The University of Manitoba and the Bison Men's Volleyball Program are extremely proud to announce Allan Edie has generously gifted $300,000 to the Bison Men's Volleyball Program, a sum to be matched by the University of Manitoba through the Province of Manitoba's Manitoba Scholarship and Bursary Initiative. The amount will be placed into the Bison Men's Volleyball Scholarship Endowment Fund and create 12 scholarships for Bison Men's volleyball players. 

This tremendous act of generosity is the single largest individual donation to a Bison Sports men's team in history. The Endowment Fund will generate revenue to provide substantial support to men's volleyball student-athletes in perpetuity.

Allan Edie, an alumnus of the University of Manitoba (BPE/80, Cert Ed/81), played men's volleyball for the University of Manitoba Bisons from 1976-81. He was part of the teams that were C.I.A.U. National Champions in 1978 and 1980 plus Canadian Senior Champions in 1981 and 1982. In 1981, he was also named University of Manitoba Male Athlete of the Year.

Edie is currently in the real estate development business with projects in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Campbell River, B.C. The successful real estate developer has donated $300,000 to create 12 Men's Volleyball scholarships named in honour of many of his former teammates.

Beginning in the 2009-10 season, each year, there will be 12 scholarships presented under the names: Randy Anderson, Robert Eger, Terry Gagnon, Robert Glacken, Tom Graham, Phil Hudson, Rick McMillin, Paul Paquin, Jim Schreyer, Lloyd Voth, Bison Men's Volleyball Coach Garth Pischke and Allan Edie.

Dr. Emőke Szathmáry, President of the University of Manitoba said, “It takes brains and perseverance to be a successful student athlete. Bison athletes are our leaders of tomorrow. I am grateful that Mr. Edie has the foresight and generosity to support top amateur volleyball players at the University of Manitoba and inspire them to reach their athletic and academic goals.”

Bison Men's Volleyball head coach Garth Pischke commented about Edie's gift and the impact on recruiting student-athletes to University of Manitoba with an offer of full scholarship. “Allan Edie's gift to the Bison men's volleyball program will last for several  generations to come. I am proud to be around to see the impact this gift will generate as many talented young athletes will benefit by being able to continue their athletic careers at one of the highest levels while continuing to pursue their academic goals. The creation of  this endowment fund shows the generosity and pride that Allan has in being both a member of the Bison Men's volleyball program and a graduate of the University of Manitoba.”

Edie, CEO of A.B. Edie Equities in Edmonton, described his Bison experience, “My five years of being a Bison was an important part of my life. My motivation for success stems from what I learned on the courts at the University of Manitoba. In real estate, I have a different team, but it's similar. You take that level of commitment and you become an expert in whatever you do.”

Edie believes his gift should encourage future generations of players to give back to the university. Edie stated, “My donation hopefully sets an example for others to go forward. The torch is being passed to make a difference.”
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BIOS FOR FORMER UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA MEN'S VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS
(player jersey numbers with Manitoba beside name)

ALLAN EDIE - #9
Allan Edie was born and raised in Dugald, Manitoba and graduated from Springfield Collegiate in 1976. Allan played men's volleyball for the University of Manitoba Bisons from 1976-1981. He was part of the teams that were C.I.A.U. National Champions in 1978 and 1980, and Canadian Senior Champions in 1981 and 1982. In the 1980-81 season, he was also named University of Manitoba Male Athlete of the Year.

Allan is currently in the Real Estate development business with projects in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Campbell River, B.C. He says the reason for the gift is to make a difference to a volleyball program that was very important in his life. “For five years I was given the opportunity to excel at something I loved. My teammates were my best friends and together we accomplished some great things. The "Bison attitude" that was instilled 30 years ago lives in a different arena today, real estate. My teammates have changed, but the philosophy of excellence has not.”

He adds, “Today I have been given an opportunity to share some of my current success with those that I have shared previous successes with. It is my hope that the 12 athletes who will receive the scholarships will carry the torch with same pride of those whose names they bear.”


RANDY ANDERSON - #4
Randy Anderson played men's volleyball for the University of Manitoba Bisons from 1975-1980. He was part of the teams that were C.I.A.U. National Champions in 1978 and 1980, and played for the Canadian National team program from 1980-82. He was also a professional volleyball player with teams in Amsterdam and Italy.

Randy is currently General Manager of the Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba in Winnipeg and married to Colleen, with three children. He will be inducted into the Manitoba Volleyball Hall of Fame in May 2008 and also coaches Winnipeg Minor Volleyball Association Club and Kelvin High School teams.


ROBERT EGER - #2
Born and raised in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Robert Eger was the first Saskatchewan player recruited by the Bisons. Prior to attending the University of Manitoba, Robert attended the University of Saskatchewan for one year. He played men's volleyball for the University of Manitoba Bisons for four years, and played for the team during the National Championships in 1978 and 1980, and Canadian Senior Champions in 1981 and 1982.  

He is currently the president of Western Capital Financial Services in Calgary, Alberta. Robert is married to Raelene, with two children – Chanel and Alexa.

Robert is proud to have been part of Bison Men's Volleyball as it reestablished its success in the late 1970s. “We all were big Bison supporters,” he says.


TERRY GAGNON - #8
Terry Gagnon played five years of CIAU volleyball from 1980 until graduating after the 1985 season. In that time, the Bison's won three silver and two gold medals at the CIAU National Championships. In the 1984-85 season, he was also named University of Manitoba Male Athlete of the Year. A three time All-Canadian and CIAU Player of the Year in 1985, Terry joined Team Canada in the fall of 1985. Terry retired from volleyball in 1992 after representing Canada in the Barcelona Olympics.

Terry is currently the Executive Director of Alberta Volleyball and a Director of the GO Community Centre. He also serves as the President of the Edmonton Volleyball Centre Society (EVCS), which is the stakeholder group that represents the volleyball community in Edmonton.

A native of Edmonton, Terry and his wife Shelley currently live in Innisfail and have two children. Terry and Shelley volunteer at the Innisfail Ski Club in addition to coaching community soccer and baseball.


BOB GLACKEN - #10
Bob Glacken started fresh out of high school with the Bisons Men's Volleyball team in 1975-76. He took a brief hiatus from the Herd, worked and played for the crosstown rivals and in the senior league.

He felt the pull to be a part of the "Dynasty" at the grass roots level and registered again in the early \'80s where he spent two more years pounding, blocking and digging balls for the University of Manitoba.

He finished his University playing days and headed overseas to play in Europe for three years. After that he settled into a new career path and Dr. Bob Glacken now practices medicine at The Pan Am Sport Medicine Clinic in Winnipeg. He has been there for almost seven years now and based on his playing days and love of sport could not be happier.

On a personal note, he has a wonderful wife and a cherished six year-old son. And his playing days as a Bison will always be remembered fondly for the experiences and lifelong friendships that developed.


TOM GRAHAM - #11
Dr. Tom Graham received his B.A. (Psychology) from the University of Manitoba, his M.S. (Sport and Recreation Management) from the University of Idaho and his Ph.D (Health and Exercise Psychology) from the University of Saskatchewan. The Ph.D thesis (a four-study project entitled “The contribution of goal characteristics and causal attributions to emotion in youth sport participants”) received the Dissertation Award from the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology (AAASP) in 1999.

Athletically, Tom was a member of the 1976 Canadian Olympic volleyball team. He was a member of two Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national champions while playing volleyball at the University of Manitoba from 1977-80. In the 1979-80 season, he was also named University of Manitoba Male Athlete of the Year.

As a coach at the University of Saskatchewan, Tom was chosen CIS and Canadian Volleyball Association (CVA) Coach of the Year in 1987. Coaching successes included gold medals at both the Canada Winter Games (1987) and CIS national championship (1988). His teams won four Canada West Universities Athletic Association championships during his seven years of university coaching.

From 1998-2003, Tom was in private practice (Graham Consulting), working primarily with the Workers Compensation Board of Saskatchewan, which involved behavioral (exercise adherence and goal setting) work and physical rehabilitation programs; and the Sport Medicine and Science Council of Saskatchewan (SMSCS). This involved delivery of mental training services to provincial sport organizations. Other clients have included the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Canadian National Men's volleyball team, the Laycock and Miller rinks that captured the World Junior Curling Championships in 2004 and the Lawton rink that placed third at the Olympic Curling Trials in 2005 and won the Canada Cup in 2008.

Tom was in Health Research administration at the University of Saskatchewan from 2003-2007 and is currently the Director of Research and Graduate Studies for the College of Arts and Science at the same university.

For fun, Tom coaches his son's volleyball team and runs along the riverbank as often as he can.


PHIL HUDSON - #7
Phil Hudson was a Bison athlete during the 1974-1979 National Championships and was among the National Finalists in 1979. He was the 2007-08 Bison Men's Head Volleyball Coach. In 2006, he served as Assistant Coach of Women\'s National Volleyball Team; and coached Team Manitoba men\'s volleyball teams to a medal in three Canada Games (gold medal in 2005) and was Volleyball Canada Developmental Coach of the Year in 1999.

Hudson has had success with Dakota Volleyball Club and Kildonan Volleyball Club level and coached four provincial championship teams. He was named 2006 Coaching Manitoba Excellence Award recipient - Dr. Jack Hunt Memorial Award Developmental category.

Hudson has been with Dakota Collegiate since 1988 and been the Physical Education Department Head since 2004. Over his 20 years with Dakota, he has coached the men\'s volleyball team to three Provincial "AAAA" volleyball championships (1991, 1992 and 2003) and 11 more trips to the Provincial Final Four including the 2007-08 season. Hudson was honoured as 2005-06 Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association (MHSAA) recipient of the Grey Cup Legacy High School Coach of the Year Award.

Prior to Dakota, Hudson coached at West Kildonan Collegiate where he was instrumental in the men\'s volleyball team capturing two Provincial "AAAA" volleyball championships (1980 and 1986) and four additional trips to the Provincial Final Four from 1980-87.

He and his wife, Gisele have three children, Ryan who plays volleyball at McMaster University, Chelsea who plays volleyball at Trinity Western University, and Sara, who is in Grade 9 at College Jeanne Sauve.


RICK MCMILLIN - #12
Rick played for Bison Men's Volleyball team from the 1976 to 1980 seasons. He is currently the Vice President of Retail Sales in the Consumer Markets Division of MTS Allstream, where he has worked for 28 years. He and his wife, Barb, have two children Alex (20) and Carly (18).


PAUL PAQUIN - #3
Paul played for the Bison Men's Volleyball team from 1979-1984. During that time, they were CIAU champions twice and finalists three times; as well as National Senior Champions twice. During his years, he played power, setter and in the middle. Paul was All-Canadian in his last three years and named CIAU player of the year in 1982-83. In the 1982-83 season, he was also named University of Manitoba Male Athlete of the Year. He was also honored to be named team captain from 1981-84.

Paul is currently a Physical Education/Health Education consultant with the Department of Education. He and his wife Susan, also a former Bison, live with their two daughters, two dogs and two cats in Winnipeg. They especially enjoy spending the summers at their cottage near Kenora.


GARTH PISCHKE - #5
The 2006-07 season was Garth Pischke\'s 27th season as Head Coach of the University of Manitoba Men\'s Volleyball program. In the middle of that stint Pischke coached the National Men\'s Team Head Coach from 1996-2000 taking them from 21st in World rankings to 10th.

During Pischke's 27 years as Bisons men's volleyball head coach, the Bisons have qualified for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) National Championships 25 times. Under Pischke, Manitoba Bisons have collected nine CIS gold medals, nine CIS silver medals, three CIS bronze medal, three fourth place finishes, and their lowest showing being a fifth place finish.

The Winnipeg native reached another phenomenal milestone in the 2006-07 season. He captured his 1100th victory at the annual York University Excalibur Classic from January 5-7, 2007. He guided the squad to a 10-8 record and a playoff spot before losing a tough three game series to eventual Canada West bronze medalist UBC in the 2006-07 season.

Pischke reached the milestone plateau of his 1000th coaching victory with the Bisons on November 9, 2003 with a victory over the Trinity Western Spartans during the 2003-04 season. Thirty-two of Pischke\'s athletes have gone on to represent Canada in National Team Programs. Pischke has also been involved in coaching various developmental and experienced club teams to three Under-18 National Championships, four Under-20 National Championships, and four Volleyball Canada Open Championships.

Pischke\'s background with volleyball did not start with coaching. Pischke has also won many National Championships as a player. These include three Canadian Under-20 Championships, three CIS Championships, five Volleyball Canada Open Championships, and three USVBA Open Championships. Pischke was a member of the Canadian Olympic Team at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He also played professional volleyball in the United States (El Paso and Denver) in the International Volleyball Association (IVA), where he was named League Rookie in 1978 and League MVP in 1979.

Individually, he has been named to 12 All-Star Teams at Canadian National Championships where he received six MVP awards. Pischke was named All-American at eight USVBA Championships and awarded an MVP award. He has won 30 National Championships including the 1991 Canadian Beach Doubles Championship.

Pischke was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1999, the Canadian Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2000 and his greatest accomplishment was being named MANITOBA'S AMATEUR ATHLETE OF THE 20th CENTURY in the fall of 2000. In 2000, True North Volleyball Magazine named Pischke as “Canada's Best Male Volleyball Player” of all time.

He joins the company of Canadian athletes and builders who have, over the course of their career, distinguished themselves in Olympic and Pan American competition or contributed to the growth and development of the Olympic movement.

Pischke was born and raised in Winnipeg. He currently resides in south Winnipeg with his wife Cindy, their son Dane, and their daughter Taylor.


JIM SCHREYER - #6
Jim Schreyer played for the University of Manitoba Bisons as a power hitter from 1975-77 where he finished his Bachelor of Physical Education and teaching Certificate in 1979-80. Jim is a physical Education teacher and athletic Director at Lord Selkirk Regional High school. He is also the Manitoba Volleyball Association High Performance Director and Mentor Coach.

Jim's biggest contributions in the province and to the University of Manitoba have been coaching volleyball. Jim coached the University of Manitoba Bisons Men's Volleyball Team from 1997-2000 when Garth Pischke took a three-year leave of absence to coach the Canadian Men's National Team. In that time, Jim coached the Bisons to two Canadian National Junior Men's Volleyball titles from 1998-2000 and a gold medal at the 2000 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Volleyball Men's Championships.

Jim has coached various teams in Manitoba to five Canadian National Volleyball Titles along with 11 final appearances in MHSAA  finals with five Championships.

Jim has been recognized several times in Manitoba and Canada:
-    MHSAA  “Coach of the Year 1994
-    Manitoba Coaches Association “Coach of the Year” 1994
-    Manitoba Volleyball Association “Coach of the Year 1983, 2000
-    GPAC Coach of the Year 1998-99
-    University of Manitoba Coach of the Year 2000
-    Canada Volleyball Association “Coach of the Year” 1999-2000
-    Member of MVA “Honor Society” for contributions in Volleyball from 1977-2005

Jim, 50, is married (wife Cheryl) with two children: Jennifer, who is currently pitching in a semi-pro fastball league in Spain and Brett, who is on a baseball scholarship in Creston College in Iowa.


LLOYD VOTH - #1
Lloyd Voth has been teaching at St. Paul\'s High School in Winnipeg, since he graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1981. Lloyd played volleyball for the Bisons from 1975 to 1981. He started his playing career in volleyball in his hometown, Morden.
Lloyd has been coaching high school volleyball since 1981. In addition to indoor, he has been a provincial beach coach for several seasons. He will be the Head Coach for the 2009 Manitoba Men's Beach team at the Canada Games held in P.E.I.

Lloyd lives in Winnipeg, with his wife Val, their daughter Ashley and their son Chris. Val teaches at Oak Bluff Community School. Both Ashley and Chris will be playing for the Bisons in September 2008 as Ashley will be in her third year, while Chris will be starting his first year with the Bisons.