Maurice Tango: Builder and great sports fan disappear

Pioneer, builder and enthusiast: Maurice Tango left his mark on the Quebec sports world in his own way and the news of his death sent shockwaves through the well-known entrepreneur in the framework of his crowned sports projects.

Also read: Businessman Maurice Tango dies at 87

Throughout his life as an entrepreneur and philanthropist with many successes, Maurice Tango has given a great place to sports in his daily life.

From his youth when he studied the sport at the Collage de Lewis, until the founding of the Rimoski Oceanic and Rouge at Oval or football club at Laval University, no one in his path was indifferent to Maurice Tango.

Under his leadership, O’Connor won the Memorial Cup, the dominant symbol of Canadian junior hockey in 2000, and the President’s Cup three times (2000, 2005 and 2015). His contribution to the share of championships in the Quebec scene as well as guided Rose et al to the top 10 Vanier Cups for Canadian university football. He is a member of the Pantheon des Sport du Quebec and the Hall of Fame of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).

“Great emptiness”

“We are missing a very good ambassador for junior hockey and Quebec. He is a good mentor to the players, the organization, the city and the league,” QMJHL Commissioner Gilles Cortio added Thursday evening. Newspaper.

“It’s very sad and it’s a shock. We knew it would happen someday, but today came the shock. I’m talking to my son and Maurice’s grandson, we’re talking about business and no one doubted it would happen,” said one of his early partners in the Remoski franchise. Said Andre Jolicour.

Patrick Roy, one of the masterminds of the 1997 Reports revival, along with Jacques Tango and Michelle Kadrin, expressed his condolences to the family of the deceased.

“Mr. Tango is an extraordinary man and his departure leaves a great void. We will lose. ”

His great er errand and his love for his players over the years have been cited by those who know the man intimately. Sidney Crosby is one of them. She was thrilled when the star of the Pittsburgh Penguins took off his jersey in September 2019 talking about the Oceanic ex-boss. Mr. Tango was then with him in a wheelchair.

“When you want a top company, it starts at the top. Mr. Tango and his wife Madeleine treated us well with players and people. I am just happy to have him at this crucial moment in my career, ”he said on the ice at Sunlife Financial College.

If the Tango family had bought Links from Saint-Jean to Boss-Saint-Laurent in 1995 and established Oconic after the move, the idea of ​​running a junior club would not be new to the businessman’s mind. In fact, it germinated in the late 1980s.

“I went to meet him at his Beaufort office and I had not been president of the league for a long time. Quebec did not have a club and took information for the franchise. I will be, “” the junior head of the court recalled since 1986 circuit.

Precious hat

Gilles de Ambois, former director of the Department of Sports Activities at Laval University, recalls the celebrations of Rouge at Orr’s first national title victory in 1999 at the Skydome in Toronto. The attentive spectator in this match against St. Mary’s, Mr. Tango exploded with joy at the end of the feud.

“He was in the middle of the field, very passionate and very happy with what was going on. I gave him his championship hat and it was like giving him a wonderful gift. He lived the game by sport,” Mr de Ambois said.

Mike Labadi, coach of the first two editions of Rouge at Orr and a member of the founding team, also paid tribute to him.

“He gave a lot and looked after the players in this area, more than the players. […]. He was the father figure, of whom Jacques had great faith. “