YMASC Toronto Alumni Stories

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

2012-01-17T20:42:00.000-08:00

Frank Gardiner
President 1971 - 1972

It was my year as PRESIDENT and I had a very talented group of guys on our executive board.

Being a volunteer testing ground for budding business skills each Director was in charge of two separate dinner meetings.

The excitement of our YMASC was that we were so poor as in positive bank balance that we had to be entrepreneurial, creative and fun loving from dinner meeting to dinner meeting.

Getting more than 50 members out for any one dinner meeting required creative marketing and salesmanship. Over the years our dinner meetings were held in Peppio’s, Park Plaza, Press Club and for this particular dinner meeting we had just moved to FANTASY FARMS which by name alone is a hard sell !

The Director in charge of this particular dinner meeting was fun loving ex Ronny Hawkins drummer and marketing whiz Kirk Shearer aided and abetted by his talented, fun loving Greg McNeil.

Kirk phoned me three weeks before this particular YMASC dinner meeting because he was having trouble getting any kind of a speaker to come for a chicken dinner to a place called FANTASY FARMS and to address a rowdy group of young men all drinking and smoking …..and then after speaking to submit to a question and answer “ bear pit session” from this gang …and to do all this as guest speaker without being paid a cent !

It was a sales marketing challenge and I told Kirk that coupled with the fact I had complete faith in him and his team.

And his team secretly reminded me of the talented members of the in famous ANIMAL HOUSE !

But so what ? FANTASY FARM – the name itself was a tough sell !

“ And it is strictly up to me “ Kirk replied “ to secure the BEST guest speaker I can ? “

I quickly and smoothly or so I thought pulled the pin on this “ learn to delegate hand grenade “ and told Kirk that as far as I was concerned this was his dinner meeting and I and the rest of the board would go along with whatever he decided as long as it was sales and marketing related !

HMMMM>….wiser and older now , I would have heeded that small alarm bell that warns of open ended agreements .

Yup !..... you guessed it. Kirk and his “ Animal House” secured the famous, if not infamous and sexy LAURIE LANE – Toronto;s foremost stripper !!!!................. and the rest of this story is history if not hysterical !

102 guys showed up for that dinner ! Record attendance !

The Manager of FANTASY FARM threatened to immediately shut us down if our YMASC guest speaker took off one piece of her clothing !

AS emergency YMASC board meeting had to take place 5 minutes before the dinner meeting began and to our youthful credit , we backed KIRK and his guest speaker LAURIE LANE …………….and so be it if we were all to be kicked out !

Amazingly, Kirk and Laurie cooked up a creative solution that a stripper doesn’t have to strip to win over her youthful audience.

Alls well that ends well….. LAURIE LANE won the hearts (?) of 102 dinner guests without taking off one piece of her clothing…. other than her silk scarf ……and she demonstrated a superb public speaking skill and a classic example of the power of imagination and business skills to 102 young men and “ From Where I Sit ! .. it was for all of us, a fun night to remember these forty + years later.

And the very name FANTASY FARMS took on a whole new meaning and memory for all us ! ( sigh!)

Frank Gardiner – YMASC President “71 – “72

It was Friday evening, April 16, 1971.

2012-01-10T13:47:00.000-08:00

Brad McInnes
President 1970 - 1971

It was Friday evening, April 16, 1971. A group of YMASCers were comfortably seated aboard a 727 jet. The destination was Acapulco, Mexico. The first YMASC International Trip was about to begin.

We were going to spend the next 7 days on the sunny beach of Acapulco.

The trip included:
round-trip airfare
7 nights at the beautiful Sands Hotel
Ground transfer between airport and hotel including tips
Air conditioned rooms with a balcony
Floor to ceiling windows with an ocean view.
The total cost of the trip, including all taxes, was $199.
Today it is hard to imagine such a low price.

Jim Rosenthal decided to go snorkeling without any equipment and had to be dragged out of the water by a human chain. Bruce Brown was happy to see the sailor who grabbed him from going down for the third time and pulled him ashore. Lyall Hughes set an all-time record for sitting at the poolside bar for 16 hours a day. Everyone had a great time and after 7 days we bid a fond farewell.

It was so good that I am still anxiously awaiting the 2^nd trip.

Brad McInnes

Memories

2011-12-06T09:11:00.001-08:00

by Jim Rosenthal

When I think about my time over about several years of being a member of the YMASC, I’ve so many MEMORIES.
Some about various jokes we played on each other.
Some with regard to the learning via the many educational courses the Club presented.
Some just simply listening to the multitude of dinner speakers
Some fabulous times during the various dances, the car rallies, among so many other fun activities.
Some fabulous weekends we had during our annual “Weekend in the Woods”.

Thinking down memory lane on any of the above categories, floods the mind with great memories... Perhaps I’ll spell a few out in the future.

BUT! The greatest memory of all is the friendships enjoyed then and still now.

Although no longer functioning as an active club the YMASC still lives’ on in an Alumni form.

A some few of us meet once year over a luncheon enjoying memories, laughs, and comrade ship. During the year some of us continue to enjoy interaction.

The memories of the YMASC include so many aspects. Most especially great personnel growth, and the lasting memory of friendships that are forever cherished.

My First Day

2011-10-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

by Gary McWilliams

I had been working for my father's insurance agency for a few years, but I was still "wet behind the ears"! At the time we had a life insurance agent working with us. His name was Clare Charlton. He was great person and an excellent salesman. Both my father and brother, Chuck, 10 years older and a partner in the firm, liked Clare and trusted his judgement. I guess they were talking to Clare about me and my inexperience. Clare, a member of the Young Men's Advertising and Sales Club of Toronto, suggested that I become a member too. Clare took me to my first Club meeting. Clare, an old time member, knew all the Club's "bigwigs" He introduced me to them. I was in awe. Here were all these "successful" advertising and sales men and I was going to be one of them! Talk about being naive! Anyway, I did join and I did become "one of them"! I can't tell you how many wonderful friends that I made along the way and what great times we had, in this short Blog, but over the coming months my alumni friends and I will try to tell at least some of the stories. Stay tuned, it was quite the ride!