Announcement
LONDON MINOR BASEBALL, HOCKEY LOSES A FRIEND
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London minor baseball, hockey loses a friend Thu, July 3, 2008 by Jenni Dunning – London Free Press Dan Pulham dies at age 59 after battling cancer |
He was a coach, a volunteer, a sports fanatic -- and just an all around great guy. And he's gone. Dan Pulham, a long-time volunteer with London minor baseball and hockey, died yesterday of cancer. He was 59. He's survived by his wife Jackie, son Casey and daughter Christine. "We heard he was terminal and that's upsetting. It really shook everybody up," said Len Forester, a fellow coach who knew him for 25 years. Friends will remember Pulham as an entertainer at heart, who loved fixing up old pinball machines. He looked forward to hosting an annual fishing derby weekend at his cottage in Port Burwell. This year's was to be held in a couple of weeks. "It seemed to be keeping him alive," said Carol Burrows, a fellow volunteer from the London Minor Hockey Association. She said the event was a "men's weekend" where they'd buy the fish, have some drinks and relax. Then Pulham would organize a day in August where the men would wait on their wives in return. "He laboured lovingly and never really wanted any accolades," she said. "He was selfless. Just a truly selfless person."
Pulham was given six months to live about two years ago. Though he outlived that deadline, the loss still came as a shock to friends. "He put up a fight. Boy, he put up a fight," said Joe O'Neill, president of the London District Baseball Association and past president of the London Junior Knights. Pulham was a dedicated volunteer who always put his heart into his work, O'Neill said. "As soon as you met Dan, you realized his total reason for being there was to make it better for the kids," he said. "He's what you would hope that every sports community volunteer would be."
Pulham's list of volunteer commitments was long. Just to name a few, he was on the board of the Forest City Hockey League for more than 15 years and was its chairperson. He was the local representative for the Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario, and he was a tournament director for the London Minor Hockey Association. Pulham was honoured as volunteer of the year by Baseball Ontario, and he was on the city's ball diamond task force. He was also president of the London District Baseball Association for about 10 years. He was named London's sportsperson of the year at the 2001 Rogers Sports Celebrity Dinner and Auction. He also volunteered for the Canada Summer Games and Ontario Winter and Summer Games.
Pulham was truly one of a kind, said O'Neill, and he can never be replaced. "Dan was a great friend to everybody and incredibly well respected as a sports volunteer throughout the province. No one person can replace everything that Dan has done."
