Dad hall of fame
Annual Hall of fame inductees
Each year, Dad Club London inducts a local dad into it's London Dad Hall of Fame.
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The winner is announced at our year-end party.
A big CONGRATS goes out to our annual winners!
2021 recipient
Jamie Sweetman
Jamie Sweetman
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Our 2021 inductee comes on the heels of the most unimaginable year possible. 2020 saw the rapid spread of the Coronavirus pandemic, and life as we knew it changed almost overnight. Dads spent over 8.5 months in various states of lockdown and isolation with their families.
Life for many came to a standstill, and social and work arrangements were turned upside down almost overnight. Many began working and schooling from home and only seeing their immediate family, in the name of trying to slow the spread of the highly contagious virus.
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Not every dad had that option. Many members of our organization were called to their duties as essential workers and required to fulfill their roles daily that kept our society functioning as greatly as possible.
One of the most important essential worker roles came in the healthcare field. Coronavirus is invisible and hits unexpectedly and hits fast. From day one, it was known that there was not enough testing access or enough PPE available to keep everyone safe. Yet our front-line workers kept bravely attending and doing their jobs to the fullest every single day.
Jamie Sweetman is one of those workers, and a uniquely awesome and noteworthy dad to boot. Jamie works as an Emergency Department Technician at London Health Sciences Centre, where he is known system-wide for his “joie de vivre” when it comes to being a hospital employee. This tenacious and vivacious spirit was not affected in the least by the world around him. Jamie kept coming to work, day after day with his spirit high and his desire to help unchanged.
Jamie came into his wife Chrissy’s life sixteen years ago and immediately began to raise her three-year-old daughter as his own. They also have had another daughter and a son together as well since.
Outside of work and Dad Club London volunteer duties, which include graphic design and event volunteer support, Jamie has also been a four-year member of the Movember London campaign and a two-year chairperson.
Jamie reports that a highlight of 2020 was taking COVID-19 head-on and working 12-hour shifts in full PPE and having the chance to do whatever was needed to keep the Emergency Department humming along in times of difficulty.
During isolation outside of work, he was able to build two large planters and renovate his mudroom with the assistance of Dad Club construction experts.
In 2021, his family has adopted a puppy that they are looking forward to training together; and he will continue to be on the front lines lending a hand every single day in the fight to keep others healthy and contain the virus. Jamie’s father Al Sweetman recently passed away, and Jamie has requested that the charitable donation in his honour as part of his induction be shared with St. Joseph’s Hospice in his dad’s memory.
Dad Club London is honoured to be able to induct Jamie into our London Dad Hall of Fame to show our gratitude for his selfless efforts fighting COVID-19 on the front lines in our hospitals, and continuing to be an excellent father, husband, role model, and friend outside of work in his downtime.
Thank you to Jamie and to all of the other front-line workers for keeping us safe and supported in our time of global crisis.
2020 recipient
Tim Smuck
Tim Smuck
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Tim Smuck is our 2020 Hall of Fame inductee for a very important and simple reason. Tim was Dad Club London personified.
Tim was the proudest father imaginable of his two sons, Ace and Lincoln. He loved his job selling vehicles at Toyotatown as his alter ego, “Toyota Tim”. He was a boisterous and gregarious father, employee, fiancee, and friend.
Tim was the quintessential “I’m in” friend that we all needed. If you needed help with doing something, he was in. If you needed a few dollars for a good cause, he was in. If you were looking for some friendly advice or a kind word to lift your spirits, he was in. Tim was always there for everyone and everything.
We last saw Tim on February 9th, 2019. We had a “Dad Club Takeover” of Play Away Indoor Park and Playground, an event Tim attended religiously with his boys. Tim spent the morning eating waffles with his sons and chasing them around the playground with their giggles echoing through the slides and tunnels.
At the end of the event, our goodbyes were shared at the door. Tim remarked that he wouldn’t be able to make the meet up the following weekend because he was going away to go skiing with some friends for his 40th birthday. That night, Tim posted a nine-minute slideshow and highlight video on his Facebook of the delightful morning he spent with his sons and amongst friends and their kids. He observed that he couldn’t wait for the next one.
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Tragically, there was no next one for Tim. He was killed in a freak accident on the ski hill the following weekend. The accident occurred at the worst possible time, with his fiancee Holly also undergoing cancer treatment at the same time.
Tim’s friends united in his family’s time of need and were able to collect over $64,000 on his family’s behalf. His legacy as a gentle giant and a proud and loving father and partner will never leave us, and we are honoured to induct him into our hall of fame as a beacon of what we all are - dads who love their family and their community and want to give back and make every day count. Tim did, and we all can do it too for him and Holly and his boys.
2019 recipient
John Davidson
John Davidson
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John was nominated and voted unanimously for 2019
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He walked across Ontario pushing his son Jesse’s wheelchair, and across Canada alone in support of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
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His 11,600 KM walked has led to an endowment fund for research with over $10,000,000 in it
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For more information on John, and Jesse's Journey, please visit their website.
2018 recipient
Robert "Bob" Jez
Robert Jez:
Known as “Bob” to friends, family, colleagues, teammates, and opponents all over, Robert Jez swept 100% of the vote for the 2018 inductee to the London Dads Hall of Fame.
After valiantly and gracefully battling colon cancer for many years, Bob’s fight came to an end on November 1st of this past year.
Bob was a Londoner through and through, and journeyed from dominating the gridiron at perennial football powerhouse Catholic Central High School to donning the purple and white of his beloved University of Western Ontario Mustangs football team.
Winning respect, admiration, and love from all that he encountered for his unique blend of wit, sincerity, and kindness; Bob seamlessly transitioned from student athlete to teacher and coach at multiple London area catholic secondary schools.
Bob met and fell in love with the love of his life Emily, and they settled down together as fellow teachers and began their family. After three beautiful children together, Bob received the news of a devastating diagnosis, but did not skip a beat in being the person he was and living the life he wanted to leave.
Until his last days, Bob lived the same generous, kindhearted, and others first perspective that was intrinsic from birth. We are all better men for having met and known Bob, and we will all carry his memory and the foundations of his spirit with us for as long as we remain on this earth.
2017 recipient
Dr. Joseph Vladars
Dr. Joseph Vladars:
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Reading the name of our inaugural entrant into the London Dads Hall of Fame likely made you either cringe, or grin and look up and utter a silent thank you. The most polarizing well intentioned man in the world of fatherhood has been an absolute legend in the field of vasectomies since we were all getting down with Sears bra sale fliers.
Since 1995, Dr. Vladars has performed over 10,000 vasectomies, and is currently knocking out over 1,000 a year. His no scalpel no syringe fast and incredibly tolerable procedure has saved London dads millions of dollars in unspent diaper, formula, and daycare money for thousands of otherwise potentially unplanned children. Dr. Vladars’ professionalism and spotless track record of success has led to plenty of worry-free trysts of a romantic nature for our members, and it went without saying that his contribution to effective family planning is appreciated by dads all over and needed to be permanently recognized by his inaugural entrance into our Hall of Fame for 2017.