A fixture of the city鈥檚 amateur sports scene will be celebrated this week.
Longtime coach, referee and all-around volunteer Dick Layzell died suddenly at home on July 4 at the age of 76.
Originally from Bellingham, Layzell moved to 麻豆传媒映画in the mid-1960s after graduating from Western Washington University.
He taught physical education at Point Grey secondary and coached basketball and rugby. He left teaching in 1970 and spent the rest of his career in the insurance industry, but he continued volunteering with local sports.
He coached and refereed rugby with Point Grey, Magee and Prince of Wales high schools, as well as with the Meraloma Club teams, for several decades. He was on the 1966 B.C. men鈥檚 team that defeated the British Lions 8-3 in a match that鈥檚 been described as 鈥渙ne of the most brilliant rugby matches in Canadian rugby history.鈥� The team was inducted into the B.C. Rugby Hall of Fame in 2006.
He also volunteered as a league organizer with the Canadian and 麻豆传媒映画Junior Rugby League.
Layzell played throughout his life until an Achilles injury at the age of 60.
Rugby was not his only sport.
He was an in-demand windmill pitcher 鈥� playing mostly for Meraloma but was also brought in by other fastpitch teams, mainly CPAir, to pitch in tournaments.
He was also heavily involved with Dunbar Little League, volunteering as field coordinator and T-ball organizer, and helped obtain many new diamonds for the league. And, along with Barry Holden, established the West Side Wildcats girls鈥� team and league.
He also volunteered with the 麻豆传媒映画Park Board for a number of years as a member of the 麻豆传媒映画Field Sport Federation, which works with the park board and staff to develop, maintain and schedule the use of sport field facilities. The federation works as an advocate for field sports in the city, maintaining communication with the park board on issues around field maintenance as well as creating a vision for the future of facilities and usage.
He was instrumental, along with May Brown, in introducing the idea of artificial turf to the park board after seeing it on a rugby tour of Holland.
In 1988 he was awarded a Canada Volunteer Award, recognizing his years of volunteer work.
Layzell is survived by wife Tanis, daughter Andrea and son Jay.
A celebration of life is scheduled for Sept. 29 at 4 p.m. at the Meraloma Clubhouse.
In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations in his honour to KidSport B.C., which helps give all children the opportunity to participate in organized sport.
Donations can be made online at .
