For Episode 15, we chat with Stu Lang, a man who has forever changed the University of Guelph for the better with transformational gifts made through his charitable foundation, The Angel Gabriel Foundation. Over the past decade, Stu and his wife Kim have together gifted more $50 million to the University of Guelph, supporting a wide variety of areas on campus. Some of these historical donations made to the University include a $21 million donation to the U of G business school (now named the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, named after Stu's late father); an $11 million gift to U of G's Ontario Veterinary College; and a $10.5 million gift to the Gryphon football program in the form of a state-of-the-art Pavilion at Alumni Stadium.

Stu's decorated career in the business world saw him take a lead role in the family business, serving as President of CCL, Label International - the largest label making corporation in the world. The family business, which started as Lang Lamps back in 1951, has now grown to a multi-billion dollar company with CCL Industries listing annual revenues of $5.3 billion (CDN) in 2019. Stu chats with us about his role with CCL Industries, where he came on board in 1982 following a standout eight-year CFL career with the Edmonton Eskimos where he was a five-time Grey Cup champion. Stu's passion for football led him to the University of Guelph in 2009, when the nearby resident (Puslinch) volunteered as a receivers coach with the Gryphon football program. One year later, Stu would take over head coaching duties, marking the beginning of a phenomenal six-year stretch for the Gryphon football program (2010-to-2015), which was capped off by the Gryphons capturing the 2015 Yates Cup. 

For Episode 14, we catch up with a trio of former Gryphon student-athletes, all of whom have used their varsity experiences at the University of Guelph as a launching pad for success when it comes to making the jump to the professional sporting ranks in their respective disciplines.
 
Todd Winder, a dynamic forward on the Guelph Gryphons men's hockey team, recently signed a pro contract in Sweden with Vimmerby HC. Todd spent a total of three seasons as a Gryphon while majoring in management economics and finance, and was named an OUA West First Team All-Star in 2019-20 after finishing tied for 3rd in the OUA in scoring with 39 points in 28 games played. The Uxbridge native capped his Gryphon career back in March of 2020 by helping lead the Gryphons men's hockey team to their seventh OUA title in program history. 

Zarko Ubiparip also majored in management economics and finance during his three seasons as a Gryphon, where he starred on the Gryphons men's volleyball program. In each of his three seasons, Zarko was recognized at the conference level, including being named an OUA West First Team All-Star in 2019-20, where he helped the Gryphons reach the OUA Men's Volleyball Final Four. Zarko has recently signed a pro contract in Serbia with OK Ribnica Kraljevo.

Valerie Lamenta, one of the most decorated women’s hockey players in the history of the University of Guelph, joins us to chat about her experience playing professional hockey overseas last season in Hungary (where she led her pro team, KHM Budapest, to a championship in Europe). During her five-year career with the Gryphons women’s hockey program, Val was a three-time OUA champion, and also led our women's hockey program to their first ever national title in 2018-19. Val was also the first Gryphons women’s hockey player ever to be named the national player of the year, receiving the prestigious U SPORTS Brodrick Trophy during her sophomore season. A mechanical engineering major during her time at Guelph, Val is now pursuing her Masters in her hometown of Montreal at McGill University.

Val, Zarko and Todd join us to chat about their journey from Gryphons to the pro ranks!

For Episode 13, we chat with Dr. Tim O'Shea, a leading expert in the field of infectious diseases.

From 1994-to-1997, Tim studied biomedical sciences at the University of Guelph and played for four seasons on our Guelph Gryphons men’s rugby team. After graduating from U of G, he completed medical degree at McMaster, while also earning his Masters of Public Health from Harvard University. He is trained in internal medicine, infectious diseases and medical microbiology at McMaster (and is Royal College certified in each of these disciplines). Tim O’Shea has traveled and worked extensively in East Africa in both general internal medicine and infectious diseases. He is currently an Assistant Professor in McMaster’s Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases.

Dr. O’Shea has done some truly inspiring medical work in the Hamilton area, including spearheading a program called “HamSmart” (Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team), while also serving as an integral part of the “Shelter Health Network." Both programs aim to serve people living in the Hamilton who have no family doctor, who are homeless or precariously housed, and who have complex health and social needs (links below for more info).

Dr. O'Shea generously takes time from his busy schedule to stop by the Gryph Nation Radio podcast to chat with us about his outstanding medical career while also weighing in on a variety of COVID-19 related topics. Tim also looks back fondly on his time as a student-athlete at the University of Guelph during the mid-to-late 1990's. 

For Episode 12, we chat with Chantique Carey-Payne, the head coach of our Guelph Gryphon varsity swim teams.
 
As a student-athlete at the University of Guelph from 2007-to-2011, Chantique established herself as one of the greatest swimmers in school history, racking up seven OUA gold medals as well as a CIS (now U SPORTS) gold medal during the 2009-10 season (50m butterfly), making her just the fourth women’s swimmer in Gryphon history to top the podium at the national level.
 
After a sensational varsity career, Chantique seamlessly transitioned into coaching, serving as an assistant coach for our varsity swim teams for two years, before taking over head coach duties in 2017.
 
Towards the end of the podcast, we ask Chantique about some of her favourite moments from her outstanding Gryphon career, but we start our conversation with some more important and pressing issues as Chantique opens up to us about the racial and social injustice movements which have reached historic heights here in 2020.
 
She talks about some of the challenges she faced growing up as a black athlete in the predominantly white sport of swimming. And she offers us some insight into what some of her messaging has been to her current student-athletes when it comes to addressing some of the very difficult questions we’re currently facing when it comes to combating racism in our society.

For Episode 11, we chat with one of the newest members of our Gryphon family as we connect with longtime NHL linesman Scott Driscoll.

Scott recently announced his retirement from the NHL after working an incredible 28 seasons as an NHL linesman. The native of Seaforth, Ontario is now set to join the Gryphons women's hockey team as an assistant coach.

With one of the most decorated officiating careers under his belt, Scott's incredible resumé includes a total of 2,032 NHL games (1,847 regular season games, 185 playoff games), three Stanley Cup Finals (2004, 2007 & 2014) and two Winter Classics (2014 Leafs/Red Wings in Ann Arbor, Michigan and the 2020 Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl in Texas between Dallas and Nashville). His first NHL game was back in 1992, with the last game of his remarkable NHL officiating career coming on March 10, 2020 in Toronto when the Leafs hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Scott shares some incredible stories from his nearly three decades with a front row seat to the very best hockey players in the world, and also chats with us about his upcoming transition into the coaching ranks as the latest addition to the Guelph Gryphons women's hockey program.

For Episode 10, we chat with our Director of Athletics at the University of Guelph, Scott McRoberts.
 
It has been four and a half years on the job for Scott, who took over as A.D. of the Gryphons back in March of 2016. He has spent more than 15 years in strategic management and fundraising with universities, national sport organizations and municipalities throughout North America.

Prior to arriving at Guelph, Scott served as the Director of Athletics and Recreation at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus and helped lead the development of the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre (a 365,000 sq. ft. world class athletic and recreational facility) and the UTSC Tennis Centre (a brand new 8-court high performance facility) for the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am games.

Throughout his career, Scott has worn lots of different hats, including a teacher at both the university and college level. He also currently serves as the Associate Director for the International Institute for Sport Business and Leadership through the University of Guelph’s Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics. After earning a degree in Sport Management at Brock University during his days as an undergrad, Scott went south of the border, completing his Masters of Sport Management at the University of San Francisco, before working at several different institutions in California, including Stanford University and San Jose State University. Scott stops by the podcast to provide some Gryphon COVID-19 updates regarding the re-opening of our facilities, while also addressing a wide range of topics regarding our Gryphon community.

For Episode 9 of our Gryph Nation Radio podcast, we chat with one of the most recognizable figures in Gryphon Athletics in men's basketball head coach, Chris O'Rourke.

The 2020-21 season marks Chris O’Rourke’s 24th season in charge of the men’s basketball program at the University of Guelph.
 
As the longest-tenured head coach in OUA men’s basketball, Chris O’Rourke has served as the driving force behind some of the greatest moments in Gryphons basketball history.
 
In 2003, he coached the Gryphons to the OUA West divisional title and would lead them to a silver medal at both the conference and national championships. During the 2005-06 season, O’Rourke became just the third Gryphon coach ever to be named OUA West Coach of the year (joining Tim Darling, 1989-90, 1994-95 and Gib Chapman, 1979-80, 1980-81).
 
During his tenure as head coach of the Gryphons, Chris O’Rourke has had 21 players named OUA all-stars, two OUA Rookie of the Year recipients, one OUA MVP and two players named All-Canadians.
 
"Coach O" shares some memorable stories from his legendary tenure while also diving into some of his coaching experience outside of the Gryphon program, which includes memorable stints with the Canadian national junior team. 

For Episode 8 of our Gryph Nation Radio podcast, we check in with a pair of current Gryphon student-athletes in Victoria Hinchliffe and A.J. Chase.

Victoria is a senior on the Gryphons women's soccer team who has put together one of the most decorated careers in program history. The human kinetics major has earned All-Canadian status in each of her past two seasons (First Team in 2018, Second Team in 2019) and was a key piece of the Gryphons women's soccer team that captured the first OUA title in program history during the 2017 season. 

A.J. Chase is a receiver on the Gryphon football team who is set to enter his fourth year at U of G in 2020. The management economics and finance major hails from Montreal and is on the radars of several CFL teams after being invited to take part in the 2020 U SPORTS East West Bowl this past spring (prior to the event being cancelled). Both Victoria and A.J. provide updates on how the cancellation of university sports in 2020 has impacted their respective situations, while also offering some insight into what the future might hold for these two impact players in the Gryphon varsity family

For Episode 7 of our Gryph Nation Radio podcast, we chat with Dr. Scott VanBommel, a former goalie with the Guelph Gryphons men’s hockey team, who now makes a living south of the border in Missouri where he works as a physicist and planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis.

Scott spent parts of four seasons (2008-09 to 2011-2012) with the Gryphons men’s hockey team, suiting up for the Gryphs during the final two years of his undergrad, as well as the first two years of his Masters (in Physics).

While part of the men’s hockey program, Scott also contributed to a University of Guelph research team (led by Professor Ralf Gellert) that designed and calibrated an instrument called an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, or APXS for short. This instrument was carried to Mars aboard the Mars rovers, Opportunity and Curiosity. The instrument, which is located on the arm of the Mars rovers, is used to measure the composition of rocks on Mars.
 
Scott’s incredible career has multiple highlights, including a 2018 NASA-funded expedition to Antarctica in search of meteorites. The former Gryphons men’s hockey goalie also came incredibly close to earning the prestigious title of Canadian astronaut as, for just the third time in the past 25 years, the Canadian Space Agency sent out a recruitment call for astronauts. Out of a pool of over 4,000 applicants, Scott was one of the finalists for the coveted position, ultimately finishing somewhere in the range between the final 30-to-70 candidates in the Canadian Space Agency’s search for their next astronaut. Scott provides us with some terrific insight into the whole astronaut selection process and also reflects on his time at the University of Guelph and explains how his athletic background has set him up for ­success in his current career as a physicist and planetary scientist.­

For Episode 6, we chat with Jennifer Sygo ---- a Registered Dietitian and Sports Nutritionist at Cleveland Clinic Canada --- who has some strong Gryphon roots! After having completed her Masters of Science from the University of Guelph, specializing in Nutrition, Exercise, and Metabolism, Jennifer has gone on to put together a sensational career, working alongside some of the biggest sporting teams and organizations in our country.

She’s the Performance Nutritionist for the Toronto Raptors and has also worked with players from the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Marlies, as well as multiple Olympians through her work with Athletics Canada and Gymnastics Canada!

She’s not only a registered dietician and sports nutritionist, she’s also a professional speaker and author who was a whole lot of fun to talk to!

Jennifer shares some great stories from her time with the Raptors (including being IN the championship parade!) at both the beginning and end of the podcast, while also sharing a bunch of entertaining and informative stories in between. Please enjoy – Episode 6 of Gryph Nation Radio with the Performance Nutritionist of the NBA Champion Toronto Raptors, Jennifer Sygo!