Between his numerous provincial and national championships, the heavyweight standout was a regular on the medal podium and would go on to twice win the Saskatchewan Powerlifter of the Year award.
But it was his work behind the scenes – and especially his dedication to Special Olympics – that saw Cormier honoured as one of five athletes and teams inducted into the Moose Jaw and District Sports Hall of Fame for 2019.
We’re not talking mere years of work here, either. No, Cormier has been at it as a coach and administrator for decades, beginning with the formation of the YMCA powerlifting club in 1988 and running one of the most successful clubs in the province well into the 2000s.
And oh, how the titles rolled in.
“This really is reflective of a career that has spanned five decades, and it’s hard to believe that 38 years ago, one block down from here, I first walked into Pyle’s Gym,” Cormier said prior to the induction ceremony on Oct. 18. “And I’m still involved, I still have kids that I coach and I’m still lifting, I came out of retirement about six years ago… it’s just something I could never walk away from or give up.”
It all started when Cormier and his family moved to Moose Jaw from Lennoxville, Que. when he was 17. It wasn’t long after he crossed paths with Dave and Bill Pyle of the legendary Pyle’s Gym on River Street, a hub of weightliftling, powerlifting and wrestling that produced athletes of impeccable ability, including the likes of past Hall of Fame inductee and Canadian Olympian Terry Paice.
It wasn’t long after that Cormier himself started winning on a regular basis. With that winning came the desire to pass on his knowledge, just like Dave and Bill did for him back when he was an undersized kid who wasn’t quite the 250-pound plus monster of muscle he would become.
And it was in 1989 that he first approached the YMCA about starting a powerlifting program in their facility.
“After Pyle’s Gym closed in ’89, we didn’t know where to go,” Cormier explained. “So I went to the YMCA and talked to Norma Gieni and met with the board and said ‘hey, can I bring powerlifting equipment in here and can we start a team’. And she was all for it. So we started with four or five and it grew to well over two dozen.
“And when you look at the calibre of lifters out of there, our little group of six who went down to Atlanta to compete at worlds, we won best club. We all won either gold, silver or bronze, and there are a lot of hours of work and coaching that went into that.”
It was a couple years later that a group of Special Olympians started to throw a few pounds around the gym, including an up-and-comer by the name of Randy Luzny. What that led to was nothing short of legendary.
Luzny would become a national force on the Special O lifting scene and would become Cormier’s first athlete to be inducted into the Saskatchewan Powerlifting Hall of Fame in 2017.
“That was really special because I was inducted as a coach the same year, and I somehow had no idea that Randy was going in as an athlete, too,” Cormier said with a chuckle. He and his family had moved to Swift Current in 2008 and weren’t in as close of touch with the local powerlifting community at the time. “So I’m in the lobby before it starts and there’s Randy and
oh, he’s being inducted, too. So to be standing there with him when it happened was really special.”
It wasn’t just Luzny who was bringing home all the hardware he could carry – which, by the nature of the sport and all the medals and trophies he and teammates would win, was a heck of a lot. Their crew would win the provincial Special Olympics championship in 1996 and Cormier would move on to coach the Saskatchewan Special Olympics program, which would win the Sask Sport Special Olympics Team of the Year in 1998.
“It went from four lifters at the start to over 20 in the Special O program… it will always be a special part of my heart,” Cormier said. “Even in Swift Current I don’t formally coach anymore but if those guys are around, I’ll do what I can to help them out because they’re so great to work with.”
When Wayne wasn’t coaching, he was organizing. He worked as the meet director for the provincial championships in 1992, ’97, ’02 and ’04 in Moose Jaw as well as the 1998 Can-Am Police and Firefighting Games powerlifting competition in Regina. Those meets apparently weren’t big enough, so Cormier brought the Canadian Drug Free Powerlifting Championships to Moose Jaw in 1999 and followed with the International Powerlifting Federation World Masters Championships in 2001 and 2003.
More recently, the combination of time off from competition allowed his body to recover from the usual litany of injuries the sport creates. So when his son started lifting in the basement of the family home, Wayne got back into it too.
Three national championships in the Masters division later – with Bill Pyle helping coach along the way, of course, why change what works – and Cormier has once again found himself among the sport’s elite.
And you better believe he’s thankful for all the support along the way.
“Oh man, I couldn’t have done it without all the help I’ve had from so many people,” Cormier said. “Guys like Bill and Dave, Brian Montague, Normie Wilson, they were all mentors to me and they took me under their wing like I was their kid brother. And Jeff Butt was a huge help with the club… just so many people.”
Thing is, when you get older, things start to slow down and hurt a lot more than they used to. So it’s looking more and more like coaching will be the main focus of Wayne’s career going forward.
“I think the end is closer than I thought a year ago, and it’s the same injuries as before. It’s just getting old I guess,” Cormier said with a laugh. “But it’s good, it’s like it’s all coming full circle, this is where I got my start in powerlifting and this is where it’ll end.”
Wayne Cormier was named to the International Powerlifting Federation Order of Merit in 2001, the Canadian Powerlifting Union Hall of Fame as a builder in 2003, Saskatchewan Powerlifting Association Lifetime Achievement award in 2003 and the Saskatchewan Powerlifting Hall of Fame as a builder in 2017.
Cormier and his fellow inductees are enshrined on the Moose Jaw and District Sports Hall of Fame Wall of Fame located on the second floor concourse of Mosaic Place.
