Desiree DeCoste
Beaver Staff
A Napanee grandmother and grandson team have written and illustrated a children’s book about the true story of his grandfather Larry Pringle, a goalie for the Ryerson Rams’ hockey team.
Larry was the goalie for the Ryerson Rams’ undefeated 1962/63 season, a record that still stands today.
Grandmother Sherry Pringle recounted that as she overheard grandson Jackson Pringle telling his friends at school about his grandfather being a Ryerson Ram with an undefeated season under his belt, the title popped into Sherry’s head.
“I’ve known the story for 50 years,” expressed Sherry. “But it was not until our grandson Jackson Pringle was overheard telling his friends at school about his grandfather being a Ryerson Ram with an undefeated season to his credit, that the title popped into my head, yes, ‘Grandpa Was a Ram’. That is a children’s book. What a great project for our grandson and myself to work on. Our Grandpa Ram was approaching a special birthday so our deadline was already set in place.”
Ryerson’s mascot was a real Ram named Eggy after the school’s founder, Egerton Ryerson. Eggy helps the team defeat the Waterloo Warriors and learns about fair play and sportsmanship along the way.
“I approached Ryerson University for permission to use their name and of course there was no problem,” Sherry stated. “Plus they graciously provided archival material about the winning game plus a team photo and list of players. Ryerson had a real Ram mascot in the ‘60s, whose name was Eggy, after the school‘s founder Egerton Ryerson. The story follows Eggy as he leads the team to victory, and learns about the importance of fair play and good sportsmanship. I felt this was a terrific learning tool for all children and adults to learn about life.”
In 2012 the original team reunited for a ceremony at the former Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto where they were inducted into Ryerson’s Hockey Wall of Fame.
“As for Jackson and myself, our time spent together recording a small bit of family history as well as this historical event for Ryerson was very special. Jackson gave me ideas for illustrations and did some of his own. And Grandpa Ram and his teammates were inducted into Ryerson‘s Wall of Fame at the former Maple leaf gardens in 2012,” said Sherry.
Copies of the book are available locally at Lansing, Touch of Wellness Spa, Home Hardware, the L&A Museum and Archives, Canadian Tire and Books on Main, Bath and Novel Idea Bookstore Kingston, through Indigo and from Sherry Pringle.