BCFC past President & CJFL Past Commissioner passes

The Canadian Junior Football League celebrates the life and incredible involvement of Ron White following his passing this week.

Ron’s love for junior football started in Richmond, BC in 1964, becoming a coach and administrator. Even early on, he had a passion to grow the sport and improve the game to give young athletes an opportunity to continue to play the game they love in BC.  He was heavily involved with the BC Conference since living in that province, before taking the next step to be involved at the national level with the CJFL.

He was an incredible volunteer for junior football, helping found the Richmond Raiders program in 1973, a year after helping the Richmond Roughriders Bantam team win the BC provincial championship. 

He became the President of the BC Conference in 1982 and held that position until 1991.  Following that role, he decided he wanted to make a difference outside of British Columbia and became the CJFL Deputy Commissioner from 1992-1995, then took on the role as Commissioner in 1997 before stepping down in 2003. 

He stepped away from the game after his tenure as the Commissioner but decided he wasn’t done with junior football.  In 2010 he returned to the BC Conference taking on the role of Drug Education Director sitting through countless webinars to ensure the players across the Conference were educated and eligible to play.

Both the BC Conference and CJFL recognized the amount of time and energy Ron put into junior football to continue to keep it moving forward.  As a result, Ron was honoured with several awards including the following:

• Football BC Builder Award – 1989

• CJFL Life Membership – 1989

• Richmond Raiders Hall of Fame – 1990

• BC Conference All-Time 50 Year Executive – 1997

• BC Conference Life Member – 2004

• CJFL Ed Henick Meritorious Service Award – 2004

• BC Lions Orange Helmet Award - Lifetime Achievement Award – 2007

• Inducted into the BC Football Hall of Fame – 2015

In 2002, while serving as the CJFL Commissioner, the BC Conference decided to name their community involvement award after Ron and the BCFC Ron White Award for Community Involvement was established.  It is awarded to a player in the BC Conference each season that goes above and beyond to give back to the community. 

Thanks to Ron’s passion and commitment to junior football, hundreds of athletes have received an opportunity to play and grow within the sport and in their specific communities.

The CJFL and BC Conference would like to thank Ron for his unwavering support for our game and are grieving alongside his amazing family.  He will be sorely missed.