Bruce Wanless

Humble beginnings for Bruce, who is considered one of lacrosse’s all-time great defensive players.

March 31, 2021 | Gail Grant | Over the Next Hill

Snapshot: Meet a Community Elder

Local lacrosse legend Bruce Wanless credits his love of the game to serendipity. “When we were kids, a neighbour gave my brother and me two well-used lacrosse sticks. We spent countless hours whacking the ball against a brick wall of our farm house that was a perfect backboard,” he said.

Bruce Wanless won three MVP awards in Ontario lacrosse leagues and played on four national championship teams. Photo by Rosemary Hasner / Black Dog Creative Arts.

Growing up as one of five children on the family farm in Caledon’s former Chinguacousy Township, Bruce, now 82, remembers riding bareback on a horse to a one-room schoolhouse with two of his siblings. “When we got there we’d send our four-legged friend home while we headed to class,” he said.

Humble beginnings for Bruce, who is considered one of lacrosse’s all-time great defensive players.

He would eventually claim three MVP awards in Ontario lacrosse leagues and be part of four national championship-winning teams. He was inducted into the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame in 1987, the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1997, and the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2002. In addition, the Canadian Lacrosse Foundation named him a Lacrosse Legend and created a YouTube video to honour his achievements.

In the mid-1960s, Bruce briefly played professional lacrosse with the Detroit Olympics, making enough money to buy a colour television, but the league didn’t survive.

It was the camaraderie of the game that Bruce treasures most. “The train trips from Ontario to Western Canada to play in national competitions are some of my fondest memories,” he said.

One wonders what might have happened if instead of lacrosse sticks the neighbour had dropped off hockey sticks, or perhaps tennis rackets.

At the beginning of his working life, Bruce briefly owned both a dairy and a variety store, but when he joined the Brampton Fire Department in 1971 he knew he had found his professional calling. He retired as district fire chief 28 years later at the mandatory retirement age of 60.

For the next 20 years Bruce worked as safety manager for Graham Bros. Construction and was honoured to give the eulogy at founder Bill Graham’s funeral in 2019.

As pandemic restrictions ease, Bruce and Donna, his wife of 59 years, are eagerly anticipating resumed visits from their two daughters and six grandsons.