I am in shock and so saddened. My heart and prayers go out to his family and friends. And thank you for your contribution to everyone you ever helped in anyway.
Tearful farewell at Francis’ funeral
By STEVE SIMMONS, QMI Agency
One by one, the legends of a Canadian sporting era gone by made their way into the church on Mount Pleasant: Ben Johnson and Angella Issajenko; Milt Ottey and Mark McKoy; Desai Williams and France Gareau.
All of them there to say goodbye to Charlie.
Their Charlie.
Charlie Francis didn’t need his last name. Around the world, around his world, everyone knew him simply by his first name.
The coach unlike any before him or since: Maybe the most successful, certainly the most vilified, probably the most controversial, definitely the brightest coach in the history of Canadian amateur sport.
As his brother, Barry pointed out in the first of three eulogies Monday, Charlie would have appreciated the sellout crowd at his funeral.
He would have appreciated who was there and who wanted to be there. The church was full of athletes, current and former. Many of them sharing stories, smiles and tears.
Charlie Francis lived a complicated life in a complicated time. There are those who can and will link him only to the steroid scandal of 1988, the Canadian sporting moment of that century.
And that is unfortunate.
Some will point to the Paul Henderson goal as the great Canadian moment or more recently the Sidney Crosby but for drama, intrigue, emotion, national celebration turned to angst and anger, those few days from Seoul in 1988 will never be duplicated:
Ben Johnson wins and Ben Johnson loses and after that you couldn’t mention Charlie’s name without some kind of reaction.
He was central to the story, the scorn, the shock, and for his part, he was sentenced to life from the coaching authorities in Canada, a punishment he never chose to challenge.
Only he never stopped coaching.
It was who he was and what he did.
He was so much more than the Charlie The Chemist nickname he was pegged with.
And as the Rev. Eleanor Clitheroe said he lived a life of significance, defined not by his own success, but by what he has given to others. What is apparent, was apparent, was Charlie didn’t die from heart failure. His heart was too large, too giving. Cancer took him at age 61. But ask anyone about him Monday, and they will tell stories of how much he gave, even when he didn’t have enough for himself.
Charlie didn’t care if he was training me, or Mike Cammalleri or Tie Domi or a world champion sprinter, or the 15-year-old who wanted to get faster.
He took the same approach.
The human approach.
He cared about you. He gave of himself. He did what too many coaches can’t do — he always made you better, faster, smarter, stronger.
I first met Charlie in 1987 at the world track and field championships in Rome and took an immediate dislike to him. He was cocksure, arrogant, fast-talking, condescending, and defiantly defensive of Ben Johnson.
Clearly, when you looked around and saw all this Canadian talent at the worlds, so much of it local, so much of it coached by him, there was also the understanding of just how powerful a figure he was becoming.
The power didn’t last long. Within a year came the disqualification in Seoul, followed by the hand-cleansing that was the Dubin Inquiry.
But over the years, with Charlie in the background, training people for a living, working with pro hockey players and NFL players like Priest Holmes (he worked for and with numerous NFL teams) and other sprinters from other countries, he didn’t soften he just became easier to like.
We used to talk often on the phone, usually around the time of something happening in track, or something happening in the drug world.
Actually, we didn’t talk, he did.
I listened.
The one-way conversations were never short, but always fascinating. There was always a conspiracy theory, many proven true over time.
There seemed little he didn’t know about when it came to his sport or the sporting world of drugs. He was connected in a way he couldn’t always explain.
When the story of the disappearing Greek sprinters broke on the opening day of Summer Olympics in 2004, I decided to call Charlie from Athens, looking for direction. It turned out, he knew about the sprinters, their backgrounds, their coaches, their connections. He walked me through a point by point verbal flowchart of how one of them was connected to the man who patented androstenedione, the Mark McGwire steroid.
I wrote what he told me, unattributed of course, because Charlie didn’t like his name in the papers.
A few weeks later, a large American newspaper broke the story on the Greek sprinters, connecting them to the Chicago druggist.
Charlie smiled at the news break: As usual, he had it first.
At the funeral at Rosedale Presbyterian Church, there was no mention of performance-enhancing drugs, only about how strong Charlie was in rebuilding his life after the scandal.
But before Charlie’s wife, Angie Coon, began her eulogy Monday she placed a can of Diet Coke and a bag of Starbucks coffee on the casket of her husband.
“These were his favourite drugs,” said Coon, the former track star.
As always with Charlie Francis, some laughed, some cried.
It was a great service today for a great man. I estimate that there were over 300 people crammed into the church - standing room only - on a beautiful sunny day. The tributes were inspiring, encouraging and heartfelt. Ange’s eulogy was strong, passionate, loving and honest. She was great.
It was an exceptional event to be part of. I am just glad I had a chance to spend time with Charlie’s friends and family on this special day. And, I feel fortunate to have spent many hours, days and weeks working with Charlie over the past eight years as he worked tirelessly to share his knowledge with anyone who would listen. I will miss him.
I had wanted to fly to Toronto, gave it serious consideration, costing the idea. But I had my own family issues back home. As it turned out, last Saturday my dad (now in a nursing home) welcomed my appearance in his room as a long-lost Army buddy from 1938. If it wasn’t so serious it would have been pretty funny. He ended up being admitted to acute geriatric care in a general hospital where the tests found nothing untoward. I had decided not to make the trip to attend Charlie’s farewell. I wish I could have, but I might have had to turn straight around and return home before the service given my dad’s condition.
It’s great that so many attended the service, that Charlie’s athletes honoured his time with us. My heart goes out to them and especially Ange and young James. I’m still devastated at Charlie’s loss. It really does feel like something has torn a great rip into the fabric of my life, so I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be to have lost a husband and father for Ange and James respectively. Bless you both.
I dont train track and field mut Charlie has been my biggest mentor when it comes to training.
Rest In Peace.
On one of my visits to see him, I distinctly remember his Diet Coke and Starbucks coffee! That line made me laugh.
I also remember his coffee mix protein shake which was quite delicious. 
Great stuff!
I was surprised to see the comment on andro as if it had some merit. I thought it was a worthless supplement?
It was but it was also significant in terms of a turning point in the supplement industry.
I saw a picture of James yesterday. I can’t get over how much he looks like Charlie. If there had been a picture of 5 kids, one could certainly pick out Charlie’s (and Ange’s !) kid.
We all hope you are both doing well.
I just stumbled upon Speed Trap about 2 months ago. Shortly after, found these forums. Such a short time but I already think the world of this guy. The wealth of knowledge he has left behind will continue to inspire athletes like myself for decades to come, I am sure… R.I.P. Charlie
I well remember reading that review. It was interesting that it was published by a magazine which around that time Charlie himself was providing articles for.
R.I.P. Charlie, in italy only a little number of people love you, i’m one of them
I can recall seeing Charlie in NYC in late Nov./early Dec. of 2001. It goes without saying that the information/knowledge conveyed was beyond impressive. To be sure, Charlie’s presentation was not a fancy, glossy production. It was mostly a hand written presentation done on an easel pad and pencil. Incidentally, I too, recall seeing the review of the SWIS conference.
Fast forward almost exactly one year later and after I initially called Charlie having met him the previous year, Brad D. put on the seminar with Charlie (with Derek also flown in to assist with the power point) down here to NC for a seminar. Myself and one of my former high school athletes picked up Charlie and Derek at the Greenville/Spartanburg, SC airport.
I have to believe that both Ange’s and Derek’s input now resulted in Charlie’s presenting of his seminar in a much more visually appealing manner.
Now in my mind, only someone who only responds primarily to an elaborate packaging and superficiality could not find a lot of extremely valuable in the first presentation.
Still, to reach many, if the entire presentation is very polished, the opportunity to reach more people will be much improved. I can recall Charlie asking me what I thought about the differences between the two talks. I told him I thought it was like a night and day transformation and it was. Now Charlie’s work was presented in a way that everyone present could likely get a better grasp for then when his concepts were hand written and the ordering was a bit more scattered/random. He also provided handouts which were a nice addition.
Now, due to the assistance of others who provided support along the way (Ange of course, Derek, Mike H. etc. I’m sure there are others-thanks to you all for supporting CF and his concepts-we all benefitted from this) his works will be even more long lasting and clearer to those who want to learn from the best.
I first became aware of Charlie’s approach from an article in the June 1990 issue of Iron Man Magazine written by Joseph Horrigan. Charlie has a framed copy of the article over his computer that Joe sent him (at least he did when I was there).
If anyone is interested, you can buy a copy of that issue from Home Gym Warehouse, which is Iron Man’s publishing/merchandising division:
http://www.home-gym.com/ironmanjun90.html
If you’ve read Charlie’s other books or followed the forum for any time you won’t really learn anything new from the article, but if you’re a Charlie buff, it’s a great piece of historical memorabilia.
I watched the SWIS presentation after being familiar with Charlie’s work. But still the first thing that came to my mind was “such simple graphs, yet so much knowledge”. I wasn’t aware of this review until now. I am sure though it amazes all regular members here how some chose to focus on the cover…
I want to know who will try and take over Charlie role in answering questions etc?
I picked that one up as well! I think I still have it somewhere.
I’ve got that one too. I think bodybuilder Shawn Ray is on the cover.
That’s correct. Just click the link I posted and you’ll see. My copy is buried somewhere and I’ve been having trouble locating it, so I just ordered a new one.
There’s also a great article in there about Joe Horrigan’s soft tissue method, which is essentially ART before his former partner Mike Leahy trademarked the name. This is about 7 years before Kim Goss’s article in MM2K put ART on the industry map.