By Andrew Papadopoulos
Dr. Frank DeMarco turned 100 years old on Sunday celebrating his centennial birthday virtually and remotely with his many children and grandchildren all over the country on Zoom. Dr. DeMarco was the Lancers first athletic director and a key integral founder to the University of Windsor in its early stages of its institutional inception.
When asked, Dr. DeMarco about how impactful the University of Windsor and the Lancers been on his life especially throughout a great portion of it. Dr. DeMarco knew exactly what to say right away.
"I love the U!" He jubilantly stated when asked how important the University of Windsor has been to him throughout his life. "I miss my time there. Go Lancers!"
When asked what the key to living 100 years is, Dr. DeMarco advised that you have to maintain a healthy mind and body regularly through consistent mental and physical exercise.
"You just have to keep moving," the centenarian explained. "Exercise is key, especially swimming. Puzzles and crosswords too."
Two of Dr. DeMarco's grandchildren, Laura and Thomas DeMarco, currently represent the blue and gold. Laura, plays for the Lancer golf team and is studying law, while her brother Thomas recently committed to the University of Windsor and the golf team for next season joining his sister on the continual DeMarco family legacy which still casts its shadow over the University of Windsor to this day.
"It's been an honour to represent the University of Windsor and I know my grandfather was really excited when I originally told him that I was joining the golf team," Laura said.
"The long story is that my grandfather was part of starting the engineering school at the U so when I first came home and told him that I was going to start at the law school, his first question (jokingly) was
"Why aren't you joining the engineering school?" So, he was kind of confused on that part but when I told him about me joining the Lancers golf team, he was beyond excited about that. He found it to be great that he had another grandchild playing in the athletic department."
Laura and Thomas' older brother, Robert, ran cross country for the Lancers for two seasons (2015-2016) while studying nursing at UWindsor. Both Laura and Thomas emphasized that anytime Dr. DeMarco has seen his grandchildren study, compete and represent the University of Windsor Lancers that he is really proud of them and their achievements of continuing to carry the torch with Lancer pride. Thomas agreed with his sister's comments that their grandfather has been very influential on his golf career and decision to return home to study and pursue a varsity golf career close to home.
"He did a lot when I was growing up for sure," Thomas recalled. "He always had a lot of tips to offer especially on the mental side since he's been through a lot of different levels of sports and played many different sports, so he always had comments and conversations about sports with me which certainly had an influence on me."
Thomas also went on to further explain that his grandfather always instilled a professional work-hard mentality which has help elevate him get to where he is today. "He also always made sure I knew that I needed to work-hard," the young DeMarco added. "He always applied that influence on me of giving me that strong mindset and being able to take on pressure and through our conversations over the years developing a pro-athlete mental game I needed to become a professional golfer and now Lancers student-athlete."
Laura shared her brother's sentiments that her grandfather helped ingrain a sense of hard work and assiduous mindset. "I would say that he instilled this sort of mindset of working hard but also working smart," DeMarco said, now a second-year member of the Lancer golf team. "He came from a small town up in Northern Ontario from an Italian immigrant family, so he definitely had to work very hard and very smart to get where he is, including raising 12 children and grandfathering 26 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren to date."
Laura also conveyed the best piece of advice that she and her family has received so far from her grandfather. "He would always tell us, that if you want to get anywhere in this world you have to work hard and do it in a smart way," Laura reminiscently proclaimed. "You can work as hard as you can but if you are not working on the right things then you are not going to get anywhere. So, you have to be smart about what you are doing and dedicate yourself."
Hard work and perseverance have always played a pivotal role within the DeMarco family's genetics given all of the accomplishments, accolades, and milestones Dr. DeMarco has achieved over the course of his long-standing successful academic administrative tenure at the University of Windsor and its athletic department.
When Dr. DeMarco was asked how he feels seeing his grandchildren studying at the University of Windsor and playing for the blue and gold he joyfully responded, "I'm really proud of them!" He exclaimed with pride. "I'm happy they get to compete and study while there!"
It is truly a family affair when it comes to Dr. DeMarco's family bleeding blue and gold with the long litany of DeMarco's who have previously attended or currently attend the University of Windsor as well as the few in the family that have competed for the Windsor Lancers.
Dr. DeMarco even has earned the distinct honour of having a major perennial Lancer award named after him – The DeMarco Award – which is presented annually to both a Windsor Lancer male athlete and female athlete that best combines athletic and academic excellence that year and remains one of the top prestigious sports awards for Lancer student-athletes to earn every year at the year-end athletic banquet.
Dr. DeMarco was inducted into the University of Windsor Alumni Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, and the Windsor-Essex Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.
For more information on Dr. Frank DeMarco's storied life and legacy including a thorough synopsis of his specific lifetime achievements, please visit these two external links to learn more about his bequest:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_A._DeMarco
http://wecshof.org/inductees/dr-frank-demarco/
