Greg Francis, right, of Toronto drives through P. Mesa of Mexico during basketball action at the Pan Am Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Monday August 4, 2003. Former Canadian men's basketball national team member and Olympian Francis has died at the age of 48. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
TORONTO – Former Canadian men’s basketball national team member and Olympian Greg Francis has died at the age of 48.
Canada Basketball confirmed the news on Monday.
Francis competed for Canada at both the 1998 FIBA men’s world championship and 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
Following his playing career, the Toronto native moved into coaching. He served as the men’s basketball head coach for the University of Alberta Golden Bears (2009-12), University of Waterloo Warriors (2013-15), and the Ontario Tech University Ridgebacks (2019-22).
In 2012, Francis led the Alberta Golden Bears to a Canada West title and a CIS national silver medal.
He was appointed as the manager of men’s high performance at Canada Basketball in 2015 and most recently held the role of Director of Sport Development for Ontario Basketball.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2023.
