Feature: Waite A Winner In Sports And In Life
by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioGolf.com
Photo: Jim Waite (far left) with the Western Mustangs men’s and women’s golf teams at the 2018 national championships. Photo: Western Athletics.
In Canada, there’s a special link between the sports of golf and curling. They’re played at opposite ends of the year, so many golfers abandon the links for the rinks when Old Man Winter rears his ugly head. For curlers, though, it’s only a change of seasons.
Yet there’s much more than a flip of the calendar page bonding golf and curling. The two are similar in that precision shotmaking is critical to success. And, there’s a similar social element unique to the two sports which Canadians from Vancouver, B.C. to St. John’s, Nfld. embrace year long.
If you’re searching for a Canadian whose passion runs just as deeply for the game of golf as it does for the sport of curling, then look no further that St. Thomas, Ontario’s Jim Waite – winner of the 2024 LondonOntarioGolf.com Heart Award. A curling coach Gold medalist at the Olympic Games, and a champion university golf coach with an equally impressive record in volunteering and mentoring, Waite, 82, shows no sign of slowing down when it comes to unselfishly giving back to both sports while working tirelessly to grow the two games.
Jim Waite
LondonOntarioGolf.com (est. 2004), the Voice of Golf in Southwestern Ontario celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2024, established the Heart Award in 2011 in order to each year honour an outstanding member of the Southwestern Ontario golf community who unselfishly gives back to golf while growing the game. Each February, the Heart Award recipient, as chosen by the selection committee, honours those within the categories of golf professionals/instructors, golf mentors, golf course owners/operators, golf course architects/designers and members of the media. Bright’s Grove, Ontario’s Mike Weir, winner of the 2003 Masters Tournament and this year’s President’s Cup captain, captured the Heart Award in 2014. Waite wins in the category, Golf Mentors.
Waite, who turns 83 on February 17, has dedicated a large portion of his life to golf ever since he was a junior golfer at his life-long home course of St. Thomas Golf and Country Club, celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. Two-time winner of the renown St. Thomas G&CC-hosted Early Bird Tournament in 1966 and 1971, and a five-time Men’s Club Championship winner at the Union, Ontario club, Waite was an amateur golfer of note who eventually found his calling in coaching with the Western Mustangs men’s golf program.
In fact, as head coach of the Mustangs since 1991, Waite is the OUA’s longest-running golf coach and one of U SPORTS’ longest-standing varsity coaches.
“Back then, (legendary Mustangs athlete, coach and administrator) Dutch Decker was running much of Western’s varsity athletics,” Waite said. “In 1989, he asked me to be the Mustangs curling coach before asking me to coach the men’s golf team. Within two years, I was running both, but once my career took off with Curling Canada, I had to stop coaching curling because I just didn’t have time to do both.”
Today, Waite is known internationally for his curling achievements, most notably for coaching 27 Canadian World Championship teams and for his four consecutive appearances at the Winter Olympic Games in 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 when Canadian men produced two Gold and two Silver medals.
But what is equally commendable is Waite’s effort to grow Canadian university golf, and to give back to golf as a mentor and volunteer. His golf CV at Western includes five OUA Coach of the Year awards and seven OUA championships, yet for 34 years Western golfers have praised him for his humility, unselfishness and genuine interest in bettering his athletes on and off the golf course.
Early Days At Union
Jim Waite. Photo courtesy Waite family.
Waite began his golf career at St. Thomas G&CC in 1954 at age 13. His curling and golf coach was Tom Pullen Jr., head pro at Union from 1946 to 1981. Tom Pullen Sr. was the club’s head golf professional from 1925 to 1935.
“My father, Jack Tyler Waite – the most respected man I have ever known – took me to the club to meet Mr. Pullen,” Waite said. “Dad told him, ‘As long as you keep him working here, then he doesn’t have to work anywhere else.’ So in addition to golfing, I worked at the club out on the course. I tried football, but I was a skinny little kid and got smacked around. So it was early in my life when I began to love curling and golf – they’re a lot less physical,” he said, laughing.
“Tom Jr. had a stable of good young golfers who could shoot par on any given day. He was very strict as a golf pro, but he spent hours on the range with us. Don Anderson was another of my mentors at Union as I started curling at the same time. I learned a lot from both of those men,” said Waite.
For close to 20 years, Anderson, super senior golfer Ed Ervasti, 1932 U.S. Amateur champ Sandy Somerville and fellow London Hunt and Country Club member Jack Nash enjoyed a weekly Wednesday golf date. Anderson was a 16-time St. Thomas G&CC Men’s Club C champ, and served as the club’s president from 1951-1953. In 1990, he donated a portion of farmland for the construction of the Redtail Golf Course at Port Stanley, Ontario, where the clubhouse is named Anderson House to honour its benefactor. He served as a governor with both the Golf Association of Ontario, and the Canadian Seniors’ Golf Association. In addition, Anderson was a founding member of The St. Thomas Curling Club (est. 1955).
An outstanding amateur golfer with two Early Bird Tournament wins in 1966 and 1971, Waite competed and won those events with the likes of golf greats Gary Cowan and Nick Weslock – both Canadian Golf Hall of Fame inductees – in the field. But with lesser performances at the Ontario and Canadian amateur championships, he then turned his attention to coaching – a suitable move, given the fact he enjoyed a long, successful career as a local public school teacher and principal. He retired from teaching in 1998, prior to competing that year as coach with Team Mike Harris at the Nagano, Japan Olympic Games where Canada won a Silver medal.
Jim Waite. Photo courtesy Waite family.
“I’ve enjoyed a long-time love affair with St. Thomas G&CC, as have many others,” said Waite of the Stanley Thompson-designed golf course, later altered by Robbie Robinson. “It’s a special, unique place. So playing there as a junior golfer and later a competitive amateur golfer was an absolute pleasure.
“Some of my favourite golf memories are winning the Early Bird Tournament in 1966 and 1971,” Waite said. “Those were the days when I thought golf might be my calling. I won while competing against Cowan and Weslock, and U.S. Senior Amateur champion Tom Draper (a much-decorated amateur golfer and, like Ervasti, a member of the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame). But my attempts and results at higher levels of competition at Ontario and Canadian amateur championships proved me wrong.”
But golf is in Waite’s blood, like so many Canadian golfers, so he turned to not only playing but also to volunteering his time to the game. In fact, his volunteerism is not only showcased at Western University, but also at St. Thomas G&CC where he has been active in ensuring the success of the historic Early Bird Tournament, and of other notable club and club-hosted provincial tournaments. Waite was chair of both the 100th anniversary Ontario Women’s Amateur championship in 2015, and the 2018 Ontario Men’s Amateur championship.
This year, Waite is already working hard to help organize and promote the Early Bird Tournament slated for May 18-19, and for a special 125th anniversary celebrity golf tournament May 27 which will include notable names from Canadian sport.
Heart Of Gold
Scotties tournament of Hearts 2021, Team Northwest Territories, skip Kerry Galusha, third Jo-Ann Rizzo, second Margot Flemming, lead Shona Barbour, coach Jim Waite; Yellowknife Curling Club, Yellowknife NWT. The Canadian Womens Curling Championship; Markin Macphail Centre; Calgary Alberta. Photo courtesy Curling Canada.
Quite simply, there is no bigger supporter of the game of golf in Southwestern Ontario, nor anyone more passionate about the game and the people who golf. For those reasons, LondonOntarioGolf.com is honoured to present Waite with the 14th annual Heart Award.
That speaks volumes, given Waite’s longevity as a Canadian curling legend. In addition to his Curling Canada posts, Waite is formerly a High Performance coach with the Ontario Curling Association. In 1968 he played second on Team Gilbert from St. Thomas who captured the Ontario championship, and finished fourth at the Brier – but defeated eventual winner team Ron Northcott in round robin play. He has filled the role of Chief Umpire at five World Curling Championships and at six Canadian Curling Championships.
At the Winter Olympic Games, Waite coached the Brad Gushue rink (Turin, Italy 2006) and Kevin Martin rink (Vancouver 2010) to Gold, and Team Mike Harris (Nagano, Japan 1998) and Kevin Martin (Salt Lake City, Utah 2002) to Silver.
A motivational speaker, Level 5 Coach with the Coaching Association of Canada and owner of Performax Coaching Inc. which includes high performance athletes amongst its clients, Waite is a mental game guru for athletes of all levels. It’s a talent and skill he shares with former Western Mustangs golf great Charles Fitzsimmons, one of Canada’s top amateur golfers who played under Waite at Western from 2006 to 2019.
Charles Fitzsimmons. Photo: Golf Ontario.
A sports psychologist coaching amateur and professional athletes, Fitzsimmons’ golf CV is, like his game, a work of art. He wins included back-to-back Canadian Mid-Amateur championships in 2021 and 2022, and the FireRock Golf Club/Mustangs-hosted 2019 Canadian University/College men’s golf championship where he beat Mustangs teammate Jackson Bowery in a playoff. With Waite holding the coaching reigns, Fitzsimmons flourished as a Mustang, with five team and two individual OUA titles, nine all-star and six MVP awards and – most importantly – 13 straight national championship appearances.
“The easiest way to sum it up is, Jim is the Western golf program,” said Fitzsimmons. “Without him there is no golf program at Western. His passion for golf, for coaching, for developing young people is unparalleled. It’s just very special to be around him. He volunteers his time at Western – it’s part of his way of giving back, helping the Western community and helping young golfers as they pursue it at the post-secondary school level.
“Jim is passionate about Western, and passionate about golf,” Fitzsimmons added. “He obviously has an incredible curling background, too. He’s passionate about being around athletes and helping them be the best they can be, making sure we’re doing well in academics and in life. It’s easy to be around him, and I feel very fortunate and grateful to, for so many years, have been under his guidance and coaching.”
According to Waite, whose golf CV at Western includes five OUA Coach of the Year awards and seven OUA championships, “This has been a total team effort. Mike Tomlinson has been my assistant coach for most of my time with Western. We are a team, and manage this golf program together. I could not do it as well without him, and all of the great student athletes who have played for Western over the last 34 years.”
Said Fitzsimmons, “Jim’s humility is so very Canadian! It speaks highly of how accomplished yet so humble he is. He always gives credit to the people around him. So I am thrilled that LondonOntarioGolf.com is honouring him for all that he has done. He has gone above and beyond his responsibilities with Western. He’s a special guy.”
Waite tees up praise for Sunningdale Golf and Country Club, too, which has been a strong supporter of the Western golf program for many years.
“Western plays out of Sunningdale, stage all of our qualifying rounds there and the top nine golfers are given a membership for the year. It’s the best golf setup amongst any OUA school. Sunningdale President Gordon Thompson has been very supportive, as has head golf professional Jason Wyatt. So it was easy for me to say yes to helping the victorious 2023 Sunningdale Smallman Cup team.”
The Smallman Cup competition is an annual women’s golf competition involving Sunningdale G&CC, Highland Country Club and London H&CC. Said Waite, “Sunningdale’s Sandra Kleinstiver contacted me because of my coaching with Western golf and the national curling teams. They had finished third in each of the last few years, and felt they were equal in terms of skill level but were lacking mental skills. I did three 1.5-hour sessions with them over three weeks and they really got into it. Thirty-six women came to the sessions before qualifying and really bought into the program.”
We Are Family
1982 Father & Three Sons tournament (L-R) Jim Waite’s brother, Bruce, their father, Jack, and Jim’s son, Chris. Photo courtesy Waite family.
With all of his accomplishments across the globe, Waite finds his greatest joy at home in St. Thomas with his wife, Sue, and during time spent with their children, Chris, and David, and four grandchildren, Grace, Sadie, Cooper and Everlie.
And, of course, Waite considers each and every person he has worked with in the golf and curling worlds as part of his extended family.
“I have always strived to excel as a team player,” Waite explained, “and that is what success is all about. It has been an absolute pleasure over the years working in various roles in curling and golf, and during my long tenure at Western University. Curling and golf have been great to me, and I thank everyone for my own success along the way.
“I am thrilled and honoured to receive the 14th annual Heart Award, given the fact there are so many great names (including Weir and Ontario Golf Hall of Fame member Patty Howard) already engraved on that trophy,” said Waite. “The Heart Award really encompasses all of Southwestern Ontario golf. When I consider what previous winners like Weir and Howard – and so many others – have accomplished, it’s a real honour to be included amongst that list. The way I see it is, I have always tried to promote a team approach at all the events I’ve been a part of, and it has always been the success of the entire program at Western, and at St. Thomas G&CC, which have mattered the most – not individual achievements.”
LondonOntarioGolf.com will celebrate Waite’s Heart Award and his career at a special 20th anniversary luncheon banquet on Friday, June 7 at RiverBend Golf Community in Komoka, details to be announced soon at LondonOntarioGolf.com.
Note: To read the official news release announcing Waite’s Heart Award win, click here.
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LondonOntarioGolf.com publisher and editor Jeffrey Reed has been a member of the Canadian sports media since 1980. An award-winning print and broadcast journalist, and much-in-demand public speaker, Reed is author of, The Canadian Seniors’ Golf Association, Celebrating 100 Years of Seniors Golf 1918-2018. He is a member of Team Titleist, and an ambassador for PeakVision Eyewear. Reach him at jeff@londonontariogolf.com.
