Professor Merv Mosher, senior lecturer and former women’s volleyball coach in York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science, has been recognized by the Government of Ontario and the Sport Alliance of Ontario with a Syl Apps Special Achievement Award for volunteer work on behalf of the Ontario Volleyball Association.
Right: Far right, Merv Mosher accepts Syl Apps Award along with fellow recipients, from left, Steve Robinson and Joe Sheffer, representing the Town of Cobourg which was given a Corporate Award for its Beach Volleyball events.
The award was presented at the 38th Ontario Sport Awards ceremony at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto on April 7. The Syl Apps Special Achievement Award, named after the legendary Toronto Maple Leaf captain and 1936 Olympian, honours Ontario’s best sport volunteers and administrators. Mr. Apps also sat in the Ontario Legislature (1971-1975) and was a life-long campaigner for Ontario’s young people and for healthy living.
Mosher, a York alumnus (MA '80) and associate director of undergraduate studies in Kinesiology & Health Science, was inducted into York’s Sport Hall of Fame in 2002. He has won 10 Coach-of-the-Year Awards from the Ontario Women's Interuniversity Athletic Association (OWIAA) and was named Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union (CIAU), Coach of the Year in 1984-1985.
From 1979 to 1997 Mosher led the York women’s team to 192 wins, with only 17 losses, and they appeared in 18 consecutive OWIAA Championship tournaments. The team won 13 Conference Championships and finished either second or third in five others. Mosher also guided the team to 13 CIAU Championship appearances where they won a total of five bronze medals.
This article was submitted to YFile by Jim McLarty, sport & recreation information officer for York's School of Kinesiology & Health Science.