Concordia University’s Peter Regimbald was honoured with the 2018 Gino Fracas Award as the outstanding assistant coach in U SPORTS football at the Vanier Cup gala in Quebec City Thursday evening.
The award was first presented in 1988 and is named for Gino Fracas, a legendary coach who gave selflessly to the universities of Alberta and Windsor. Football Canada selects the annual recipient.
Regimbald is the first person to receive the honour twice. The first time was in 1996.
“Coach Reg” stepped down at the end of the 2018 campaign after 50 seasons with the Loyola Warriors and Concordia Stingers. He started as an assistant coach with former Montreal Alouette legend George Dixon in 1968.
Through his guidance on and off the football field Coach Reg has changed the lives of many young men. He has been a driving force behind the academic success of countless student-athletes, helping them navigate the transition to university academics and go on to graduate.
On the football field he coached most positions, but he spent a good portion of his career as a special teams co-ordinator. Coach Reg’s expertise and contributions are credited with helping Concordia to a record-setting season in 1998. The Stingers finished in first place, won the Dunsmore Cup as the Ontario-Quebec champions and went on to win the Atlantic Bowl, the university’s first ever victory in a bowl game. On the cold, blustery day in Halifax, his special teams won the game with two blocked punts, a fumble recovery for a touchdown and four field goals.
Growing up in Lachine, Que., Coach Reg played football for the Juvenile Lakers before spending four years with the N.D.G. Junior Maple Leafs in the late 1950s and early 60s.
He made it to the professional ranks, suiting up for the Montreal Alouettes in 1964.
