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stouffville suntribune saturday june 23 2007 7 the nuge teaching legend named stouffvilles best sport by jim mason staff writer its a month of honours for wayne nugent the nuge the former stouffville resident and teacher has been named whitchurchstouffvilles 2007 sports person of the year he will receive the award thursday evening in memo rial park at opening cere monies of the whitchurch- stouffville strawberry festi val the native of quebec who coached and taught at stouffville district second ary school from 1976 to 1982 retires this month from a 42year teaching career he will be honoured at a recep tion monday in woodbridge where he now teaches he has been taking che motherapy treatments for advanced bone marrow can cer this year mr nugent 66 is a char ter member of the stouffville buttermakers slopitch team whose canada day weekend tournament during the 1980s spawned the strawberry fes tival he also refereed hockey in stouffville mr nugent was pursu ing a career in profession al baseball rising to the doublea level as a pitcher in the atlanta braves organi zation before a shoulder injury forced him to change paths he also played football and hockey so with teach ing already in the back of his mind a career in physical education became a natural choice mike feasby a stouffville resident and head of physi cal education at markham district high school had mr nugent as a teacher at stouffville secondary he was a nice guy mr feasby said of nugent who taught him in physical edu cation and math classes we knew he was a sporty type of guy because he played a lot of sports when mr feasby started teaching at markham high and got involved with the junior and senior football programs he would annually face rival teams from wood- bridge college that were coached by mr nugent he was like all of us in that he wanted to win but off the field he had a quiet disposition he said the pair later played slo- pitch together in stouffville hes a happygolucky guy hes just a fun guy to hang around with mr feasby said most distressing to him is what he perceives to be a declining interest in sports and other extracurricular activities at least in wood- bridge there seems to be a gen eral malaise he says a demographic shift in the student population has also meant that perennial favou rite sports such as football and volleyball are in decline while new sports such as cricket draw students atten tion in general he has seen less interest in the kind of leadership qualities upon which the athletic program usually thrives its the nature of the former stoufrville district second ary school teacher and stoufrville butter maker wayne nugent is whitchurch- stouffvilles sports person of the year the award sponsored by the suntribune will be presented at the strawberry festival thursday night patrobinsan pat robinson trustee inc trustee in bankruptcy call for a free personal discussion help with creditor problems proposal to creditors personal business bankniptcy aurora head office 15105 yongcst 201 aichurch 905 7272577 richmond hill 9555 yonge st 401 at wddrick 905 5089493 toronto 150 york st 800 at adelaide 4164106648 toll free 18777272577 email patpatrobinsoncom web wwwpatrobinsoncom beast he says definitely the commitment the sense of responsibility are not there turnout is down among parents too and in talking with other teachers he has seen the problem is not con- fined to athletics nor to his school relaxed standards for stu dents are creating a negative atmosphere he hopes will not persist i find myself wondering what its going to be like in 10 years he says with 42 years of teaching under his belt he also knows trends are cyclical and he hopes this one may yet turn around in the meantime he is lookingforward to some time off with his family includ ing three daughters and five grandchildren but despite all the fun he has had no one is going to have to wrestle the whisde away from coach nugent he is ready to move on its time to go he says the sports person award is sponsored by the stouffville suntribune the selection committee included former recipients cliff dunkeld and mayor wayne emmerson and sun- tribune editor jim mason vith files from from mike hayakawa and david fleischer a little time can make a huge difference in a childs life with several volunteer programs to choose from one is sure to suit your schedule discontinuing hatchbacks wagons good selection new used 5786 main st stouffville 9056404541 wwwbiilhoustonfordcom