Canadian Squash Community Mourns the Loss of Paul Marley
by Kevin Kydd, Squash BC March 9, 2014
- It is with a heavy heart that we inform the Squash Community that we
have lost one of the great ones this week. After an eighteen
month battle with cancer, Paul Marley passed away peacefully on
Thursday afternoon. The family will be hosting: “A Celebration of
Life” at the Evergreen Squash Club on Saturday, March 15 at 4 pm. Paul’s passing leaves
a big hole in squash both within British Columbia and the world. Paul
was the ultimate positive force anytime he was near a squash court.
From playing in various Masters Championships to bringing squash
players to BC from all over the world, his incredible enthusiasm for
the sport of squash will be remembered worldwide.
Paul’s squash
playing career took him to many national championships in North
America. A tremendous player, he was one of those guys that when you
saw his name in your draw various words would come to mind, not all of
them printable. Paul was incredibly competitive but win or lose, the
opponent would be greeted with a huge smile and handshake few would
forget.
To say Paul loved the
game of squash would be an understatement. Paul’s main complaint about
squash was that he didn’t find it earlier in life. However the amount
of time Paul did spend playing sure helped the rest of the squash
world; Paul decided he needed to give something back to the game he
loved once the “ol’ hips” slowed him down more than he liked.
He gave back by
organizing a PSA event at the Evergreen Squash Club, taking it from a
$5,000 event to a $50,000 event in eight years. Paul had a following of
professional squash players who went out of their way to make it to his
tournament as many times as possible. Once they came to the event, they
would come back year after year. When those players walked into
Evergreen Club for the tournament, they were welcomed by Paul and made
to feel like they’d come home. Our Province was incredibly lucky to
have a world class organizer like Paul put squash in BC on the map.
The last few
years saw Paul being presented with well deserved awards commemorating
his service to sport, and in particular to squash. In 2011 Paul was
given Squash BC’s highest volunteer honour, the Jack Larsen Award. (top
picture.) 2013 Paul was presented with both the Sport BC President’s
Award, (middle picture with wife Marnie) and the Queen’s Jubilee award,
(seen with Premier Christy Clark).
Paul is survived by
his wife Marnie, their sons Jason & Ryan, and every squash player
in the world. We all owe Paul a debt of gratitude for bringing his
style of squash, enthusiasm, and energy to all our lives. Paul will be
missed.
