Football saved his life, and he has spent the last 17 years giving Athabasca and area kids that same experience.
“When I was in high school I had a rough childhood kind of thing, and I had a pretty big chip on my shoulder,” said Athabasca Pacer football team head coach Pete Burden. “Had I not got into football I probably would’ve been in jail or dead.”
Burden has been head coach of the Pacers since the football program’s inception, and has decided to retire this year. After only two games this season he pulled the team from the Wheatland Football League due to a very short roster.
Burden comes from a football career in Calgary, where he played on the Ernest Manning High School football team for four years, and after graduation he played junior football. A try out with the Stampeders did not work out, and Burden then played three years of senior football with the Calgary Wolfpack Football Club.
In 2000 Burden attended the first Pacers football team organization meeting after Burden’s wife heard an advertisement on the radio of a football team starting up. Burden could not have predicted 17 years later he would be the long-standing head coach of the team.
“It’s something that gets in your blood. If you’ve never played football it’s really hard to understand,” Burden said.
Under Burden’s coaching direction the Pacers won back-to-back Consolation Cups in 2004 and 2005 and held the rank on Wheatland Football League Tier 2 champions in both 2012 and 2013.
“(A) rollercoaster up and down,” Burden said.
David Pacholuk, who sat on the Pacers board in the “early years,” said Burden is an “incredible man” who has put in a lot much time.
“Peter is one of the most dedicated coaches I’ve ever seen in Athabasca, or anywhere, actually,” he said. “He gave his all for the program…A lot of times he would coach alone, he didn’t have anyone helping him.”
Indeed Burden spent countless hours away from his part time job at the Boyle Healthcare Centre – and his full time job as a farmer – volunteering as coach for the Pacers. Burden said during the football season he would usually give seven hours to coaching and about three hours a week during the off-season.
“I couldn’t imagine how many hours I’ve actually put into it, I think it might be scary,” he laughed. “There’s not too many extra hours in the day.”
Pacholuk added Burden had a skill for including every kind of kid, and would go the extra mile to take the “troubled youth” into the fold.
“I think Pete realized how much (football) helped him and he was always willing to go the extra mile to take the troubled youth – the ones that didn’t fit in – and make them a part of the team,” he said.
Burden said it is hard to realize how much as a coach you impact players, but after word spread the Pacers had folded, he received a lot of messages from Pacers alumni.
“You don’t realize how much you’ve affected their lives,” he said.
Although Burden has decided to retire this year and the Pacers have been pulled from the league, Burden said he is hopeful there may still be a future for the Pacers. He said he is trying to convince someone to take over coaching.
Burden added the future of the Pacers would likely be in six-man football, though.
“I wouldn’t mind maybe staying on as a general manager and trying to help somebody if they want to get going with it. I’ll give them all the help I can, I just don’t want to be the guy in charge anymore,” he said. “I haven’t given up hope. I would really like to see someone take it over.”
