(Obituaries/paNOW)

By Ian Gustafson

Local face of the sport

Prince Albert and soccer community mourn the passing of Bill Kerr

Feb 23, 2022 | 9:00 AM

A Prince Albert man who passed away is being remembered for his love of soccer and passion for the game.

Bill Kerr, who recently passed away at the age of 83, grew up in Scotland where he met his wife, Mary.

The two later got married in 1961 and moved to Prince Albert five years later when he accepted a teaching job. He taught for 30 years and retired in 1996.

Kerr also had major involvement with Prince Albert Minor Soccer where he began his coaching career in 1972. He won nine provincial youth championships and coached the provincial under‑16 team who won Saskatchewan’s first‑ever Western Canada victory in 1978. He was involved in soccer provincially and nationally.

A friend of Kerr’s David Herbert told paNOW after he moved to P.A. in the 70s, he got to know Kerr well after he asked Herbert to coach a soccer team in Crescent Heights.

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He described Kerr as a very nice person who was down to earth and was an important part of the future of soccer. He added even during the years Kerr wasn’t involved, he was still helping out.

“I owe a lot to him in a sense of starting me off in soccer, getting me interested in it,” Herbert said. “I just think that soccer moved forward from when he took over in ’72. He took a small association and by the the ’80s and ’90s it became one of the biggest sports in the province, but it also became a big sport in Prince Albert.”

Herbert said Kerr was a major influence on the growth of the sport in P.A. ,averaging around 1,000 players playing soccer at one time. He was also the inspiration behind the P.A. Celtic name as it comes from his home country of Scotland.

Besides coaching, Kerr’s involvement with the Prince Albert Minor Soccer Association also involved him becoming an executive in 1975 and later becoming president in 1982.

Despite Kerr’s success, Herbert said he liked to be in the background and was not one to boast about himself and was very modest.

“He guided a lot of people into soccer even from the background,” Herbert said.

He also won the 1984 Sportsman of the Year and was inducted into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

President of the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame Ellen Grewcock said Kerr was a kind man and a great coach.

“And just developed such a good bond with his players. Soccer was their big thing but even other than soccer he coached a lot of different things at [Wesmor]. An amazing man, good work ethic, heck of a good sense of humour, that’s what I remember,” Grewcock said.

She added it was clear soccer was Kerr’s passion and helped the sport grow in our city and province.

“His wife May was always his right-hand woman too, anything with soccer and that she was in there too,” she said. “He had a great partnership in his wife being part of the support of soccer and the kids being involved and everybody’s kids being involved and giving all kids a chance to play.”

Kerr’s funeral will be a private family gathering but those wanting to make a donation in his memory can do so at the Sacred Heart Cathedral.

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Ian.Gustafson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12