Pischke Honoured
GARTH PISCHKE C.A.P. EVENT PHOTOS
Friday August 14, 2009 Winnipeg’s Garth Pischke was honoured as the recipient of the Royal Canadian Legion Sports Foundation’s 2009 C.A.P. award.
This prestigious award honours an individual for outstanding service in the roles of coach, athlete and promoter of a selected sport; in this case the sport of volleyball
The C.A.P. is being presented at the 48 th Legion Athletic Camp, which is situated at the International Peace Garden on the Manitoba/North Dakota border.
“Garth has been an ambassador for not only the sport of volleyball but also Manitoba and Canada,” said Legion Athletic Camp founder and head coach George Phillips, 80. “He attended this camp as both an athlete and later a coach. This most prestigious award is given to a former coach or athlete that has attended the program.”
More than 36,000 athletes and 3,000 coaches have developed their skills at this popular Manitoba summer multi-sport camp.
Pischke will receive the award in front of more than 200 athletes attending Week 5 of the Legion Athletic Camp summer program.
Pischke, standing 6-foot-4, was an athlete at this camp. He would also return two more times as a coach.
In Grade 12 he gained national fame when as a Silver Heights School student he played with Canada’s volleyball team at the 1976 Olympics held in Montreal.
He would return to the court in 1984 to lead Canada to a 4th place finish at the Summer Games held in Los Angeles.
Pischke was named Canadian Interuniversity Sports MVP twice while playing on two championships teams with the University of Winnipeg Wesmen and one with the University of Manitoba Bisons.
In the professional ranks he stared in both the International Volleyball Association and United States Volleyball Association. He was IVA Rookie of the Year 1978 and the following year the league’s MVP while playing for the Denver Comets and El Paso-Juarez Sol. Pischke had a spike vertical jump of 48 inches!!!!
In the role of coach he would also guide Canada’s men’s national program from a world ranking of 21 up to 10. He has also left his mark within the CIS program by coaching the U of Manitoba Bisons men’s program to a unprecedented 1,115 wins and counting in 28 years! His teams have won 9 gold, 9 silver and 3 bronze at CIS finals.
He presently coaches his son Dane at U. of M.
Pischke, 53, was elected to the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, 1989; Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, 1999; Manitoba Volleyball Hall of Fame, 1999; Canadian Volleyball Hall of Fame, 2000; Manitoba High School Hall of Fame, 2009.
Pischke was also selected Manitoba’s Amateur Athlete of the Century in 2000!