Al Yarr, a head coach at Dalhousie University for four decades, died in hospital in Halifax on May 26. He was 89.

Born Alan David Yarr in Victoria on May 1, 1934, he joined the air force as a young man and was based at CFB Greenwood. While there, according to his obituary, he met his first wife, Rosemary, which "set him up for life as an East Coaster."

Yarr started his career at Dalhousie in 1963, coaching the men's basketball team. A few years later he expanded his coaching to cross-country and …