A wise leader, full-hearted teacher, devoted athlete and coach, and a loving friend, husband and father. Those are roles and characteristics that friends and family have used to describe Henry Kasdorf.
After a long battle with cancer, he peacefully passed away on Saturday, March 11, at age 51.
Born and raised in Steinbach, he was a teacher at the SRSS and was involved with the athletic department. He taught physical education, coached various teams and was a co-athletic director. In his senior year of high school, he was named Athlete of the Year and received the prestigious Peter Dick Award in 2017 for his school coaching accomplishments.
Long-time colleague Steve Rebizant remembers Kasdorf as a passionate educator.
Rebizant and Kasdorf have known each other for 30 years from their many roles at the Hanover School Division’s athletic departments.
“He was devoted to whatever school he was at to make things better,” Rebizant says.
Rebizant remembers cheering on the boys volleyball varsity Sabres team at the 2014 AAAA Provincial Championships, the team Kasdorf coached. It was the first AAAA volleyball provincial championship in school history.
“I’m not so much of a ‘huggy’ guy, but when he won that championship, and the crowd erupted and everybody—students, staff—poured onto the floor, I remember giving him a big hug, and I'm thinking that just felt so right. It was so good to make sure that he got that acknowledgement. That's my favourite memory,” he recalls.
Kasdorf’s light shined, and Rebizant describes Kasdorf as a “giver” and was “committed to everything he did.”
“He battled and competed in every way on the court, on ice for his coaching or playing in life, his illness, how he battled," he says. "He will be so missed in our school and our department and great colleague, great man, great friend and an all-around great human.”
For Grade 12 student Kailen Penner, Henry was a “coach, trainer, mentor and friend.” They met in the fall of 2012, and Kasdorf was alongside him ever since.
“Henry was a leader that any great leader could aspire to be,” Penner says. “He also saw the best in everyone, and he wanted them to reach their potential, not because he was trying to harp on them, but he genuinely believed that everyone had a little bit more in them.”
He recalls being trained by Kasdorf during the summertime.
“[We] would go out to the track, and Henry would run us through workouts every morning. It's not particularly exciting, but he taught me a lot during those days,” he explains.
A forward for the Eastman Selects, Penner looked up to Kasdorf for wisdom in athletics and life.
"The way he lived his life was that being prepared will always take you a long way. Whether it's training to make a team, being ready for certain situations in a sport, academically getting your grades up. He always emphasized putting in the work and being prepared and it really showed him, how he went about his life,” he says.
Jon Sawatzky and Kasdorf started as classmates and have been friends ever since. The two watched their kids grow up together and Sawatzky remembers neighbourhood dinners with each other.
To him, Kasdorf is the “best teammate” and “ultimate coach.”
“He had strong expectations and high expectations of people, but yet was also extremely graceful and believed in them and gave them second, third, fourth and fifth chances,” Sawatzky says.
However, what Sawatzky will remember most is his laugh.
“He had such a deep, hearty laugh, and when you got him going, it was so incredibly contagious,” he recalls. “He’s a big, strong guy, but had such a big heart, and his laugh was the best.”
The Henry Kasdorf Memorial Scholarship was recently introduced, and Sawatzky played a role in its coming to life.
It will be awarded annually to a graduating student-athlete who exhibits the characteristics of leadership, determination and citizenship.
“This is something that Henry had been talking about for quite some time, and we had many good discussions about how to make it happen," he explains. “He felt it was important to students and student-athletes who had similar traits—good citizenship on and off the field or the courts, strong leadership, but not necessarily of high academic achievement. There are a lot of awards for those students, and they're well deserved, but he felt it was important to recognize people who had other characteristics like him.”
There are two ways to donate to the Henry Kasdorf Memorial Scholarship.
The first method is through cheques that can be written and made payable to the Hanover School Division – Henry Kasdorf Memorial Scholarship and mailed to HSD Administration Office, 5 Chrysler Gate, Steinbach, Manitoba R5G 0E2. Donations above $25 can receive a tax receipt.
The second is through a PayPal link. The link will have instructions on how to donate and a prompt to fill out the necessary information:
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=C7ESJSDK55XNY
A come-and-go viewing be held on Friday, March 24, 2023, from noon to 2 PM, followed by the funeral service at 4:30 PM at Emmanuel Evangelical Free Church in Steinbach, followed by a time of fellowship. The interment will be a private family function.