The Goalie Who Became a Teacher, Coach and University Leader

There are times when hockey history gives us a pretty good reason to remember someone. Larry Beauchamp was one of those people for me. Larry and I were hired the same year and became very good friends at the University of Alberta. But long before I knew him as a professor, dean and university administrator, he had been a hockey player. And not just someone who happened to play goal. He had a hockey life that took him from the University of Denver to Memorial University in Newfoundland and eventually into a career in education.

Larry's hockey journey took him from the University of Denver to Memorial University.

At Denver, Larry wore No. 1 during the early 1960s. The university's records list him as a goaltender with a 17-11-3 record and three shutouts in the 1961-62 season. One of those was particularly memorable: an 11-0 shutout of Great Britain.

That is the sort of detail that can get lost when we think about someone's later career. By 1970, Larry was coaching the Memorial University Beothuks. The student newspaper described him as the team's new coach, and the following year he was in his second season behind the bench. He was not simply filling a position. He was building a hockey program.

One of the players Larry helped was Doug Grant, a Newfoundland goaltender who would go on to play professional hockey. Years later, Grant remembered that he had joined Memorial after playing senior hockey in Corner Brook and that Larry had offered him a scholarship.

Grant stayed at Memorial for only one season. It was enough. He impressed a Detroit Red Wings scout, moved into professional hockey and eventually became the Newfoundlander who had played the most NHL games at the time of the 1992 story. That is a pretty good hockey legacy for a university coach.

But Larry's story didn't end behind a hockey bench. He continued to give as a teacher and leader.

In 1976, he joined the University of Alberta's Department of Secondary Education, teaching physical education and beginning a career that would eventually lead him to senior leadership at the university. He became dean of the Faculty of Education in 1996 and served in that position for eight years. In 2004, he moved into central administration as vice-provost and associate vice-president of human resources.

The Faculty of Education still carries reminders of his contribution. A Senior Research Fellow position bears Larry's name, and the Department of Secondary Education established a leadership scholarship in his honour.

I knew Larry primarily as a colleague and as my best friend. I knew the humour, the intelligence, the generosity and the person behind the titles. I was fortunate to share all of that with him until his death.

Looking back at Larry’s hockey career gives me another way of seeing him.

As I've learned while covering hockey over the past nine NHL seasons, a goalie's game isn't always about controlling everything. You watch. You anticipate. You make a decision. You react. And then you do it again. Perhaps that isn't such a bad preparation for a life in education and university leadership.

Larry spent his life helping other people find their next opportunity. For him, hockey was never just something that happened before the rest of his career began. It was part of his story all along.