May 11 2006
RBC.011
» 2006 RBC Royal Bank Cup

Darrell Clarke has been involved in hockey for the past 37 years. A passionate individual, Clarke boasts an impressive resume which includes five Allan Cup Championships with the Thunder Bay Twins. This year, Clarke is attending the 2006 RBC Royal Bank cup in Brampton, ON as equipment manager with the Fort William North Stars.

Despite his accomplishments as a team manager on the ice, the Fort William’s resident greatest achievement was being named Northern Ontario’s winner as one of RBC’s Local Hockey Heroes in 2005. “I was kind of shocked. I became equipment manager in 1971 but I started out as a stick boy when I was just a kid. From there I moved up filling water bottles and picking up pucks after practice” Eventually, he helped run the bench for the Thunder Bay Twins Senior Team “and now I am 50 years old, for 37 years I have been doing this. That is a long time”.

The RBC Local Hockey Leaders program recognizes and awards outstanding volunteers in Canadian hockey. RBC Insurance, with the help of Hockey Canada and the Hockey Hall of Fame form a panel of hockey experts to select 13 regional winners from coast to coast. The winners receive special recognition from the Hockey Hall of Fame, and RBC donates $10, 000 to minor hockey in each of their communities.
True to his beginnings, Clarke chose to donate the $10, 000 award to the Elks Lodge Minor Hockey Association, the place where he started his long and distinguished career and to which he is still a member.
Hockey players, coaches, parents and executives in Thunder Bay chose to recognize Darrell as an inspiration to the Thunder Bay hockey community. Inspiration is synonymous with leadership, and that is what made Darrell Clarke a perfect choice as Northern Ontario’s RBC Local Hockey Leader.
Darrell also has a unique tie to Canada’s National Junior ‘A’ Championship, now the RBC Royal Bank Cup. “My grandfather Parker White played in the National Junior A Championship back in 1921 with the Bruins.” By the way Clarke talks about his grandfather you can see where his passion for the game stemmed from. Now in his fourth year with the North Stars, he is proud of his grandfather and views his work as a continuation of his legacy to which he claims “I have many, many years left”.
One needs only to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame and see the special recognition he received as an RBC Local Hockey Hero and volunteer within the Northern Ontario community of Fort William to know that his grandfather’s legacy will be more than lived up to. A true hero, the Thunder Bay community is well aware of just how lucky they are to have him behind their bench.