Phillylacrosse.com, Re-Posted 1/12/23 – From Staff Report and Donohue Funeral Home
Bruce T. Ikeda, affectionately known as “Big Guy” and “The Mayor” and the co-founder of Conestoga Youth Lacrosse, joined his parents George and Janet Ikeda in heaven on Wednesday, January 4th, 2023. He was 63 years old.
One of Bruce’s final requests was a gathering of friends at Great American Pub. Please join his family on Sunday January 15th from 4pm-7pm at the Great American Pub in Conshohocken (123 Fayette St, Conshohocken, PA 19428).
A church service will be held on Monday, January 16th at 10:30am at Saint Norbert’s Church (50 Leopard Rd, Paoli, PA 19301). A luncheon will follow at Waynesborough Country Club (440 Darby Paoli Rd, Paoli, PA 19301).
In lieu of flowers, Bruce requested donations in his name to Help Hope Live at https://helphopelive.org/donate/donate-to-help-hope-live/, the Youth Mentoring Partnership at https://youthmp.org/donate/, and to read “TIP” by Dave Gordon https://davegordon.net/tip-a-simple-strategy-to-inspire-high-performance-and-lasting-success/
Bruce will be remembered as a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, sibling, uncle, friend, and mentor. Since his passing, his family has received an outpouring of love and wonderful memories from family and friends. The common theme about Bruce was he was one of a kind; charismatic, jovial, genuine, and kindhearted.
Bruce was a strong swimmer as a youngster and never played the sport of lacrosse. But he became a staple to the lacrosse community in the Conestoga area and beyond in the late 1990s after his three sons – Brian (who later played college lacrosse at Providence), Casey (Maryland) and Jamie (Duke) – began to play the sport at the youth level.
Bruce had the great fortune of helping the Herzlich family start the Conestoga Youth Lacrosse program in 1997. It became his all-consuming joy. The memories of Bruce around the lacrosse field began with coaching. He later assumed the role of overseeing all of the less-seen but important aspects of the program and helped build Conestoga Youth Lacrosse into a highly successful feeder.
Bruce was known to hand out halftime waters to the referees, even if they called penalties on his sons. Later, he was able travel around the country during the boys’ college years to watch them compete. Finally, he readily volunteered to keep an eye out for talent during his son Casey’s college coaching career.
The Conestoga Youth Lacrosse program flourished under the leadership of Ikeda and the Pioneers’ high school program later capitalized on the talent pool. Conestoga won state championships in 2010, 2011 and 2012, reached the finals in 2009 and 2013 and was a national power through that period.
“Bruce gave back to a sport he never played,” said good friend Peter Zonino, whose son, Peter, was a product of the youth program and a state champion at Conestoga. “Once his kids got involved, Bruce jumped in with both feet.
“He became the go-to guy at tryouts; he knew all the kids’ names. He was such a positive influence. He was around the program constantly.
“Everybody in the lacrosse community knew him; and he never had a bad word to say about anybody. He was such a positive guy.”
“He had a way of connecting, he was such a pillar, particularly in the Conestoga program,” said good friend Scott Growney, President Emeritus of the Philadelphia Lacrosse Association (PLA). “It wasn’t that he played lacrosse, but he was always around it and loved it.”
Growney, who has been an organizer for the PLA Golf Outing since its inception in the 1990s, said Ikeda was a staunch supporter of the event – which has raised huge amounts to support lacrosse in the Philadelphia region.
“Bruce participated in the PLA golf event for 25 straight years,” Growney said. “He was always the first one to register. This past year he was the first to register but he was starting chemo so he said just get me a cart so I can drive around and see everyone.
“I think this great quote by Maya Angelou describes Bruce: ”I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ Everybody loved him, it’s how he made people feel. He was so personable and he went out of his way to meet people, make friend, and get to know their kids, get to know their kids’ interests. He was on a different level; so many people are going to miss him.”
Most recently, Bruce’s three grandchildren became his new pride and joy. They sweetly spent almost every weekend joining him on an adventure; hikes, bike rides, and playing on the playground. They brought lots of love and laughter to him in his final days on earth.
He had a tremendous passion for meeting people and a sincere interest in learning about others and their families. He was truly blessed and grateful to have so many amazing people in his life and took great pride in connecting families in his world.
Bruce had a deep love for his family. He is survived by his wife Anne Dooley Ikeda. His children Brian (Casey), Casey (Kirstie), and Jamie. His grandchildren Hana, Grant, and Quinn. His siblings Lynn (Ed), Jane (Steve), and Doug (Tanya). His nephews Eric and Danny and niece Becky. His amazing extended relatives and hundreds of friends.
Bruce grew up in Allentown PA, Tamano Japan, and Emmaus PA. He graduated from Emmaus High School in 1977 and from Muhlenberg College in 1981. He swam competitively from the age of 6-19, which led to a lifelong habit of getting up at 4:30am to work out.
His first job in sales began at IBM and extended 29 years. He started his career in Scranton PA, moved to White Plains NY, and finally landed on the Main Line of Philadelphia. During this time his passion for creating lifelong friendships really flourished. He later spent 12 years at Arthur J. Gallagher where he relished the opportunity to mentor younger teammates in sales and life. Upon retirement, he became a volunteer mentor at the Youth Mentoring Partnership and a Board Member at Help Hope Live. Here he found great joy and fulfillment.
After family, sports were Bruce’s second passion. He relished watching his sons’ teams play basketball, football and most importantly a sport he had never heard of growing up, lacrosse.
Lastly, the Thanksgiving holiday exemplified the main things he loved family, friends and food. Thanksgiving was a large legendary feast that he would begin preparing weeks in advance. It also led to the last prayer we shared again before his passing, “Thank you for the food before us, the people around us, and the love between us”.
