with tributes, thanks and memories.
As much as I enjoyed any opportunity to speak with Greg and will miss those moments in the future, I can only imagine what the news of his passing means for his teammates and coaches going back to his days at Oakwood Collegiate, Fairfield and the national team, and also all the players he coached and mentored.
My deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, and to all those who were lucky enough to call him a teammate, friend or coach.
Greg died at home peacefully on Sunday afternoon, just days before his 49th birthday.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
