It is with great sorrow that our family announce the passing of Slavomir Josef Kardas on July 4, 2021 at Hogarth Riverview Manor. He waged a strong battle following a stroke 10 years ago. We mourn the loss of a husband, dad, coach and our inspiration. We look back at three and one half decades of his great contributions to Canadian Sport.
Slavomir was born in Zacopane, Poland on January 30, 1945. His remarkable sports career began with his love of skiing and becoming a member of the Polish junior and then senior national ski jumping team.
As Polish National Champion, he competed for Poland in Ski jumping at the 1968 Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France. He left Austria where he was living in 1969 for Canada as a refugee with goals to fulfill his adventurous dreams for his life ahead. Soon after arriving in Canada, Slav began coaching the Oshawa Ski Club, while competing on the Canadian team.
He was scouted by the Canadian Ski Association and hired as the First National ski jumping coach in Canadian history. Ottawa then sent Slavomir to Thunder Bay to find a suitable location to construct the new National Sports Facility and he chose Mt. Norway, now Big Thunder. Slav lived and worked at Mt. Norway while assisting in groundwork and construction of the 90 and 120 metre jumps.
When Slavomir returned from coaching the Canadian National Team at the Winter Olympics in Sapporo Japan in 1972, he had one thing on his mind, a long distance proposal to the love of his life Patricia Larway. In 1975 Okeefe Sports Foundation recognized Slavs achievements and appointed him to Canadian Development Coach for Canada.
Although qualified and eager to compete for Canada in the upcoming 1976 Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck Austria, Slavs Canadian citizenship papers did not arrive in time to travel with the team.
Eager to prove that he was capable of achieving his goal at the games, 2 weeks after the Olympics, Slavomir shocked the world when he won the event on the 120m hill surpassing the Olympic champion, with the longest jump of 120m. Slavomir was then written up in the Guinness book of World Records for this record. Throughout most of his life, Slav continued to be both a coach and competitor always giving back to the community the skills of the sport he was so passionate about.
As a master ski jumper, he captured the title of World Masters Champion in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Slav was honoured in 1998 as a National Sports Hero in his hometown of Zakopane, Poland.
In 2001, Slavomirs name was entered in the Walk of Fame in Thunder Bay.
Slav was a loving and generous husband of 49 years. He was a proud and devoted parent to our 3 sons Kristof, Daniel and Jason and grandparent to his 5 wonderful grandchildren who he built his life around. Slavomir spent most of the winter ski season on the ski hills with the boys. He taught them to ski at the age of 2.
Slav was appointed as Ontario Team Coach and then soon after, presented with Ontario National Achievement Award for outstanding contribution to Amateur Sport. He co-founded and coached three local ski clubs, The Ontario Nordic Ski Club, the Mount McKay Nordic Ski Club and later the Thunder Bay Ski Jumping Club then moving on to become Ontario Participation Development Coordinator.
How wonderful for a father that he could coach and watch the progress of his three sons in each of these clubs. Proud to see all three rise to a National and World Class level of skiing.
Slav had a charismatic nature and always ready to chat. He worked hard to make ski jumping and Nordic combined skiing accessible to all people, regardless of age or gender. In addition to recruiting and developing the skiing skills of First Nations people, he has also encouraged and coached female athletes. He coached women’s ski jumping to a level where they were capable and qualified to compete at the World Nordics in Thunder Bay in 1995.
He frequently traveled to visit family and friends in Europe to educate the boys with languages and different cultures, this was high on Slavs priority list. Slav himself spoke 7 languages. Road trips through The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Poland, Finland and Norway, along with weekend road trips to compete in Northern USA together with the team made up our winter schedule.
He taught our boys the love of people and friendship, respect for others, the rewards of hard work, good family values, appreciation of the outdoors, sport and culture and to live every day to its fullest.
As the family grew up so did the weekend fishing trip schedule, starting with canoe and tenting, to motor boat and camper, to house boat. There was always a seat in the boat for his german shepherds Carro and Aspen. He loved joining his brother and family on these outings.
In the summers Slav often worked as a building contractor and we are thankful for the four beautiful family homes that he built for us as well as the two historic homes that he renovated for our family. He taught the boys the art of home building and assisted each son in their home construction.
He had a passion for cooking and he cooked up an array of traditional polish soups and was often seen frying up the fresh caught pickerel.
When mushroom season arrived he would spend hours mushroom picking with his brother.
Throughout his career, Slavomirs life touched the lives of so many he coached across Canada. It is a wonderful tribute to him and to our family to hear so many of his former team members that Slav was such a positive influence in the direction they took in their lives and they are thankful for his teaching.
Slavomir is survived by his wife Patricia, three sons Kristof (Valerie), Daniel (Nicole) and Jason (Lindsay); 5 grandchildren Natalya, Katya, Kael, Keiran and Aila; sister-in-law Teresa Kardas; niece Agata Remi and nephew Martin Kardas.
Predeceased by his parents Monica and Stanislav Kardas, two brothers Michael Kardas and Krystof Kardas.
Our family extends our thank you to Dr. Skunta and the nursing staff of 2 North at Hogarth Riverview Manor. It was a comfort to know he was in such caring hands.
A Celebration of Life will be held on September 12, 2021 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Mount Baldy Ski Area.
