He's battling Lou Gehrig's disease. Billy Swan
 

Swan was tough in several sports
He's battling Lou Gehrig's disease. Park Ex group honouring him at reunion by making donation to ALS Society

IAN MACDONALD, The Gazette
Published: Saturday, June 16, 2007

Throughout a multi-sport career as a young man, Billy Swan earned the reputation of being a tough guy.

That doesn't mean he went around looking for fights, though he could finish most of those that did start. Rather, it referred to the fact the Park Extension product was a rugged competitor, whether playing football, baseball or hockey. He was equally competitive at swimming, running or golf.

Fifty years later, the tough-guy tag still fits.


If I slur, don't be shy to tell me to repeat myself," Swan, 72, said during a recent telephone conversation from his daughter's home in South Carolina. "It's okay. I understand."

When back pains began interfering with his active lifestyle 10 years ago, Swan went for extensive testing at the Mayo clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. It is a rapidly progressive and fatal neuromuscular disease.

For years, Swan has been confined to a wheelchair.

"But I'm okay," he said. "My speech is slow and I can't walk a lick because I have no balance."

He chuckled, before adding: "The sports still help."

"My wife (Toni) wheels me out to the backyard and tips me into the pool," he added. "I swim a bit and then hang on to the side and do some leg exercises. I get awful tired real quick, but it takes away a lot of the pain."

Swan played six games with the Alouettes in 1959, near the end of the reign in which coach Peahead Walker had little use for Canadian players. But Swan had a contract for four years, and like several outstanding local players, he'd practise with the big-league Alouettes and then would play for the Lakeshore Alouettes, who were coached by the late Herb Trawick.

"We won the Little Big Four championship in 1957," Swan recalled, "and in 1959, when I played those six games with the Als, I blew my knee. The knee didn't come around completely. The Als cut me and I played with Verdun for a year."

There were feelers from the Ottawa Rough Riders, but Swan said: "I got married instead. That was more stable."

Bill and Toni have three children - two boys and a girl. Michael played football for coach Bruce Coulter at Bishop's University, while Mark played hockey at Bowdoin College.

In his youth, Swan played hockey with the junior Royals.

"Jacques Belanger was the coach," Swan recalled. "We had Eddie Johnson in nets and Scotty Bowman was on the team.

"The next year, they moved me to the Junior Canadiens. They had a 70-game schedule with a lot of travelling. I'd been working at Bell for a few years and didn't want to risk losing the job, so I quit the hockey."

That proved to be a wise decision. During a 38-year career with Bell, Swan spent 51/2 years in Saudi Arabia, where he saved much of his income.

Swan played a lot of baseball in his youth. He was a centre fielder with Park Extension minor and junior teams. After the family moved, he played junior baseball with Town of Mount Royal, and for several years, he was with the Townies in the Atwater Senior Baseball League, which played its games at Atwater Park, the site of Alexis Nihon Plaza.

Swan started a golf career as a teenager, caddying at the old Mount Royal Club, an 18-hole layout that had holes in Park Extension and Town of Mount Royal. He earned the right to play regularly - free in the evenings.

"At one time, I had my handicap in single digits," Swan said. "Even in later years, I could play a pretty decent game."

Friends marvel at the way tough-guy Billy tried to continue playing golf even after the crippling disease had started to take over. Swan's sons would help him take his stance and step back so he could take a swing. They'd stay close to catch him after the swing. And observers say they would have been proud to have made as good a connection with the ball.

Members of the Park Ex Amateur Athletic Association stage periodic reunions at which one of their past members is honoured. Swan is the man of the hour this weekend, with a golf tournament yesterday and today at the Royal Laurentian Golf Club in St. Faustin. A banquet will be held at the club this evening.

Funds collected will be sent to the ALS Society of Quebec in Swan's name.

imacdonald@thegazette.canwest.com