What a great loss to our field! Condolences to his family. When I was being mentored by number2 - I had a number of chances to hear Charlie speak when Derek brought him in for conferences and clinics. His knowledge on the human body’s adaptation to training stimuli was truly phenomenal - whether it pertained to track or any other sport. His influence will be felt in the strength & conditioning world for decades to come. He has even had a large influence on the leading scorer in the current NHL playoffs:
Cammalleri remains a Francis fan - Chris Stevenson (Toronto Sun)
PITTSBURGH - He still has the hand-written notes, the regimen that is almost commonplace now, but was unheard of then.
Mike Cammalleri didn’t know Charlie Francis had passed away until he was asked about the controversial track coach’s impact on his life after Wednesday’s Game 7 victory by the Montreal Canadiens over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“Really? No…he did?” asked Cammalleri, who scored what turned out to be the game winner in the Canadiens 5-2 slaying of the defending Stanley Cup champions, Cammalleri a big part of the biggest story of these playoffs.
“My thoughts go out to him and his family. It was a pleasure to have met such a genius in my lifetime. He was one of the ultimate geniuses when it came to training and the human body.”
Francis passed away at the age of 61 after a five-year battle with cancer, the controversy surrounding him not dissuading Leo Cammalleri from wanting Francis to take his then 10-year-old son under his wing.
Most of the media crush had left the Canadiens tiny dressing room at the Igloo after the game and the bus and the plane back to Montreal were waiting, but Cammalleri settled back onto the bench.
“You want to hear the story?” he asked.
When Cammalleri was that 10-year-old and playing for the Toronto Red Wings, he and his dad would go to the Golden Griddle at Finch and Dufferin in Toronto and, one morning shortly after the Seoul Olympics and the fallout of the Ben Johnson scandal, Leo Cammalleri recognized Francis and approached him.
He asked Francis to consider training his son, but Francis, eyeing the little 10-year-old, said he was too young.
“Read my book,” he said to Leo Cammalleri, referring to “Speed Trap,” “and bring him back when he’s 14 or 15.”
Leo Cammalleri didn’t forget it. When Mike got to that age, he met Francis at his house and they went to a neighbourhood park.
“Back then, everybody was running 10 miles to train for hockey. Nobody was sprinting, working on their explosiveness or their speed,” said Cammalleri. “He was kind of tentative to give out his knowledge after what had happened, but he taught me the fundamentals I still use today, to try a different way for a hockey player. I sprinted with all his guys during the summers, even Ben a little bit. Now it’s the norm among the cream of the crop.”
When Cammalleri signed with the Habs, Francis became a fan of the Canadiens and watched Cammalleri help power the Canadiens’ run against the Penguins.
He watched that little 10-year-old he had first seen in that pancake spot become the hottest stick in these playoffs and could know that he had a hand in helping Cammalleri become a crucial part of what has become the biggest story in these playoffs.
Thanks in large part to Cammalleri’s playoffs-leading 12 goals, the Canadiens have upset the Presidents Trophy-winning Washington Capitals and the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby.
It is starting to smell like 1993 now, the last time the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup, when the favourites fell early and a path to the final opened up for the Habs.
This time, however, it is the Canadiens who are paving their own way.
Cammalleri finished his story and stood up from the bench, friends waiting to say hello and celebrate another stunning win by the Canadiens.
He paused on his way to the door.
“You mention Charlie Francis to the best trainers in the world and they have a lot of respect for him,” said Cammalleri, who said he last spoke to Francis two summers ago.
“I still have my book of workouts. Still use them. He told me what to do and I wrote it down.”
Now Cammalleri is helping the Habs write a wonderful story, the end still wonderfully unknown.
Charlie Francis went knowing he had a hand in a part of the beginning.
Cammalleri remains a Francis fan
