LEGACY CARRIES ON: Dan Snyder’s giving spirit not forgotten thanks to WRCF fund
Local young athletes positively impacted decades after beloved NHLer’s tragic death
LuAnn and Graham Snyder can’t get their son back. And the pain of losing Dan, who was just 25 and at the start of a promising, hard-fought National Hockey League career at the time of his tragic death in 2003, never goes away. What the couple can do is continue to honour Dan by ensuring that his legacy lives on.
So honouring him is what they do. It's what they’ve always done.
“That’s the word: Legacy,” LuAnn said. “It’s to keep his name out there. Keep it fresh, so that people remember. It’s the remembrance part for me, as a mom. That’s a mom’s worst fear: That someone will forget him.”
Anyone from the likable hockey player’s hometown of Elmira, in Woolwich Township, will instantly recall the tragedy. So too will many Canadians and followers of our national winter sport and pastime.
On Sept. 29, 2003, Dan was a passenger in NHL superstar Dany Heatley’s Ferrari convertible in Atlanta when Heatley lost control of the vehicle at a high rate of speed and crashed. Dan died six days later.
Through their healing journey, LuAnn and Graham have kept Dan’s memory alive. With the invaluable support from the NHL and local communities, they were able to ensure some positives came from the loss.
In 2005, the Snyders teamed up with the National Hockey League Players’ Association and Waterloo Region Community Foundation (WRCF) to create the NHLPA Dan Snyder Memorial Student Award Fund, which has provided more than $80,000 to support post-secondary education pursuits for athletes from Woolwich.
The Snyders also created their own private foundation, The Dan Snyder Memorial Foundation, which included $750,000 being raised toward the building of what is now the Dan Snyder Memorial Rink at Woolwich Memorial Centre, a community centre within walking distance of Dan’s childhood home (LuAnn and Graham have since moved to Waterloo).
In 2019, they closed out the foundation and moved all remaining assets to WRCF to establish the Dan Snyder Fund and continue their efforts while lessening the administrative burden.
Through this fund, grants have supported many youth organizations, including non-hockey groups. The Friends of Hockey, Riverside Public School, Woolwich Community Services, Woolwich Gymnastics Club, Woolwich Wild, and Woolwich Wildcats, are among those to benefit from the fund.
“There have been a lot of small wins. A lot of just helping hands along the way,” Graham said. “It’s not a huge fund, but any impact you can make and any little help you can give usually comes back to you. That’s a part of community that we cherish. I think it’s very important. That’s the way we were raised. Giving back is good for everyone.”
Added LuAnn: “The fun part for me is the awards are now going to kids of people (Dan’s) age. So it just shows how it can keep going to the next generation. Even when we’re not around, it’ll just keep going. That’s the good part, for me, about it.”
The help hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“The kids are grateful. They’re at an age now where they weren’t even born by the time Dan passed away but they still know who he is because of the community,” LuAnn said. “They’re always grateful, but it’s the parents. They’re getting a little bit of financial help with schooling and that means a lot to the parents. We always have a little (gathering at) our house. We did in Elmira. We do now in Waterloo. We just invite the parents and if anyone wants to bring their boyfriend, girlfriend, or grandparents, they’re welcome to come. It’s just kind of a nice evening, but there’s always that gratitude there that just kind of fills the whole patio and it just feels really nice to be able to do that for people.”
Working with WRCF has allowed the couple to stay directly involved with the fund while relinquishing the administrative work.
"The thing I like is all the work is done in the background,” LuAnn said. “All of that’s done for us. And even down the road, for our kids to sign on as the advisors, it’ll be all done for them, too. And our grandkids. It’s just such a wonderful group of people to deal with. They’re just amazing. I could never recommend WRCF enough.”
Throughout his time in hockey, particularly at the junior and pro levels — with his hometown Sugar Kings, the Ontario Hockey League’s Owen Sound Attack, and later the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League — Dan made it a priority to be involved in his community and give back however he could.
Central to Dan’s fun-loving nature was making everyone around him laugh and smile and feel as though they belonged. That spirit lives on to this day, and LuAnn and Graham are witnesses to it. From neighbours and strangers who smile when they get a bit of help from the fund, to their grandchildren who never met their uncle but know all about him.
“We have one grandchild who particularly looks like him. Acts like him. He’s a funny kid. He has his personality,” LuAnn said. “It’s fun to see that come through. He means a lot to them even though they never met him. So that legacy carries on through them, too, and hopefully, they can carry it on, too, down the road.”
She added: “It means a lot to me to have that continuation, that people won’t forget who he is. The person he was. He loved his community. And he’s still giving back to the community, even though he’s not there anymore.”
For more information on the Dan Snyder Fund, visit wrcf.ca/dansnyder.
WRCF offers a range of fund types to choose from, depending on philanthropic interests and desires for specific levels of involvement in annual granting decisions. Funds can be established in your name, or in the name of your family, your organization or anyone you wish to honour. If you would like to learn more about setting up a fund, contact Dan Robert at dan@wrcf.ca or 519-725-1806 x 205.
To learn more about WRCF go to wrcf.ca.
