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

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 ...

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

. 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

(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 Fund

Remembering 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