Bob Ackles Award

Longtime and current BC Community Football Association (BCCFA) President Joe Gluska will be honoured with the Bob Ackles Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Orange Helmet Awards.

The award will be held Wednesday, April 15 at The Westin Bayshore in Vancouver.

Gluska (resides in West Kelowna) has been involved with amateur football in British Columbia for over 50 years as a player, coach and executive.

He is a former high school player with the Notre Dame Jugglers and UBC Thunderbirds and has been President of the BCCFA since 2000.

He has overseen the creation of the 9-Man Provincial Championship and is one of the main forces responsible for the exponential growth of Flag Football in the province.

This past June, the BCCFA provincial flag championship tournament featured over 1,200 players on 116 teams.

Gluska has coached the BC High School Football level, winning several provincial titles with his alma mater at Notre Dame.

As well at UBC where he won a national championship and at the Community level and is also a former president of Football BC.

Previous Bob Ackles Lifetime Achievement Award winners include Larry Reda, Lorne Davis, Lorne Cullen, Ron White, Frank Smith, Bob Ackles (award renamed in his honour in 2009), Cal Murphy, George Oswald, Jack Armour and Bill MacGregor.

The Orange Helmet Awards dinner will also be presenting pioneer awards to: the late Brian Prentice, a founding director and president of the Big 4 Football Conference; Bill Cole, a longtime coach with the Notre Dame Jugglers high school football team in East Vancouver; and Paul Shortt, a decorated coach from Victoria who was instrumental in the growth of football on Vancouver Island and is a former president of the BC Football Conference.

Mark Townsend (Mt. Douglas Rams, Victoria) will be presented with the Scholastic Coach of the Year award, while Kendall Gross (Kelowna Minor Football) will be honoured as the Community Coach of the Year.

The Orange Helmet Awards will also recognize the 2014 provincial champions in amateur football including winners from the BCCFA, BC High School Football and BC Football Conference.

The 2015 Orange Helmet Awards will feature former Grey Cup MVP and four-time Pro Bowler Jeff Garcia as the keynote speaker. Early-bird pricing is in effect until March 6, 2015.

Tickets can be ordered by contacting Melissa at mgrout@bclions.com or calling 604.634.1178.

For more information, visit http://www.bclions.com/2015-orange-helmet-awards.

Thanks to Daniel Fung, Director/Communications for Football BC for the info.