Alex Fex sits inducted into four separate sports halls of fame – and yet his singular greatest athletic achievement (arguably) played but a very small part in those inductions.
Such was the athletic scope of the now 82 year old Sudbury native who would dearly love to call himself a Gatchell kid - if not for sitting on the wrong side of the Lorne Street railway tracks as a youngster (807 Ontario Street – to be precise).
Known first and foremost for his football prowess, at least in local sporting circles, Fex was anointed to the NFC (Northern Football Conference) Hall of Fame in 1986, capping off his HOF quartet in 2015 when the Greater Sudbury Sports Hall of Fame came a calling.
And clearly the accolades that would see he and his 1961-1962-1963 Sturgeon Falls Bombers feted with the inaugural class of the West Nipissing Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 was heavily weighted towards his gridiron prowess.
Heck, even the Ryerson Rams 1962-1963 OIAA championship team that was recognized by the now renamed institution (Toronto Metropolitan University) in 2012 and still stands as the only men’s hockey crew from the school ever to capture a provincial crown speaks to the on-ice talent of the lad who thrived throughout his career with the Sudbury High Wolves.
Yet it was during this time that Fex and Sudbury High track and field coach Warren Gingell made their way to Couchiching in the spring of 1961, site of the All-Ontario High-School Championships. Clearing 11’ 11.5” in the pole vault with somewhat of an unorthodox technique, the northern product broke the Ontario high-school record and still remains as one of only two NOSSA athletes ever to win gold in the event.
“The biggest story, for me, was always the pole vault,” stated Fex recently, his health challenges allowing, unfortunately, for but a few vivid memories of his illustrious past before the words start to fade off. “Warren Gingell had noticed me because I hung around the pole vault pit; he took a shining to me.”
What was not to like?
Blessed with a healthy helping of natural athleticism – “I always had strong arms, but never did weights” - and an inner toughness that still bears mention when discussions begin with his contemporaries, Alex Fex seemed destined to succeed the moment he embraced a particular sport.
That success undoubtedly fed his fondness for those particular pursuits – but so too did the environment of the time, the settings that still stir the thoughts of that era and instantly bring a smile to the face of all those who were fortunate enough to experience the ambiance of those special days.
“I played junior (football) for just one year, in grade 11,” Fex shared at the time of the 2015 Sudbury Sports Hall of Fame ceremony. “There was nothing outstanding about junior football – but once you got to senior, now you’re playing at Queen’s Athletic Field and the field is full.”
Some will argue, but the Sudbury high-school football of that era might be as good as it’s ever been – relative to the provincial benchmark of the times.
“I played with arguably the best high school team that was ever created in the province, with the likes of Ted Favot, Harold Rose and Bruce Doran,” Fex once opined. “There wasn’t a weak position on that team.”
Conversations with long-time Hamilton Tiger Cats' exec Ralph Sazio ensued, but with a full-time job at Inco in the wings and his family about to burgeon as (Erna de Burger-Fex was expecting the couple’s first child), the possibility never truly materialized.
Fex would do the next best thing and dominate the Northern Football Conference, an elite adult league at the time, capturing the scoring title in 1965, 1966 and 1968 and being named league MVP in 1970, all on the heels of helping the Sturgeon Falls Bombers three-peat at the onset of the sixties.
“We used to have to play both ways,” Fex stated in a story that was penned by Sudbury Star reporter Tim Kelly in June of 1991. “There were many games where I never even came off the field the whole time. We didn’t have the numbers.”
He would continue to play with the Sudbury Spartans until 1975, also immersing himself heavily into municipal politics in Lively. And for as much as Erna did not start out as much of a sports fan, it was hard not go along for the ride.
“The girls (she and Alex have three daughters) heard more about his achievements than I did because I was always there for them,” she said.
Though the sharing of the stories requires increasing patience with every passing day, the core values that were learned, the joy that lives on in the memories that remain cannot be understated.
“I don’t know where I would be without sports,” Fex suggested a few decades back.
The truth is the history of Sudbury sports would also not be the same without the likes of Alex Fex. That’s a statement that will surely stand the test of time.
