We are pleased to announce the establishment of the Liam Geddes Memorial Award Fund at the Canadian Rugby Foundation. The Award is named in honour of Liam David Geddes (October 27, 1999 – March 11, 2022).
The Liam Geddes Memorial Award is intended to provide funding from its endowment for an annual award presented initially to the outstanding back row player at the Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship (CUMRC) and later when appropriate, the national university men’s Back Row Player of the Year, consistent with the broad objectives and purposes of Rugby Canada and the Canadian Rugby Foundation to develop and grow rugby across Canada, while meeting CRA requirements. The Fund has been kickstarted with donations from Liam’s family and friends.
Liam loved hard, worked hard, and played hard. Liam first began to play rugby for his high school, in Lindsay, ON. He went on to play with the Lindsay Rugby Club, and represented Ontario with U17 and U18 squads. He was a varsity athlete with the Queens Men’s Rugby Program, helping them to achieve gold medals in OUA finals in 2018, 2019, and silver in 2021. He represented Queen’s Men’s Rugby at the Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship (CUMRC) in 2018 in Victoria, 2019 in Montreal, and most recently 2021 in Kingston.
At the time of his passing, Liam was a 4th-year student at Queens University, about to graduate with Honours with a B.Sc. in Kinesiology. He was an academic all-star during all four years of his studies, and was awarded his degree posthumously in June 2022. His plans for further schooling, with the ultimate goal of acceptance into medical school, were unfortunately cut short by his untimely death.
Liam was known by all for having a kind heart, quick wit, and keen intellect. He was ever humble and known to give the greatest bear hugs to anyone he was with. Liam was also known for being a clothes horse, with an eye for style. In addition to being very close to his parents, sisters and extended family, he had an extremely large group of well-loved friends throughout his home in Kawartha Lakes, ON, as well as his second home in Kingston, ON. Liam was tenacious on the rugby field from his position in the back row, but he also had a kind and caring spirit and was ever ready to lend a helping hand, or a compassionate ear.
Liam had registered as an organ donor of his own accord several years before his passing. Through his gift of organ donation, Liam was able to profoundly impact the lives of 4 organ donor recipients (lung, liver, and both kidneys), and their families.
You can continue Liam’s legacy through the Liam Geddes Memorial Award Fund by making a donation to the endowment fund here and scrolling down to the Fund name.
