Posted: May 17, 2005

Athletics: Olympian threw skills into coaching

Javelin coach Bill Heikkila is being honoured for his years of dedication and his work to make others better at the sport he's always loved

Martin Cleary , The Ottawa Citizen

If you want to find Nepean's Bill Heikkila at a track and field meet, there's only one place to go. Look for the athletes throwing the javelin.

At the Ontario high school track and field championships seven years ago in Toronto, the 1968 Olympian, five-time Canadian senior champion/ record holder and now a well-respected coach, approached his field of dreams to study two throwers from Kingston's Frontenac Secondary School.

Unlike the sprints, the high jump or even the marathon, javelin is considered one of the throw away disciplines of track and field. That is, unless you're Heikkila, who was introduced to the javelin as a young boy, earned a full athletic scholarship to the University of Oregon and trained with some of world's best in his homeland of

Finland. He has a deep passion for the field event, smoothly rhyming off results with accuracy and demonstrating the event with excitement.

After watching junior Frontenac throwers Matt Murdoch and Pete Cheesbrough finish second and third respectively at the provincials, he approached coach Pat McMenamin to congratulate him for doing a good job coaching and for his dedication to javelin.

Heikkila, who has coached in Ottawa for 34 years and is with the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club, ended their conversation by giving McMenamin his business card, in case Murdoch and Cheesbrough wanted any advanced coaching.

"When I gave him my card, his mouth just dropped," Heikkila recalled. "He said: 'I took a clinic from you 23 years ago. You're the guy who got me coaching. I still use your notes.'"

As a coach, that's a gold-medal moment and one of the many examples of why the City of Ottawa selected Heikkila earlier this month as the winner of the Brian Kilrea Award for Excellence in Coaching.

Trained to be a teacher but never reaching the classroom, Heikkila used his communication skills and ability to understand young people to instruct in the realm of javelin.

A retired Sport Canada consultant, Heikkila has coached at the Olympic, Commonwealth and Pan Am games, served as a master coach for two years, and participated in more than 100 provincial, national and international clinics.

"His staying power ... is his knowledge of the event," said Ottawa's Pat Reid, who also was recognized by the city for his more than 30 years of service to recreation and sports, including organizing the Ottawa Citizen Indoor Games and the annual Ottawa Sport Festival as well as winning the bid for the 2006 Ontario Summer Games.

Born in Toronto 60 years ago to Finnish parents, Heikkila learned the basics of track and field and gymnastics through the volunteer coaches at the Yritys Athletic Club.

As a high school student, he gravitated to the javelin, which was natural. In Finland, javelin is a high priority sporting event. The proof is found in the lengthy list of Olympic and world championship medallists.

After throwing 66 metres in South Porcupine, Ont., he wrote a letter to Toronto fitness guru Lloyd Percival, who helped him gain a scholarship to the University of Oregon, one of the hotbeds of track and field in the United States under renowned coach Bill Bowerman. In his senior year, he placed second at the 1967 NCAA championships.

"Lloyd Percival had a TV show called Sports College on Saturday mornings," Heikkila recalled. "I tuned in one Saturday and he was showing 16-mm loop films of some of the best javelin throwers.

"I was mesmerized seeing the best athletes throwing the javelin. I phoned Lloyd Percival and asked to meet him."

Later in his career, which included a 23rd-place finish at the 1968 Olympics, Heikkila met two of the greatest Finnish javelin throwers -- 1964 Olympic champion Pauli Nevala and 1968 Olympic silver medallist Jorma Kinnunen.

After a dreadful competition at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, he flew to Finland to see a major track and field meet. Not knowing where to go in Helsinki when he landed and carrying his javelins, a policeman, thinking he was there for the meet, drove him to the athlete's residence.

He hooked up with Kinnunen, who invited him to stay for a 10-day training camp.

The experience greatly improved his understanding of the sport, which he has used to coach hundreds of javelin throwers in Ottawa and across Canada.

"It's a very obscure sport, but it's a lot of fun," Heikkila said. "I love the event."

While Heikkila qualified for the 1968 Olympics with a Canadian record toss of 78.40 metres, he knew his athletic ability wouldn't take him to a Games medal. Janis Lusis of the Soviet Union won the gold medal at 90.10 metres.

But he certainly has the ability as a coach.

When the Ottawa 67's finish their hockey season later this month at the Memorial Cup, Heikkila would like to go to lunch with head coach Brian Kilrea, who's considered the greatest coach in Canadian major junior history.

He'd like to get to know the man behind his coaching award. Heikkila missed the awards ceremony because he was committed to a trip to New York City.

The former Toronto Marlies midget player would love to talk to Kilrea about hockey, the Detroit Red Wings (his favourite NHL team) and why he thinks Gordie Howe is the greatest player of the game.

It could be a long lunch between two legendary coaches. Maybe they should make it dinner, so you don't feel rushed.

© The Ottawa Citizen, Reprinted With Permission.