Sheridan athletic director to be inducted into Brampton Sports Hall of Fame

As a young athlete growing up in neighbouring Streetsville, Jim Flack counted Brampton among his biggest rivals. Now, he’s going down in history as one of the Flower City’s most prominent and influential sports figures.

Sheridan’s long-time athletic director and men’s basketball coach will be one of this year’s inductees into the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame, going into the Hall in the Builder – Basketball category. Flack, two-time Olympic boxer Troy Amos Ross, former national women’s hockey team player Catherine White, decorated track and field coach Frank Bucca, renowned minor hockey coach Homer Duguay and a team of eight Brampton firefighters that won combat challenge world championships in 1996, 1998 and 1999 will officially be welcomed into the Hall during an induction ceremony May 9 at The Rose Theatre.

“This is a tremendous honour, but it’s also very humbling. So many people made sacrifices in order to help me get to this point of my career that it’s impossible to acknowledge them all,” says Flack. “For a guy who doesn’t like the limelight, I sure picked a strange career, but I didn’t become a coach and athletic director because I was seeking honours and recognition. I just loved the process.”

A recipient of 11 Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) coach-of-the-year awards, Flack has overseen men’s basketball at Sheridan since 1993 — when he became the youngest intercollegiate basketball head coach in the country. Under Flack, the Bruins have claimed four Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) silver medals (2019, 2017, 2006 and 2001), 11 OCAA championships and six provincial silvers, posting a .734 winning percentage (749-271) during that span. Flack, who coached basketball, baseball and track and field at Brampton’s North Park Secondary School before his time at Sheridan, was named the CCAA’s coach of the year in 2002.

Flack has also had a profound impact on the Brampton sports community since becoming Sheridan’s athletic director in 2000. He founded Sheridan’s Sky Blue Endowment Fund that annually awards more than $100,000 in athletic scholarships to deserving student-athletes; created the first full-time student-athlete advisor position within the OCAA; designed an academic course that helps first-year varsity student-athletes transition to postsecondary studies; led planning, organization and execution of renovations to the Davis Campus Athletic Complex in 2004; and has ensured gender equity in Sheridan’s varsity athletics program, which currently fields six men’s teams and six women’s squads.

Outside of Sheridan, Flack spent nearly a decade serving on the board of Physical Lifestyles for Autistic Youth (PLAY), a Brampton-based non-profit agency dedicated to facilitating the wellbeing of families living with autism; was an executive of the Brampton Senior Men’s Basketball League; and ran the Jim Flack Basketball Academy, a non-profit designed to provide low-cost access to high quality sport for Brampton youth.

Quotes

“Jim is a dedicated leader who has demonstrated a genuine commitment to gender equity and inclusivity in sport, something reflected in his hiring practices and programming priorities. Jim truly ‘walks the walk’ and leads with integrity. When I started at Sheridan five years ago, I was particularly struck by his focus on developing student-athletes who could see their path beyond sport as citizens and professionals — this, in fact, is what true educators do.” — Dr. Janet Morrison, Sheridan President and Vice Chancellor

“Jim is a builder who lives by a code of service, leadership, striving for excellence and integrity. As an avid volunteer in Brampton, he is fiercely passionate about advancing inclusion and access to athletics within his community, and as our Director of Athletics, he is responsible for shaping, nurturing and growing Sheridan’s school spirit to what it is today. From local high school gyms to community basketball courts to Sheridan’s campuses, Jim Flack’s transformational impact in Brampton is second to none.” — Maria Lucido Bezely, Sheridan Dean of Students

“While Jim's coaching records and winning percentage are remarkable, it is the work he does with youth that makes him so deserving of this recognition. Jim uses sport as a pathway to education, instilling the values of hard work, perseverance and citizenship. Largely recruiting from the Brampton area, Jim has worked with countless young athletes and their families to use sport as access to education and success beyond graduation.” — Sunand Sharma, Sheridan Associate Dean of Student Affairs

“Study. Compete. Graduate. Succeed. Many know that as the Bruins mantra, I know it to also be Jim’s battle cry — an expression of his core values, and the foundation he has invested a career into building. Foremost, he is an educator, who has chosen the sector of sport as his classroom. He has carefully designed a model that not only champions sport for young adults, but also fosters their development into being good citizens.” — Nadeka Boothe, Sheridan Athletics and Recreation Business Operations Manager

To learn more about Sheridan's athletics programming and initiatives, please visit the Sheridan Bruins website