For Hockey Hall of Famer Bill Hay and wife Nancy, seeing a need means taking action
By Karen Rudolph Durrie • Photography by Jared Sych
Looking around the home of Calgary philanthropists Bill and Nancy Hay, it’s easy to see what’s important to them.
Bill is a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee who played centre for the Chicago Blackhawks from 1959 to 1967, winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie in his first season and helping the team to a Stanley Cup in 1961. He has also served as president and CEO of the Calgary Flames, president and COO of Hockey Canada, and chairman and CEO of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
As if that weren’t enough, after retiring from hockey he enjoyed an award-winning 25-year career working alongside Don, BJ, and Daryl (Doc) Seaman at Bow Valley Industries.
Now 84, Hay has collected medals, trophies, awards, and memorabilia. But most dear to the couple are the hundreds of photographs of family and friends displayed on the walls of their southwest Calgary home.
The Hays are long-time community builders and volunteers whose efforts have benefited countless Calgarians. Their achievements include setting up one of the first-ever Donor-Advised Funds at the Calgary Foundation in 1979, the Nancy & Bill Hay Family Fund.
Their dedication to helping others originated in part with the arrival of their son Donald in 1962. He was born with a number of health challenges.
“We had him in a lot of hospitals. At Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, where Donald had brain surgery in 1979, there were children with severe problems— and some of their parents couldn’t afford to take a streetcar to see them, they were that poor,” Bill says.
With input from daughters Penny and Pam, the Hays’ Fund provides grants to organizations focusing on children’s special needs, with past recipients including the Calgary Society for Persons with Disabilities (CSPD), Children’s Cottage Society, Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation, and Momentum.
Bill, a big affable man with an easy laugh, and Nancy, elegant and friendly, are the kinds of people who see a need and approach solutions with a “can do” attitude.
Bill shares a story about buying accessible vehicles for CSPD some years ago by canvassing fellow Calgarians after seeing a need. Son Donald resides at a CSPD group home. “I wrote my friends and neighbours, I talked with organizations. This was something that those kids really needed so they could feel a part of the community. We raised $300,000 from those letters” he says.
Last year, the Fund helped replace one of the vehicles that had reached the end of its service life. During Bill’s career in the oil industry he met and teamed up with iconic Calgary philanthropists including Doc Seaman, Bud and Ann McCaig, Ken Stiles, and Harry and Martha Cohen.
The Hays became involved with the Calgary Foundation in 1979 at the landmark Million-Dollar Dinner, organized to boost the profile of the Foundation and help grow its asset base. The event raised $2 million overnight, and the Hays committed to establishing a Donor-Advised Endowment Fund.
Over the years, their involvement in the Fund and connection with the Foundation have allowed the Hay family, including their children Donald, Penny, and Pam, and now their grandchildren, to carry forward a legacy of community involvement. At annual gatherings, family members present their views on where the greatest needs are and where funding should be allocated.
“It’s easy to write a cheque if you’ve got the bank account, but the value is in the people you meet and the things you learn,” Bill says. Adds Nancy: “You get more satisfaction from volunteering and creating something without payback than anything else you can do in life, really.”