HIGH ACHIEVERS: Olympian Aldo Roy inspired, motivated youth as weightlifting coach, high school teacher

By Martin Cleary

Aldo Robert Joseph Roy was a magnet.

When he was a weightlifting coach, a high school teacher or just being himself with his family, colleagues and Thursday breakfast club peers, people gravitated to him. Almost instantly, they wanted to talk to him, get to know him, work with him and trust him.

An Olympic weightlifter for Canada at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games, Roy had the innate ability to welcome and motivate lifters of all levels, to inspire students with his uplifting history and economics classes, even those who didn’t like the subject(s), and to have that gold-medal combination of energy, interest, kindness and humour to be the best he could be in every avenue of his life.

On April 18, Roy passed away at The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, because of a cardiac issue. He was 84.

Former weightlifter and educator Rick Haggar of Ottawa knew A. Roy, as his close friends called him, for more than 50 years. He liked him from the moment they first met, the times they were at competitions, the times they shared living accommodations and the times they taught at the same high school.

“There was an immediate connect,” Haggar said, when, as a teenage football player, he agreed to volunteer at the 1971 Ontario senior weightlifting championships and was introduced to Roy.

“That was the way it was with everyone, how everyone felt. He was an incredible individual, a master motivator.”

Roy and his longtime partner Julia Worswick didn’t have a family, but everywhere he looked he was building confidence in his athletes and students, teaching them life lessons and serving as a father figure in the background.

“I felt I was adopted by A. Roy the first time I met him,” added Haggar, who was twice named the Ottawa weightlifter of the year at the ACT Sportsman’s Dinner in the late 1980s, which was two decades after Roy was a double winner of the same award.

“One of the highlights of my life was A. Roy. The gratitude I have for him…”

As a high school teacher and department head at Ottawa Tech, McArthur, Ridgemont (twice) and Fisher Park, he brought his lessons in history and economics to life.

Students often referred to Roy as the best teacher ever for his ability to make the curriculum relevant to today, while building their confidence with his classroom style. He was recognized for his leadership and ability to connect with students.

His classes were filled with “energy, thoughtful discussions and an inspirational story that carried a lesson far beyond the curriculum,” said Roy’s obituary on the Tubman Funeral Home website.

“He had that unique ability to inspire and make it the best he can make it,” Haggar explained. “He would tie it (lessons) into life skills. His classrooms were legendary. He created a sense of belonging and a culture.”

Teaching economics, Roy also had a flair for investments and entrepreneurship.

Roy poured himself into every aspect of his life. He worked hard to bring a new angle to his classroom subjects to catch and hold the attention of his students, motivate them and support them.

“One kid at Fisher Park said he didn’t like history. But when you build someone’s self esteem and confidence, you build it for everything,” Haggar added.

Roy also used that philosophy of character development in the training room for his weightlifters. He welcomed everyone into the Ottawa-based Trojan Weightlifting Club, which was once housed in the boiler room at the Rockcliffe Air Force Base before it moved to Lansdowne Park and then Carleton University.

He inspired his athletes to train hard and develop their full potential. A handful of athletes went to the Canadian championships and major international Summer Games, like Marc Cardinal and Dan Robitaille.

For others, regional or provincial championships would be their top achievement, their ‘Olympic’ moment. Roy was always without prejudice, judgment and negativity. He preferred to motivate and inspire using positive means to have his athletes strive for full potential.

In the mid-1950s, Roy and his brother Ralph wanted to develop their teenage strength and confidence. They decided to explore weightlifting. They started lifting weights in the basement of École St. Paul in Minnow Lake, ON.

From that moment, weightlifting became Roy’s passion for the next 70 years.

Not only was he a respected coach who would often share his knowledge with weightlifters from across the country, but also he was a successful athlete on the competition platform and a highly-respected colour analyst for CBC for its Summer Olympic coverage.

If it wasn’t for a variety of injuries (knees and elbows), Roy likely would have been a three-time Olympian for Canada instead of making only one memorable appearance at the Mexico City Summer Games in 1968.

As the Canadian 75-kilogram champion in 1967, Roy finished 15th in the Olympic light-heavyweight (82.5 kilograms) division with a snatch and clean-and-jerk total of 420 kilograms. The Soviet Union’s Boris Selitsky was first at 485 kilograms in the field of 26 lifters.

“After having overcome injuries that prevented his qualifying in 1964 (Tokyo Olympics), Aldo’s success in being elevated to the status of ‘Olympian’ four years later meant the world to him,” Olympic teammate Paul Bjarnson wrote in a tribute to Roy.

Roy ended his first and only Olympics on the highest of notes as he was selected to carry the Canadian flag during the Games’ closing ceremony.

In advance of the Olympics, Roy placed eighth at the 1962 British Empire Games (now Commonwealth Games) in Perth, Australia in the 75-kilogram class, 13th at the 1965 world senior championships which took place during the Asian Games in Tehran, Iran, and fifth at the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg.

At 18, he won the 1960 Canadian senior men’s 67.5-kilogram title in Quebec City and his brother Ralph placed second. Weighing only 65 kilograms, he lifted 100 kilograms in the snatch and 131.5 kilograms in the clean and jerk.

A year later, he was the Canadian junior champion in both the 67.5- and 75-kilogram divisions and earned the best lifter award, after also setting national records of 143 kilograms in the clean and jerk and 365 kilograms for his total.

Back injuries ruined his 1971 Pan American Games in Cali, Columbia, as he couldn’t complete any of his lifts.

By 1972, Robitaille became a protégé of Roy, won several Canadian championships and remained in the sport, coaching the Canadian team from 1981-99 and serving as a technical official at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

In 1974, Roy met Cardinal, an Ottawa high school student who was advised to start weightlifting to improve his track and field performances in discus and shot put. Roy put him through a series of flexibility tests with national champion Russ Prior. They felt the six-foot, six-inch and 215-pound Cardinal was a diamond in the rough.

Cardinal, who later became a medical doctor, won the gold medal in the men’s plus-110-kilogram class at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, was the silver medallist at the 1979 Pan American Games, but was denied an Olympic experience because of the Canadian boycott of the 1980 Summer Games.

Roy’s knowledge and experience in weightlifting and his fluid and engaging storytelling style allowed him to attend four Summer Olympics as the colour analyst for CBC TV.

CBC host Brian Williams called Roy “one of the best he has worked with.” Roy would spend hours making detailed notes about every weightlifter in the Olympic competition so the viewer could get the proper understanding of what the various events were all about.

Roy was part of the CBC broadcast crew in 1984, 2000, 2004 and 2008.

For eight decades, weightlifting filled him with energy and excitement, right to the end.

As his final project, Roy had subscribed to a social media channel to watch the European weightlifting championships April 19-26 from Batumi, Georgia. He was keen and his notes were prepared, just like his CBC days.

But Roy never got to see the caulk fly, the joy and heartbreak on the lifters’ faces and the medal presentations. He passed away only hours before the opening event of the championships.

Meanwhile, the past two months also has seen the passing of four other important sports figures in Ottawa.

· Dave Waterhouse (April 21) played football for the Ottawa Sooners junior team and the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. In 1984, he helped the Sooners win the Canadian junior football championship and the Armadale Cup. He was a tailback for the Gee-Gees from 1985-89 and is the club’s ninth all-time rusher. Waterhouse was selected in the 1987 CFL Draft by the Ottawa Rough Riders in Round 8 at No. 64. As an Ottawa high school teacher, he coached football, rugby and hockey.

· Glen Bradley (March 4) was the ultimate volunteer. He devoted more than 50 years to Little League Baseball, serving multiple roles from umpire to District 2 Administrator. He also was dedicated to helping the Ottawa West Golden Knights junior B hockey team.

· Dick Campbell (March 26) was a pioneer in Paralympic sport. When sledge hockey made its debut at the 1994 Lillehammer Paralympic Winter Games, he was on the coaching staff for Canada, which won the bronze medal behind Sweden and Norway.

· Eleanor Parmelee (April 15) was the co-founder of the Ottawa Gymnastics Club and vice-president of the Ontario Gymnastics Federation. She also worked at Sport Canada.

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