Fraser Lake Cougars celebrates life-long volunteer John Stafford

Stafford has an abundance of accomplishments, but most notably Stafford has spent 53 years officiating the game of basketball at the high school level. So to thank him, the school is putting his officiating jersey up in the gym.

“The reason I started was there were no referees in Fraser Lake,” he explained. “I started from that and I enjoyed it. A lot of the reason I did it was so we would have referees here and we could have a program.”

Fraser Lake Elementary Secondary School Principal Bria Cross says this was something the school had been planning for a number of years.

“Celebrating John’s time in the school is something we started planning with our parent advisory committee right before COVID hit. We wanted to retire his number essentially with a refs jersey up on the wall. He’s reffed for the school, coached for the school, he’s been one of the team drivers. In fact, our current senior boy’s coach, Gary Senner, was in Grade 8 in 1972 and remembers being on John’s team.

“He’s been a great mentor for the kids. He’s been a great role model,” said Senner. “He was a great teacher. After 53 years, I’ve never heard of somebody volunteering that long and that consistent, and being that involved in the community of a school.”

While 50 plus years of volunteer work may seem like a lot, countless bus rides across the province as well, Stafford insists he’s not done yet.

by Ethan Ready

Fraser Lake Cougars celebrates life-long volunteer John Stafford

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