The Legend of Bruce ‘Bagger’ Vance: Remembering a Prince Albert community icon

Submitted photo. Bruce Vance enjoyed spending time at his family cottage on Nine Mile Lake near Muskoka, Ontario.

It’s hard to put into words the impact that Bruce Vance had on the city of Prince Albert and the sporting community. Vance passed away on Oct. 18, 2024 at the Rose Garden Hospice after a years long battle with cancer. He was 63 years old.

Vance was born in Tillsonburg, Ontario on July 11, 1961. He fell in love with sport early in life and was involved in any way he could. Vance was a passionate fan of every Toronto sports franchise including the Maple Leafs, Blue Jays, Argonauts and Raptors.

After graduating from Ryerson University with a degree in Radio and Television Arts, Vance moved to Dawson Creek, BC to begin his career as the TV and radio sports director of CJDC. After moving to Medicine Hat and meeting his wife Liane in 1986, the two would move to Lethbridge in 1988 where Vance would serve in several positions including Sports Information Director for the University of Lethbridge and the Marketing Director for the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes. Vance experienced a pair of championships up close when the Pronghorns Men’s Hockey Team captured a national championship in 1994 led by head coach Mike Babcock and the Hurricanes winning a WHL title in 1997.

Vance had several nicknames, but one of the notable ones was ‘Bagger’. The nickname was inspired by the 2000 film ‘The Legend of Bagger Vance’ starring Will Smith, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron.

Bring Back The Magic

In 2001, the Vance family moved to Prince Albert when Bruce was hired as the Marketing Director of the Prince Albert Raiders.

Early in his time with the Raiders, the WHL inspected the Communiplex and came to the determination that the building was not up to league standards and that Prince Albert was in danger of losing the franchise if improvements to the building were not made.

Vance, along with the late Donn Clark, spearheaded the idea of the “Bring Back The Magic” campaign that raised funds to renovate the building. The largest donation came from Art Hauser and the Communiplex was renamed to the Art Hauser Centre. Because of his contributions to the Raider organization, the team inducted Vance into the team’s Wall of Honour last season.

In an interview with the Daily Herald ahead of the induction in October 2023, Vance says the campaign was one of the highlights of his time working with the Raiders.

“That was a very big part of my time with the Raiders and certainly I got to see the Communiplex back in the old wooden seat days and then the transformation into what you see now, which has been heads and tales better than what we had before. That was incredible to see the outpouring of love and money from the community to the Bring Back the Magic campaign led by Art Hauser and his million-dollar donation, which was big news back in 2004. At the time we thought it would be a ten-year fix, but it looks like it’s going to be a 20 year plus fix. To see the old building become a new building basically in a number of months was special.”

Photo by Mark Peterson Media/Prince Albert Raiders. The Prince Albert Raiders salute Bruce Vance following a win over the Regina Pats on Oct. 20 2023.

“He wasn’t born here, but you’d never know it”

The first time Cliff Mapes interacted with Bruce Vance was in the spring in 2005, when he received a phone call from Vance shortly after being hired by the Regina Pats.

Mapes, who currently serves as the Executive Director of Business Operations for the Prince Albert Raiders, has plenty of fond memories of times working with Vance in the WHL over the years, including league meetings where the rest of the Raider staff would travel alongside Vance including Mike “Nugget” Waleski and Kim “Kimbo” Jackson.

Mapes says he became very good friends with Vance through working together in the league and more regular visits after Mapes started working for the Raiders.

“He was a good friend. I kind of grew up in the Western League with Bruce. Bruce was the old vet. I was a rookie and we spent lots of time talking on the phone and he would come and visit. Our kids grew up at the same time and we were both active with our kids. We had a lot of common interests. Bruce loved the Jays, I loved the Jays. We loved watching football and we loved WHL hockey. We had lots of common ground and Bruce was a leader in our league. Bruce wanted our league to be better. He always had an open door. He was always available for a call. He was just a really good guy and a great friend.”

“Bruce and I met every second Sunday at the Rock and Iron for a pint in the afternoon, all the way up from the time I moved here five years ago, right up until about two months ago. It was awesome to spend time with him and reminisce about the old times in the Western Hockey League and just enjoy our friendship and try not to talk about cancer and those other things.”

In the days since Vance’s passing, there has been plenty of support on social media for the family. Mapes says he saw one comment in particular that stood out to him and exemplified who Bruce was.

“Somebody wrote this on Facebook and I thought it was very accurate. They wrote ‘Bruce had a tremendous significant and positive impact on Prince Albert’s organizations, the sporting community and everyone he touched’. That’s about as accurate as you can be because it wasn’t just about sports, it was about everything that went on here in PA. The cool thing is he wasn’t born here but you’d never know it. That speaks volumes for the pride he had in the community and the success of it.”

“He really exemplified it”

Peter Anholt first met Bruce Vance when he was coaching in Red Deer in the mid 1990s. Vance was working for the rival Lethbridge Hurricanes at the time.

Anholt says he was struck by how passionate Vance was for the WHL as a whole.

“You got to know the people in the league probably even better than we do now. He’s a real professional. He really supported his own team, of course, but he was a league guy that understood how important the league was. He was an easy guy to get to know in that regard, so that’s when I first started to get to know him.”

The two got to work closely together when they were reunited in Prince Albert part way through the 2002-03 campaign when Anholt was hired midseason to replace Wade Klippenstein as the Raider head coach.

Anholt, who had previously played for the Raiders during the SJHL era of the franchise, says seeing up close how much Vance enjoyed his position with the team was extra special to him as a former player.

“When I went back to Prince Albert the second time, he was part of the office staff with Donn Clark there. I really enjoyed working with Bruce. It was always a pleasure. He was very professional, but was so committed and dedicated to the Prince Albert Raiders hockey club. For me, who had played there and coached two different times, I really respected that and loved it.”

Anholt had a successful run as the Raider bench boss in his second term behind the bench. In 2005, he led the Raiders to the Eastern Conference Final before bowing out to the Brandon Wheat Kings in a seven game series.

Anholt says he still pictures how excited Vance was about the team at that time.

“We had a bit of a playoff run in ‘05 and it was right before the renovations were going to get done to the rink and how excited he was about the deep playoff run. It was so fun to be around and have him around. The community gets so excited through those types of situations. The team having just won the league championship not that long ago, you can see how that community rallies around it, but he really exemplified it. The life in his eyes and the sparkle and the smile, it’s hard not to think of that.”

Vance was initially diagnosed with colon cancer in 2013 and eventually he was given a clean bill of health. In 2020, the cancer was returned as stage four and terminal. After undergoing 53 rounds of chemotherapy and 20 radiation treatments, Vance stopped undergoing treatment in June 2023.

Daily Herald File Photo, Bruce Vance (left) with his wife Liane acknowledge the crowd during the Prince Albert Northern Bears home opener in October 2023.

Anholt, who currently serves as the general manager for the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes, says the character Vance displayed throughout his fight with the disease was outstanding.

“If our players had as much grit, determination and toughness that Bruce showed through his battles with cancer and the length of time that he battled, we would have championship teams or perennial winners. Just because of the commitment, toughness and the grit that he showed through that time. It’s absolutely incredible.”

“He was determined to live his life as fully as possible”

Al Dyer and Bruce Vance were often organizing the same events in Prince Albert over the years. The two played a big role hosting the Special Olympics Power Breakfast that raised funds for both the Raider education fund and Special Olympics.

Submitted photo Al Dyer (left) and Bruce Vance (right) pose for a photo on the ice at the Art Hauser Centre prior to the 2023 Esso Cup

The two also served on the board of directors for several other organizations in the city, including the Esso Cup organizing committee.

Dyer says their involvement as organizers led to a close friendship and they were always able to come to an understanding in discussions, even if they had opposing viewpoints.

“I have worked on a number of events with him. Over a period of time, we started working together on a project and that sort of grew into a pretty strong friendship. We were with the Esso Cup and this is actually a favorite memory of mine. Him and I would have at times vigorous discussions on what to do with a certain topic, whether it was marketing, sponsorship or fundraising. We got into a fairly vigorous discussion about something and we both walked away because we were having some opposing views satisfied that we had in our mind what we were going to do.”

“The next morning, I was picking up the phone to phone him saying I think that the idea that you suggested was the way we should go. Before I could finish dialing, he phoned me and said ‘Al I was thinking we should do it your way’. We could have those discussions and we could see the other viewpoint. There was flexibility in our way of thinking that we would do what’s best for the event. Not what’s best for the individual or my opinion is better then his opinion or vice versa. It was never like that. It was always what’s best for the event.”

Dyer currently serves as the financial advisor on the Prince Albert Northern Bears board of directors. Vance, alongside his wife Liane, served as the co-managers for the Northern Bears for a total of five years while their daughter Jessica played for the team.

Dyer says the current board of directors for the Northern Bears are still trying to live up to the example set by Bruce and Liane when they were involved with the organization.

“I think he was involved with the organization longer than most. Him and Liane worked together as a team and they managed that team for almost five years. The legacy of the brand of the Bears, the name of the Bears. It’s a well known name in the city, and a lot of that name recognition is a result of all the good work that he and Liane did for the Bears. All we have tried to do in carrying it on is to live up to that example of doing the best you can for the group and just make it a class organization and a really good experience for everybody participating. Whether it’s a player, a parent, a billet, a sponsor, just to make the experience worthwhile.”

Throughout the organizing process of the Esso Cup, Vance was still undergoing treatments for his cancer. Despite the heavy toll that the chemotherapy took on his body, Vance never let it get in the way of him being involved with the event.

“That’s just representative of Bruce’s character.” Dyers says. “He would put others above himself. Whatever challenge he was faced with, he would do his best to overcome. I remember having some meeting with him and he was pretty ill, but he would show up and you could tell he was under some duress. Whether that was pain or discomfort, but he was there because he was determined to be there. I think that’s how he lived his life. He was determined to live his life as fully as possible. That’s pretty inspirational and something I will take away and try to emulate that as best I can for the rest of my life.”

The Prince Albert Daily Herald would like to send condolences to the Vance family including Bruce’s wife Liane, son Jonathon, daughters Jessica Vance and Briane Folmer and all extended family.

sports@paherald.sk.ca

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