There are many legacies of the 1967 Pan- American Games in Winnipeg. Perhaps the most significant legacy is that sport finally recognized that working together made sense. It all came about when representatives of the 24 Pan-Am Games sports sat down around a table at the same time. “We discovered we had far more in common than we had that was different,” said Guy Simonis, who in 1969 helped found the Manitoba Amateur Sports Federation after introducing organized water polo to Canada and Manitoba.

While Simonis presided over the creation of the MASF as its founding president, it was not an easy birth. After telling the sports that they would get $500 grants from the federation that first year, Simonis had to tell them, “To get a leg up we want you to give us your $500 to help get the federation going”. Simonis was not through. In 1970, he helped guide through a bill in the Manitoba legislature to incorporate the Manitoba Sports Federation, dropping the word amateur. “It was an important political step that some people didn’t see,” said Simonis, who opened the first MSF office and initiated the first Sports Administration Centre after being appointed as the first Director of Sport for Manitoba in 1974.

His biggest contribution was the development of a sport lottery, Sportstoto in 1971. While it was not an overwhelming success, it laid the groundwork for today’s multi-million dollar lottery support system for sport. ”I was there when the kitchen table was the centre of the sporting world,” said Simonis, who was named general manager of the Western Canada Lottery in 1974 and moved to Vancouver to become the president of the British Columbia Lottery. The sporting world has come a long way since. Guy Simonis had a large part in that evolution.