Paul Reader, who guided the Sheridan Bruins Men’s Volleyball team to six Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association National Championship appearances, will be inducted into the CCAA Hall of Fame in the Coach category.
Reader, the head coach at Sheridan from 1978-90, was the driving force behind one of the most successful programs in Ontario Colleges Athletic Association history.
“His ability to demand excellence in a calm and direct manner was a staple of his approach and the force behind Sheridan’s incredibly dominant program,” said Jim Flack, Director of Athletics and Recreation at Sheridan College.
Reader led the Bruins to seven OCAA Championships and three CCAA medals in 12 years. Sheridan captured the 1983 CCAA National Championship and earned a silver medal at Nationals in 1990, his final year behind the bench. That season, he was awarded the CCAA Coaching Excellence Award for Men’s Volleyball.
Reader, who was inducted into the OCAA Hall of Fame in 2003, coached 32 league and tournament all-stars, 10 CCAA All-Stars and 15 CCAA All-Canadians throughout his career.
He fondly remembers the very first CCAA Men’s Volleyball National Championship, which was held in Montreal.
“It was a thrill for us to compete and socialize with many gifted athletes and coaches from across Canada,” said Reader. “This experience prompted us towards excellence that resulted in our team winning the CCAA Championship in 1983.”
The 1983 gold-medal victory at Centennial College in Toronto was the OCAA’s first in Men’s Volleyball. This impressive feat has only been accomplished twice since, with Ontario winning gold at Nationals in 2012 and 2013. In the 1983 final, Sheridan defeated powerhouse Limoilou, who would go on to win the next six National Championships.
Reader’s contributions to the Sheridan program continued after his retirement in 1990, as the Bruins captured four more consecutive provincial titles from 1991-94.
Another highlight for Reader was watching the 1991 CCAA Men’s Volleyball National Championship, hosted by Cégep Limoilou in Quebec City, where five members of his high school team helped Sheridan earn a bronze medal.
“It was a thrill for me to see these young men, who had started with me in Grade 9 and 10 and had applied themselves with dedication to a sport they loved, were given the opportunity to participate at the highest level of College competition in Canada,” said Reader.
“The experience with the CCAA Championships taught us, as in everything in life, ‘quality is not an accident, but is the result of intelligent effort’.”
