Memorable homecoming for Woody

A Niagara coaching legend had a silver-medal homecoming when Sir Winston Churchill hosted the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ AAA girls basketball championships in late November.

Pat Woodburn, a long-time basketball coach at Governor Simcoe and with the Brock University women’s program, coached the Brantford Collegiate Institute Mustangs to a finals appearance against powerhouse Hamilton Cathedral.

It was an emotional moment for the 70-year-old when he returned to Governor Simcoe for an 8 p.m. game on Nov. 25.

“I still have the itch to coach and I still want to help kids,” the Brantford native said. “The excitement in the air is so neat and it was great to go back to Governor Simcoe. For me, it was deja vu even just going to the back and parking my car.”

He told his players that the track and turf field wasn’t around when he was at Simcoe but he remembered the area well.

“I used to go back there with the kids and play baseball and if a kid could hit it over the fence he would win five bucks.”

The team ended up defeating Westdale 54-45 in the final minutes that night to advance to the semifinals the following morning.

“I phoned my wife Lynn and I told her I was walking down the hall into the changeroom and it was so neat. I never thought I would get an opportunity to do this and when we were winning at the end, one of the coaches told me we would be back playing at Simcoe and if we won that, we would win a medal.”

The next day back at Simcoe prior to a 34-24 victory over Saint Francis Xavier, Woodburn was able to spend time with his friend and former Simcoe coach Shaun Feor.

“He came over to take some pictures and started telling the players some of the stories from Governor Simcoe,” Woodburn said. “Thank God, he didn’t tell any of the horror stories.”

Brantford Collegiate ended up losing lost 80-24 to Cathedral in the final.

“We were in two barn burners and we won them and I told the girls that when we play Cathedral we have a problem. I told them we were going to go five in and five out and enjoy it because it is fleeting when you are in high school. Most kids never even get to go to OFSAA,” he said. “I told them to enjoy the game and after the game they are going to give you a silver medal. They all broke out laughing.”

At the start of the season, Woodburn never imagined his team would make it to OFSAA.

“It was unique because at the start of the year we looked like an intramural team. We lost five games by more than 20 points but it was a special bunch of girls. I teased them that they couldn’t pass or make layups but they found a way to win.”

The team advanced to OFSAA by defeating the St. John’s College Green Eagles in the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association final. Brantford Collegiate had lost by 21 and 35 points in its two previous games versus St. John’s.

“You know basketball,” Woodburn said. “Some days you make shots and some days you can’t hit the ocean.”

Woodburn is hoping to make a return to St. Catharines in the spring of 2022. He is helping to coach the undefeated North Park Collegiate boys team and fully expects it to make the OFSAA AA championships being hosted by Saint Francis.

Organizers are hoping to play some of the games at Brock University and that will be another homecoming for Woodburn. The Brantford and Area Sports Hall of Recognition member coached the Brock women from 1977 to 1983 and was the Ontario university women’s coach of the year in 1983. That year, Woodburn led his team to an Ontario title and a bronze medal at nationals.

“What a thrill that will be walking into that gym. Seven years with Peggy and Patty Stamps and all those kids.”

Normally, Woodburn wouldn’t be able to coach in Ontario in the winter and early spring because he is usually coaching high school ball in Arizona.

He became familiar with that area when he was taking Governor Simcoe squads to play at the Los Matadores Invitational at Mohave High School in Bullhead City, Ariz. in the early 2000s.

In 2005, he was brought in to coach the boys team at Mohave High School by the Los Matadores, a group of 25 who are the ambassadorial arm of the Bullhead Area Chamber of Commerce.

He got a three-year work visa and coached Mohave High School to a Arizona Interscholastic Association 4A State Boys Basketball Championship on Feb. 24, 2006. The team won its last 12 games, including the final in front of 14,000 fans.

“They wanted to put basketball on the map and we got lucky. It was a Cinderella story and we won a state championship and I was named coach of the year and all the things that came with it,” Woodburn said. “They had a big parade downtown and it was unbelievable.”

He spent two more seasons with Mohave High School until his work via ran out and then he began spending six months of the year in Arizona and six months in his hometown of Brantford.

When he returned to Arizona in the fall, he coached boys teams at Laughlin High School in Laughlin, Nev., Needles High School in Needles, Calif. and River Valley High School in Mohave, Ariz. In 2018, he recorded his 1,200 career high school coaching triumph.

The boys and girls basketball seasons in the States run from November to April so Woodburn would coach girls basketball in Brantford and then head to Arizona.

The two seasons prior to the pandemic he spend coaching girls basketball at Mohave High School when one of the Los Matadores asked him to help coach his granddaughters. 

“It was so much fun and I was very fortunate. We would have still been there if not for the pandemic.”

Woodburn, who swims five kilometres a week, is hoping to go back to Arizona but doesn’t think that will happen until November 2022. For now he is helping coach high school and is planning to also help out with some travel teams. The 1997 Catharines Sportsman of the Year has no thoughts of retiring from coaching.

“It is so neat to see kids working together in the society we live in today,” he said. “It is so depressing because everybody is so divisive and there’s no flexibility whether it is politics or whatever. Seeing 17-year-old kids work together for a common goal and dive after loose balls is great.”