Regina Football Community Saddened By Loss Of Randy Shaw

The Regina Football community lost a treasured member of its family on Monday with the passing of former CJFL Coach of the Year Randy Shaw, he was 53 years old. The University of Regina Rams organization would like to express it's most sincere sympathy to Randy's wife Jan, his family and many friends.

Regina loses a good football man

Rob Vanstone, The Leader-Post
Published: Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Everybody who knew and admired Randy Shaw was blindsided by Monday's  shattering news. "He just never woke up,'' Terry Hincks said of his "very best friend.''

"I'm still in a state of shock,'' said Josh Shaw, who was the receivers coach for all four years his uncle coached the PFC's Prairie Thunder (now Regina Thunder). "This is just so sad,'' lamented an emotional Brian Saip, who coached high school football alongside Shaw with the Miller Marauders, Martin Monarchs, Balfour Redmen and Thom Trojans. "He cared so much about the kids. I loved the guy.'' "It doesn't seem right,'' added Mike O'Donnell, who was part of a Miller coaching staff that also included Hincks and Shaw. "It doesn't seem fair.''

At 53, Randy Shaw was cheated. Likewise for his family members and friends, who deserved so many more years with him. "He was a good man,'' Hincks said, "so write some good stuff.'' What else could one possibly write about Randy Shaw? He was a gift to the Regina sporting community.

"Football became his life,'' Josh said. "Family came first and football was a close second. In his basement, there was book after book about football. I'm not that studious, so I didn't become as good of a coach.''

Nobody in junior football was better in 2002, when Randy Shaw was decorated as the CJFL's coach-of-the-year after guiding a third-year PFC franchise to a 6-2 record.

"One of his proudest moments was after he got coach-of-the-year,'' Saip said. "The Saskatoon Hilltops were in Montreal to play the St. Leonard Cougars (in the Canadian Bowl). When Randy walked into the post game banquet, the Hilltops' players and coaches gave him a standing ovation. Afterwards, they said, 'We've got a big party room. Why don't you come up there and join us?' For a Regina coach, that was just amazing. "The coach-of-the-year award is named the Gord Currie Award. When he got home from Montreal, Gord phoned him and talked for over an hour. He told Gord how proud he was to win an award that was named after him.''

Shaw's ties with the team he helped establish were dissolved after the 2003 season. Friction with the Thunder's board of directors led to his ouster. Undaunted, he would continue coaching football, even if it took him away from his family. He coached with the B.C. junior league's Vancouver Trojans in 2005 before spending part of last season with the South Fraser Rams.

And then it was back to Regina, where Shaw treasured the company of his wife (Jan), children (Amy, Becky, Jeremy and Zachary), eight grandchildren, parents (Roy and Joyce), brother (Gary) and innumerable friends.

"He was just a very generous, soft guy,'' Hincks said of Shaw, who spent 19 years as a youth facility worker and counselor at the Paul Dojack Youth Centre.

"I went through a few troubled times in my life and I phoned Randy right away. He always had so much logic about him. He'd take me right back to the right place.

"Him and Jan became really good friends. He was very special to me.'' Shaw's players also received special treatment. "He would always champion the kids who needed a second chance,''

O'Donnell recalled. "If we had a kid who maybe was not quite as talented -- or we thought wasn't quite as talented -- Randy said, 'Send him to me. Leave him with the defensive backs. I'll look after him.' "In a short while, the kid was becoming a starter on defence or on special teams. He always found a way to get him on the field and let the kid shine.''

Shaw would also spend long hours with piles of videotapes, striving to find ways to put his players in the optimal positions for success. "I remember lots of times when I'd say, 'Hey, what did you do last night?' '' O'Donnell said. "Well, he was watching tape until three in the morning. It was almost like, 'What are you asking me for? It's football season. I'm going to dissect it and take it all in. And, by the way, did you know the NFL was on last night, too?' He lived and breathed football. "He was a good guy, and he was a good guy to everybody.''

Scott MacAulay
Marketing Coordinator
University of Regina Rams

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