RIP Charlie, We’ll miss you
Thank You.
CF was very unlucky to die of an infection just before receiving stem cell therapy. Invariably those on chemotherapy are susceptible to infection because all the white blood cells need to eliminated.
Charlie looked at things in a very holistic manner and I am deeply saddened by his death.
It’s kind of eerie because CF made some posts just a few days ago.
R.I.P.
And thank you for everything.
Thank you, Charlie, it has been great knowing you, if only over the web. You have been a part of nearly every day of my life since I discovered CF.com, and you will be greatly missed.
I have much respect for a man who was a true leader in his field and according to his former athletes, spent so much time helping them to chase their dreams.
My deepest condolences to the Francis family. I can only thank you for the knowledge so willingly and patiently imparted by Charlie; not just his insight into sprinting but life in general.
I would have loved to have met him. That won’t happen now but I agree with the others who say that his philosophy carries on with our coaching and performances on the track or wherever you express your sporting talent.
The greatest sprint coach? I believe so - and a helluva good guy as well. Never knew him personally but I will miss him like crazy.
R.I.P. Charlie and thank you so much… I owe you a lot 
My deepest condolences to the Francis family, Angie and James. If I can be of any help please let me know!
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
My thoughts are with his family at this sad time x
Very, very sad. best wishes to the Francis family. R.I.P Charlie.
excellent story svass
Very sad. Sending my thoughts and prayers. His classic quotes,one liners have brought a smile during these times. Thank you. God bless Charlie & family.
Wow… I’m in shock. It’s tough to believe that Charlie is gone. I’ve never seen someone with so much dedication and love for a sport. He cares so much about his athletes and truly wants them to succeed. This is a very rare personality trait and people like this are very hard to come by.
I’m impressed by his dedication and willingness to improve himself and individuals around him. His willingness to quit his job and coach athletes really shows that he was never ever in it for the money. He had goals and stuck to them. You must respect a man who does this. All I can think of is how much joy he must have felt the day Ben Johnson crossed the finish line in 1988 and won the gold medal for Canada. All his hard work built up to that moment and nobody can take that moment away from him.
I gained a thorough understanding of training from this man… however, one of the most important points from his videos is the positive reinforcement he brings. His communication and dealings with people is just as valuable as the training ideas he had.
Rest in peace my friend… your philosophies have changed the face of all athletics as we know it. I’m thankful to have lived and learned with such a remarkable individual.
I have just logged onto the site, been busy the past few days and have just read about this sad news. I’m choked, can hardly believe it, he just answed my question on massage recently and I was going to ask if he had any follow up, then scrolled down and read this thread. He will be greatly missed by us all, his posts, books, articles and DVD’s have been a major scource of help to me, and my squad know this, they will be gutted. Alas I never met Charlie, I wish I had, he is the sort of bloke I could get on with - a coach with a sense of humour. I can only offer my sincere condolences to Ange, the rest of his family and anyone close to him. I do hope that this site can be kept going, it could never be the same without him, but IMHO its what I reckon he would have wanted, and it will be the best way to honour his memory.
RIP Charlie.
i heard about Charlie’s death yesterday afternoon and tears streamed down my face. i never met him but i felt like he was my mentor just from our communication on this message board. Charlie was not above helping any of us with our questions and concerns because he loved track and field and he loved those of us who coach it to our athletes. Godspeed Charlie and my greatest sympathy to Charlie’s family.
I’ve been a way a while and only found out the sad news today… I’m deeply saddened and my thoughts go to Angela and James.
I’ve spent years following his posts and videos and his personality and humour radiated through my computer screen. It was such a thrill when Charlie gave me direct help on periodisation last year and my dream was to meet him one day…
Whats important is that Charlie’s work lives on through us and we guarantee him the right legacy… He will certainly shape the way I work and conduct myself in sport in the future.
I don’t often pray… but tonight I will.
Rest in Peace Charlie.
Rest in Peace Charlie!
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.