Bruce Kidd is congratulated by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson after being invested into the Order of Canada at a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa Friday June 10, 2005. Kidd devoted his life to eradicating sexism and racism in sporting communities around the world.(CP PHOTO/Tom Hanson)TOM HANSON/The Canadian Press
Bruce Kidd steps down as the Dean of the physical and health education faculty of the University of Toronto at the end of June, after 19 years as the chief gym boss at Canada's biggest university and what has been argued should be Canada's top sports school.
As a record-setting distance runner, Kidd left pursuers behind. This time, Kidd leaves a legacy. The celebrations accompanying Kidd's departure have included tributes and a symposium held in his honour, covering some of the hallmark issues of his tenure - the struggle against barriers in sport, and social emancipation that comes with the ideal level playing field.
But the implications of Kidd's legacy will echo through the hallowed halls of the school. Has he been a champion of the Olympics and the revival of track and field in Toronto? Was it Kidd who closed the door on the football's Toronto Argonauts returning to a rebuilt stadium at Varsity? Did he preside over the embarrassing deterioration of inter-university sport during his tenure at the U of T?
Kidd wore both the togs of the jock and robes of the academic as an Olympian and Commonwealth Games medalist. He set records as a distance runner as a competitor, but he spent more years walking a tightrope as the man on the line when the University of Toronto's high academic standards meant that top football and basketball talents wound up playing at other schools.
His most visible legacy at U of T is the rebuilt Varsity Centre - what he calls "a showcase," particularly for the sport he excelled in, track and field - which could have been become instead a 25,000-seat stadium for the CFL's Argonauts to play in. Instead, U of T rejected the football stadium proposal five years ago, leaving the Argos to play at the Rogers Centre - a stadium too cavernous for their crowds. In Montreal, meantime, the rival Montreal Alouettes had moved into Molson Stadium on McGill University's campus where they play regularly in front of capacity crowds, amidst a great atmosphere.
"[Former]president [Frank]Iacobucci made the best decision for the University. And I do not accept that the purpose of a public university is to create facilities for commercial sport. That would have been nice to have but it was never a 'need to have,' "Kidd said.
The old Varsity Stadium was razed in 2002. The Argonauts and Canadian Soccer Association were interested in setting up shop on the downtown Toronto site and had offered to help build a new stadium. Financing of $80-million was to have consisted of $35-million from the federal and provincial governments, $30-million in borrowing by U of T and $15-million from private donations. The Argos would have managed the stadium and paid interest costs on the school's $30-million in loans. The smaller venue was built at about half the cost, borne by the university.
"It was too bad we were never able to build the joint football stadium at Varsity. I think it could have been spectacular for the Argos, the CFL and the city," said Keith Pelley, executive VP of strategic planning for ctvglobemedia, and formerly president of the Argos.
The Varsity Centre, with a capacity of about 6,000, is too small to attract world-class events. The larger version could have held CFL games, Toronto FC soccer games and other track and soccer events. It could have been a location for Pan American Games track and soccer events. Taxpayers wouldn't have been saddled with the cost to build BMO Field or a new Pan Am stadium in Hamilton, and the school could have recouped some of the costs by selling naming rights.
"The interim president lasted for six months but his legacy of a failed world-class stadium will last forever," a CFL source said. "Kidd was completely hamstrung. He was heartbroken when the 'real' stadium wasn't built. The small stadium that U of T built is a huge waste of money and valuable real estate."
Kidd admits the bigger civic stadium format was closer to his heart "given my personal history," he said in an interview.
"What we have created benefits thousands of students, Ontario and Canadian high-performance athletes, school children ... in ways that showcase the joys of physical activity and sport to passersby," Kidd said. There were days for national track championships, and provincial athletes preparing for the Canada Games and schoolchildren from across Ontario. "None of that would have been possible with a locked-up civic stadium," Kidd said.
"So the 'fallback' has become a jewel, a Chariots-of-Fire type stadium.
"I could have lived with and done important things with either option. ... In a long and somewhat tumultuous process, in which I took my lumps as much as anyone else, the university took the decision that it no longer wanted to provide that large-capacity civic stadium in Toronto."
Varsity Centre has a state-of-the-art track and an air-inflated bubble for had weather. "And instead of spending our money and our scarce land on seats, we've provided a much bigger footprint for kicking and running and throwing and jumping," Kidd said.
U of T has shifted emphasis to intramural sport during Kidd's tenure, and to an extensive inter-university sport program at the cost of excelling in higher profile teams.
"What I've fought for is participation in sport and physical activity," Kidd said. "It continues to be an essential part of the broad education of the university, even when courses are no longer compulsory for all students.
"I've left a program that is 46 sports strong and counting, and sport that is gender equitable."