BC HOCKEY AWARDS: LIFE MEMBERS' EXECUTIVE VOLUNTEER AWARD - CHUCK GALLACHER
By MARIO ANNICCHIARICO
Chuck Gallacher, owner and vice-president of Premium Canada, approaches his time as a hockey administrator the same way he tackles his business life, taking on the tough issues to ultimately make the organization run smoother.
Making significant and lasting contributions to the growth and development of hockey in the Okanagan and throughout the province has earned Gallacher BC Hockey’s Life Members’ Executive Volunteer Award.
The award is presented by BC Hockey Life Members to an amateur hockey administrator who has made those outstanding contributions to amateur hockey.
“It's quite an honour. I’ve put a lot of time into it, but you never really think about it till somebody comes along and says, ‘Hey, you put a lot of time in.’ So, yeah, I guess I have,” said Gallacher, who resides and runs his business in Kelowna.
Gallacher first became involved in amateur hockey in 2005 when his oldest son Quinn began to play.
“He was my motivation. Really, if you ask me why I got into the administration, it was 100 per cent because of him. Because he started late, we had to work through what I perceived as barriers in politics,” explained Gallacher.
“I said, you know what? There's probably more than just my son. I saw a few tears and some of them I could explain and some of them were the system and so, that was 100 per cent the reason that I said, okay let's see if we can make a difference here. That was the starting gun for sure.”
He first began with Winfield & District Minor Hockey Association, where he eventually became president. He then took over as president of Okanagan Mainline Amateur Hockey Association (OMAHA) from 2013-2022 and was instrumental in forming the Junior B North Okanagan Knights from 2009-2013.
Gallacher’s work toward fair and consistent player evaluations became well respected throughout the province, creating structured and consistent pathways for athletes across associations.
“I mean, I watched parents and kids sneak from one town to the other so they could play rep hockey and there's things like that that drew me into it,” said Gallacher. “Because there's got to be something wrong with the system if the system's restrictive to that point, right?”
Gallacher said he had his differences along the way.
“Inclusion, on what I worked at, was more about making sure that everybody inside the group was working together,” he said.
“I was quite proud that OMAHA was recognized as, you know, a cohesive group where there was no infighting and when we went to BC Hockey meetings, we tried to encourage other districts to stay focussed on what the real reason for being in those roles was, and that was kids, not political issues.”
Gallacher used his lessons earned in business in his volunteer work within hockey associations.
“I was kind of the person they pulled off the bench every time BC Hockey needed somebody to look at something new because, obviously, I was coming up with all these, what at the time, was new concepts,” explained Gallacher, who volunteered as a Nomination Committee member, Governance Committee Chair and Minor Committee Chair.
“I kind of had that reputation that I would put eyes on something that was unusual. It was a pretty broad experience, but I enjoyed it though. I mean, I had lots of business experience, and you know the difference - and I've said this when I started putting together my thank you speech - I've been in business since I was 21 years old, and I met a lot of good people in business. In business, the motivation for a lot of people is financial,” he explained.
“People used to think, well, how much do they pay you? And I said it's an unpaid job and then they'd ask me why and I'd say, my bank account was full of smiles from kids. Because that's what the reward was at the end of the day for me. When you could walk into an arena and see young people enjoying on and off-ice activities and the laughter and the noises. That was the bank account as far as I was concerned. So that's what the reward was on a regular basis,” said the 61-years-old.
Gallacher eventually stepped away from the presidency of OMAHA in 2022.
“I finally had to bail,” he said with a laugh. “Nobody wanted to run against me and I said, okay, I'm out. Somebody's going to have to do it now because I can't do this forever. Plus, when you do it, when you play a role for so long, every individual has their own amount to give and then you have to turn your reins over to somebody else, with fresh ideas,” he said.
“Being an entrepreneur most of my life, I was more inclined to build out new things and let somebody else run them. I was never really a person that liked to repeat details. Tim's (OMAHA President Tim Giandomenico) very good at what he does. He's kind of taken what we started and run with it and that's good to see. It's nice to see when you start something that that legacy sort of has the wheels to carry on over the last few years.”
Just like he learned from some of his mentors, such as Bill Greene, a longtime director with OMAHA and BC Hockey Life Member.
“I watched Bill when he used to have black leather vests and he’d stand up at meetings. He was a little rough around the edges at the time, as far as his way of putting things, but I had a lot of respect for him because he wasn't shy,” said Gallacher.
He’s also proud to have his name placed on the award.
“I was quite surprised. I never really paid attention towards stuff like this before,” he said. “Once it was explained to me what it was about, and I saw some of the other people, which I worked with over the years that had received it - like Nonie Miyazaki and Bill Ennos - they're all people I have a lot of respect for.”
And now he finds himself mentoring others who will follow.
“We used to really encourage people to go out and find those kids at 20 and 21 and 22 and get them in at training and then get them in as assistant coaches and roll them back into the game, even when they didn't have kids.
“Those are some of the rewarding things. Or when they phone you and stay in touch with you and you see these boys as men now. It’s like an interview I’m scheduled to have with a salesman who will probably come work for me and he was the captain of my Junior B team - so it continues on. That sort of feeling will probably follow me the rest of my life.”