Dave Leaderhouse, Special to the Herald
A love of his hometown and an even bigger love for his late son inspired Rusty Clunie to generously donate his time and money to enrich Prince Albert’s sporting community.
For that he has been recognized by the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame as the newest member in the Meritorious Service to Sport category.
“I hate when people keep saying we have too much crime; too much of this too much of that,” said Clunie when the banquet had concluded on Saturday at the Ches Leach Lounge. “We’ve got the most beautiful facilities around.”
“I have a passion and drive to bring things to the community,” added Clunie.
By his own admission Clunie says he is pretty small (in stature), but when he was growing up he wanted to be a Raider as he was passionate about hockey. That never happened, but when he made the Carlton Crusader football team in high school he says that was a big achievement and he credits his coach from that time, Jim McLachlan, for giving him advice he carries with him to this day.
“He told me to dig really deep and make the most of it,” says Clunie. “I try and do that every day.”
Years later after he had established himself as a successful businessman, Clunie said a group of guys approached him to see what he thought about getting a youth football program organized in the city.
“Ian Jensen, Rod Elliot and Dave Thorpe came to me and asked what I thought about raising money to bring back the old Kinsmen football program,” explains Clunie. “We started with the bantam program and with the help of Ryan Hughes it became a little program that just took off.”
“It’s a really good program that takes boys and turns them into men,” added Clunie. “It’s become a feeder program for higher levels.”
While not the former Kinsmen program it was well received as the River Riders. Although there were some lean years, the development of players has continued to grow.
Then came a tragic day in 2011 when Clunie’s 15-year-old son Max was killed in a plane crash while out on a fishing trip in northern Saskatchewan. The elder Clunie gets emotional when explaining what that day has done to him and his family.
“He’s a big reason for a lot of the things I do in life,” says Clunie. “He drives me every day.”
Since then Clunie has been instrumental in organizing and financing numerous projects in the city in Max’s memory including the revamped ball diamonds at Prime Ministers’ Park now known as Max Power Ball Parks and the Friday Night Lights campaign that brought lights to the football field in Prime Ministers’ Park. That field, which also has undergone a total revitalization in recent years, now bears the name Max Clunie Field.
With Clunie living on an acreage south of the city he has plenty of space to enjoy another of his passions and that is horses. Both he and Max were keenly interested in rodeos and when world-class rodeo clown Ryan Byrne approached him with an idea of bringing professional bull riding to the area he was all for it.
“Ryan asked me if I thought we could ever bring PBR to the Art Hauser Centre and I just said to him ‘Let’s get it done.’”
Clunie not only dedicates his spot in the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame to Max, but he also says his wife and daughters also share in the prestigious honour.
So do the people of Prince Albert because if it were not for people like Clunie, and Max, some dreams would never materialize.
