Leo Rautins Announced as Writer of Forward 




 

Putting together a project like A Hero’s Journey: From Little Norway to Olympia Sports Camp there are so many people and so many stories to put into the book under the heading of coach, staff, A week at Olympia, The Soul of Olympia, that makes it a fun challenge to piece it all together. But to figure out who to ask to write the forward to the book, the list is very short.

 

It is a list of one: Leo Rautins

 

Leo Rautins has a basketball resume unlike anyone else in Canadian history.  He has been the colour commentator and media personality for the Raptors since day 1 in 1995. He played for the national team for 15 years and coached our national team from 2005-2011.  He was drafted in the first round of the NBA draft in 1983 and played professional basketball for almost a decade. He  was inducted into the Canadian basketball Hall of Fame in 1997. 

 

But first and foremost, Leo is an Olympia lifer.

 

 For Leo to agree to write the forward of the book has me excited and grateful. I see it as Leo’s way to honour Olympia and its director Dave Grace and all he has done for hundreds, including Leo. Also, it’s to honour the memory of the coach who helped give his journey a starting point. 

 

Leo has been a camper at Olympia. He was on Team Ontario when they trained at Olympia. His High School coach, Dan Prendergast, was an Olympia original. Coach P got Leo a job in the tuck shop at camp. Leo has been a favourite guest speaker at Olympia for years. His perspective is very unique.

 

Leo was a standout high school player at St Mikes in Toronto and was, at the time, the youngest member of the Senior Men’s National team at 16. Ironically Leo was the Head Coach of the National team when his record as youngest ever was broken by another Olympian Kevin Pangos. 

 

After high school, the 6.8” Leo went to the University of Minnesota for a year but wanted more and transferred to Syracuse where he was honourable mention All American his senior year and majored in broadcast journalism. For his efforts at Syracuse Leo was named to the Syracuse all-century team in 2000.

 

Leo was drafted in the first round of the 1983 NBA draft by Philadelphia, but injuries curtailed his NBA chances. He was traded to Indiana, released, then signed by Atlanta in November and elected not to play in order to be home for the birth of his first son. He started the 1985 season in Rome. He did the colour commentary for the 1984 Olympics for CBC. He returned to his passion and played professionally In Italy, France, and Spain as well as the CBA and the D-league over the next 8 years. 

On a personal note, Leo was very gracious in helping me with content in my first book Can’t Miss: The Kevin Pangos Story. Leo has already been interviewed for this book. I appreciate his commitment to helping me and helping grow the love of sport in this country. 

Leo’s involvement in this book takes it to a WHOLE OTHER LEVEL. Thanks Leo

 

The link to the blog is TuesdayswithDave.blogspot.com


This blog is about the journey of the writing of the book A Hero's Journey: From Little Norway to Olympia Sports Camp. The blog will contain excerpts from the book and my personal thoughts on what the place and the people that make up Olympia's journey is all about. The title comes from the great book Tuesdays With Morrie, by Mitch Albom. The blog's title is recognizing Dave Grace as Camp Director, but all content is my own.

 

 

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