Les Bartley (March 11, 1954 – May 15, 2005) was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
. Bartley led the
Buffalo Bandits
The Buffalo Bandits are a professional box lacrosse
Box lacrosse, also known as boxla, box, or indoor lacrosse, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in Canada in the 1930s, where it is more po ...
to three of their four championships in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League (MILL), and won four more championships with the
Toronto Rock
The Toronto Rock are a professional box lacrosse franchise based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the North Division of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The team was the first Canadian franchise in the NLL. Oakville resident ...
in the renamed
National Lacrosse League
The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United States and five in Canada. The N ...
(NLL). He was named NLL Executive of the Year in 2005.
Personal and early life
Bartley was born in
St. Catharines, Ontario. He attended St. Catharines Collegiate, playing football and lacrosse. After graduating from high school, he worked at the GM plant in St. Catharines, and later became a union official.
Coaching career
Buffalo Bandits
Bartley became the assistant coach of the Bandits in 1992. When the team started off the
1992 season
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the ...
0-3, Bandits head coach Buff McCready was fired, and Bartley was given the job of head coach. He then led the team on a 22-game winning streak and MILL championships in 1992 and 1993. The streak included the entire
1993 season
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
, during which the Bandits were 8-0, the only undefeated season in NLL/MILL history. The streak came to an end on February 19, 1994.
Bartley's only losing season as a professional lacrosse coach came in the
1995 season after going 3-5. In
1996, he coached the Bandits to their third championship in the MILL. After the
1997 season, Les left the Bandits after leading them to a 36-13 record in six seasons.
Toronto Rock
When the MILL became the NLL in 1998, the league added its first
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
franchise
Franchise may refer to:
Business and law
* Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees
* Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...
: the
Ontario Raiders
The Ontario Raiders were a member of the National Lacrosse League during the 1998 NLL season. The franchise was founded as an expansion team in Hamilton, Ontario, and played their home games at Copps Coliseum. Former Buffalo Bandits coach Les B ...
, who played in
Copps Coliseum
FirstOntario Centre (originally Copps Coliseum) is a sports and entertainment arena at the corner of Bay Street North and York Boulevard in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1985, it has a capacity of up to 19,000.
History
Hamilton was lef ...
in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...
. Bartley, a native of nearby St. Catharines, Ontario, helped get the new franchise off the ground. In 1999, the Ontario Raiders moved to Toronto and became the
Toronto Rock
The Toronto Rock are a professional box lacrosse franchise based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the North Division of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The team was the first Canadian franchise in the NLL. Oakville resident ...
. Les coached the Rock to four championships in five years.
Prior to the
2005 season, Bartley lent his labour negotiation expertise to the league, helping the NLL to reach a
collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The i ...
agreement with the NLL
players' association. On May 9, 2005, Bartley was named by the NLL as its
Executive of the Year, and renamed its coach-of-the-year award the Les Bartley Trophy.
Death
In November 2003, Les gave up his role of Coach and General Manager of the Rock to fight
colon cancer, though he maintained the title of Vice-President of the Rock. Bartley retired as a
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
union representative in 2004.
Less than a week later after being named NLL Executive of the Year, Les Bartley died at his home on May 15, 2005 in St. Catharines after his 18-month battle with cancer. Bartley was 51. He died 18 hours after the Toronto Rock won their fifth NLL Championship. He was survived by his wife Gloria and children Matt and Laura.
Legacy
Bartley led the Rock to a 51-19 record in five seasons in the NLL, and 9-1 in the post-season. His overall record of 93-38 (.709) in the regular season is second all-time. Only current Buffalo Bandits coach Darris Kilgour has more. His 18-4 (.818) record in the playoffs is the most wins of any coach in NLL history.
In recognition of Bartley's contribution to the NLL and his success as a coach, the NLL renamed the annual Coach of the Year award as the ''
Les Bartley Award The Les Bartley Award is given annually to the National Lacrosse League head coach of the year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and ...
''. Fittingly, two of the first recipients of the renamed award were Derek Keenan of the Portland Lumberjax in 2006 and Ed Comeau of the Rochester Knighthawks in 2007, both former assistants of Bartley in Toronto.
In June 2005, the National Lacrosse League announced that Bartley would be a Charter member of the
National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame
The National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame was established on June 16, 2005. The National Lacrosse League's board of governors will vote in the Hall of Fame members based on the individual’s record, ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character ...
. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the 2006
NLL All-Star Game in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
.
In March 2007, the Toronto Rock announced a new award in honour of Bartley. The
Les Bartley Award The Les Bartley Award is given annually to the National Lacrosse League head coach of the year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and ...
(not to be confused with the ''Les Bartley Award'' given by the league) will be "given annually to the Rock player that best exemplifies Les' emphasis on the importance of character and commitment to the team".
References
External links
Les's FundRemembering Les(an obituary at the NLL website)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartley, Les
1954 births
2005 deaths
Deaths from colorectal cancer
Sportspeople from Toronto
National Lacrosse League coaches
National Lacrosse League major award winners
Deaths from cancer in Ontario
Toronto Rock coaches
Buffalo Bandits coaches
Lacrosse people from Ontario