“Obviously not everybody finds the same satisfaction in serving, but I’ve always found it to be incredibly satisfying and fulfilling,” he once said in an interview.
Al Anderson’s impact on Saskatoon was matched by few in his lifetime, but he long expressed a deep appreciation for those who spent just as much energy as he did but who didn’t get the same credit.
Anderson, who died Tuesday at the age of 92, acknowledged some discomfort over attention he received, once saying that he often thought “of the many people who contribute so much yet go unnoticed.”
Anderson was motivated not by accolades or awards, but by a desire to give back to his community and the people in it.
“I never could ignore a challenge and I think it’s one of the great appeals,” he said in a 1984 StarPhoenix interview.
“It’s so real and dynamic to be there at the first. You have a certain feeling of helping create something. You simply don’t need any more than that to motivate you.”
Anderson is being remembered in the Saskatoon community for his involvement dating back 70 years, and within his family as a doting husband, father, grandpa and great-grandfather. Amidst a flood of reaction this week, daughter-in-law Shauna Anderson in a Facebook post called Al “one of the best.”
A passionate supporter of sports, he was part of Saskatoon hosting the Canada Winter Games in 1971, the creation and growth of the Western Canada Summer Games, the athletics program at the University of Saskatchewan, the Bedford Road Invitational Tournament, and ParticipACTION.
In 1960, his son Doug — one of five children he raised with his wife Joan — was born with cerebral palsy. At the time, few resources were available to people with special needs — which Anderson recognized and helped rectify.
Over the years, he was a founding member of Cosmopolitan Industries, Kinsmen Elmwood Residences and the Saskatchewan Prevention Institute; he was also past president of the Community Living Association of Saskatoon.
In addition, he was a member of the Riversdale Kiwanis Club and helped launch the RIKI Walkathon, which helped fund Camp Easter Seal on the shores of Lake Manitou. He also developed Cosmo Golf, a partnership between Al Anderson’s Source for Sports and Cosmo Industries, in which staff produced golf clubs that were marketed and sold across North America.
He received CTV’s Saskatoon Citizen of the Year award, the Howard Stensrud Spirit of Cosmo award, the B’nai Brith We Are Proud of You award, the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, was inducted into the SABEX Hall of Fame, and received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022.
“Obviously not everybody finds the same satisfaction in serving, but I’ve always found it to be incredibly satisfying and fulfilling,” he once said in an interview.
Anderson said much of that pride came in the journey, not necessarily in reaching the destination.
“The reward many times for me is seldom in the victory but in the battle,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t remember many wins but I remember a lot of the battles.”
Anderson was born on the family farm in Langham on April 27, 1932. After his family moved to Saskatoon when he was in Grade 1, he attended Caswell and Westmount elementary schools and later Bedford Road Collegiate.
A member of the Class of 1950, he remembered his time at Bedford fondly and proudly. He played basketball for the Redmen (now known as the Redhawks), attended the 100th anniversary last year and was a long-time sponsor of the Bedford Road Invitational Tournament. He was honoured as BRIT’s first special guest in 1970 and recognized again at BRIT’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2018.
His love of sports led him in 1955 to open Athletic Equipment Sales, the business long since known as Al Anderson’s Source for Sports.
That same year, he married the love of his life, Joan. The couple met as teenagers in Watrous. Love at first sight, the family says. They celebrated 67 years together before Joan’s death.
In addition to his well-known passion for sports, Anderson also sang in the church choir, performed with his cousins’ band The Rey Dahlen Sound, and was a soloist at church, weddings and funerals.
A celebration of life is scheduled for July 16 at 11 a.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, where Anderson was a member for 86 years.
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