Bob Truman graduated from the University of Waterloo in Mathematics in 1973 and joined the university’s Operations Analysis & Planning unit, where he became the go-to guy for key statistical information because of his natural facility with interpreting numbers. When his young daughter entered the Waterloo Ringette bunny program, he was encouraged to consider volunteering as an official. The game intrigued him, so he jumped on board and quickly became an accomplished on-ice official. Ever the analyst and perfectionist, Bob moved from learning and enforcing the rules to fine tuning them for greater clarity. His contributions to the sport evolved significantly from there.
Following an established path is a pretty straightforward way to get where one is going in a direct and time-saving manner. Conversely, forging a new path is considerably more onerous and time-consuming and rarely, if ever, do the followers get to know who led the way.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ringette was a new, fast-paced, exciting sport that developed a wide participation base and experienced rapid growth from grassroots community associations to regional- and provincial-level championships; Ontario Winter Games participation; and, in 1979, a national championship. Critical to Ringette’s future growth was a concurrent growth in the development of on-ice officials. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, a small, dedicated group had taken on the challenge of ensuring the hallmarks of officiating excellence would be developed and maintained in parallel to the growth of the sport itself. One of the pillars of this group was Waterloo’s Bob Truman.
Bob rose rapidly through the ranks to the highest levels of on-ice performance and was one of the select few to be afforded the honour of refereeing at the first National Championships, an honour he richly deserved. But Bob’s enduring legacy is his work off the ice, where he tirelessly gave of himself to develop an educational and evaluation structure that allowed officiating excellence to keep pace with the development of the sport. Thousands of officials across Canada have benefitted greatly from Bob’s and his contemporaries’ dedication to improving the officiating programs and systems used by Ringette Ontario and Ringette Canada.
The metaphorical bumps and bruises that Bob and other officials experienced, along with the achievements and unfortunate mistakes they made, ultimately led to the nuances they carefully wove into the rulebook to close loopholes and into the casebook game scenarios that now benefit thousands of officials, coaches, and players throughout the country. Bob was at the leading edge of the officiating training and development processes that became foundational to others’ development as officials and leaders in the officiating program.
As a numbers expert in his day job, Bob was instrumental to the development of the systems that would identify the individuals who would advance to officiate at provincial and national championships.
Bob was a gifted instructor at the early officiating camps and clinics presented throughout the province. He helped develop the material and structure of those environments so that officials would have the capacity to reach their potential. He worked for many years in the arenas with younger officials, mentoring and evaluating them.
In short, Bob was a foundational partner in the legitimizing of ringette officiating development in Ontario. He made impressive off-ice contributions to course development and delivery and to the systems used to rank and select officials for provincial and national championships.
Bob’s good cheer, his decency, and the dignity he afforded all he met within the game are legendary.
In the lead up to the production of this nomination, we reached out to several of Bob’s contemporaries in support of this nomination and this is a sampling of the responses we received:
- Bob was a real gentleman. He was very respectful to coaches and players, great to talk to in the refs’ room and always gave great tips/advice. He was a great ref clinic teacher too.
- Bob Truman was simply one of the best people anyone has ever known.
- Bob was the personification of decency.
- To know Bob, casually or otherwise was a joy. To work with Bob in any capacity left an indelible impression, and a smile on your face. The ringette community was blessed to have a person of Bob’s character in its corner as the sport began to establish itself.
For these and many other reasons, Bob Truman is undoubtedly worthy of having his unique contributions to ringette and his impressive volunteering legacy acknowledged. With his inclusion in the Ringette Ontario Hall of Fame as a Provincial Builder, Bob can rightfully take his place alongside his many contemporaries and colleagues who have already been so honoured.
Sadly, ringette lost one of its most avid, early supporters when Bob passed away in May 2025.
Some of Bob’s accomplishments:
1979
- Western Ontario Regional Playdowns, St. Jacobs
- Provincial Championships, Oshawa
- National Championships, Winnipeg
1980
- Provincial Championships, North Bay
- National Championships, Waterloo
- Instructor, Officials Development Camp at Quanahar (Haliburton)
1981
- Provincial Championships, Kitchener
- National Championships, Sudbury
1982
- Provincial Championships, Gloucester
- National Championships, Dartmouth
1983
- Provincial Championships, Waterloo