U of Winnipeg Wesmen teams get $120K donation from former volleyball champ turned developer

Tessa Adamski · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 25, 2025 3:35 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

Athletes astatine the University of Winnipeg accidental a large donation for its Wesmen teams from a erstwhile assemblage volleyball player will person a lasting interaction connected and disconnected the court. 

Luke Lodewyks, a second-year jock connected the Wesmen men's volleyball team, joined U of W staff, coaches, athletes and assemblage members to observe Allan Edie's $120,000 donation to the Wesmen Athletics programme connected Friday.

"Being astir a phenomenal radical of radical present astatine the University of Winnipeg has inspired maine to beryllium the champion mentation of myself astatine each times," Lodewyks said, adding that the backing volition promote teammates to enactment hard for years to come. 

Second-year women's hoops subordinate Jazmin Birch said being part of the Wesmen programme has been 1 of the astir meaningful experiences of her life. 

"To me, being a Wesmen [player] means being portion of a assemblage that pushes you to turn not conscionable arsenic an jock but arsenic a leader, a teammate and an individual," she said.

"It means carrying yourself with honour, representing thing bigger than yourself and perpetually striving to improve."

Birch said Edie's donation volition animate teams to enactment harder and dream bigger, and volition besides promote younger athletes to springiness backmost to the programme successful the future.

Edie, who went connected to recovered Edie and Associates — a occidental Canadian existent property improvement and leasing company — was a subordinate and two-time champion with the University of Manitoba's Bisons volleyball squad from 1976-81.

He made lifelong friends connected the court, helium said Friday, and has been reflecting connected ways helium could springiness backmost to the adjacent procreation of university athletes successful Manitoba.

"I was fortunate that I was fixed the accidental to excel, and I carried that assurance into my concern career," helium said.

"I americium not 6'7 and I can't interaction 12 feet, but I tin inactive marque a quality successful the Wesmen volleyball programme and hopefully the Wesmen hoops program."

Edie called his donation a starting constituent and encouraged others, including Wesmen alumni, to besides enactment the squad to help show young athletes they are valued and support them successful the province.

"These are Manitoba kids that are excelling astatine a nationalist level. I'll enactment that each day, each day, and hopefully others consciousness the aforesaid way," helium said.

"The telephone to enactment is for radical to travel backmost and say, 'you cognize what, let's get unneurotic arsenic a assemblage and put truthful that these programs don't dice connected the vine.'"

The 1 changeless successful assemblage sports is simply a deficiency of backing and support, helium said, adding he'd similar to spot the University of Winnipeg offer afloat assistance backing for athletes, as immoderate different universities do.

Earlier this year, the Wesmen women's shot squad was chopped for the 2025 play owed to a deficiency of fiscal support. A U of W spokesperson told CBC at the clip the schoolhouse was "prioritizing utilizing its constricted fiscal resources to enactment the halfway world and probe functions of the university."

Edie said $100,000 of his donation volition spell toward immoderate the Wesmen coaches and manager of athletics Cara Isaak accidental is needed for the program, with the remaining $20,000 being dedicated to caller volleyball and hoops uniforms.

"You truly stock our imaginativeness for Wesmen Athletics, which is gathering connected our bequest of excellence done accordant hard enactment for the occurrence of our programs," Isaak said.

"We measurement it not conscionable successful championships, but successful work to our communities and world advancement and each athlete's consciousness of belonging successful our program, and of course, successful the quality that we amusement successful triumph and defeat."

She said Edie has supported Wesmen athletes for years by cheering connected players from the sidelines and encouraging them to prosecute their passions. 

U of W president and vice-chancellor Todd Mondor said the donation volition service arsenic a catalyst for ongoing enactment for the Wesmen program.