Grit and Resilience: Bill Vastis’ Approach to Being Tested

Bill Vastis’s life has been defined by tests. The latest one for the former All-Canadian Gryphon defensive end and expert financial advisor is one all of us are facing – a world immeasurably changed by the coronavirus. Working from his RBC Wealth Management office in downtown Toronto, Vastis is struck by the quiet around him. The drive in on the empty streets was obviously faster than usual and the effect is sobering.

“It’s a ghost town,” says the 48-year-old Mississauga resident.

Vastis was scheduled to accept Gryphon Football’s Distinguished Alumni award at this year’s Gala. The event, like several others, has been cancelled. While the virus has put the delivery and celebration of his honour on hold, it hasn’t erased the incredible path that Vastis took to get to this point. For years, the former U of G star and two-time Yates Cup winner has used the experience he has acquired to not only help his clients but also a long list of others in need through charitable events, fundraising, and philanthropy.

But it’s taken Vastis many years to get to where he is in his life now, a successful professional with a wife and three thriving children.

“You have to connect the dots backwards to what made you who you are,” says Vastis, who embraces the importance of having grit. “Use those tools and not rest on your laurels.

“There’s nothing holding you back but yourself. We always think in the now but you have to take advantage of the marathon that you’ve been on, and the resources around you.”

Vastis didn’t always know this. He has had to pass tests at various stages of his entire life, arguably the most difficult of them coming in his final year of high school at Phillip Pocock.  His beloved mother Sotirea had battled breast cancer for six years before eventually succumbing. It was a trying time in his Greek household and Vastis was broken. He admittedly fell in with a bad crowd and made questionable decisions, a big departure for a kid who excelled athletically in football, hockey, and volleyball while in high school.

“I had this one dark year,” Vastis says, referring to himself as a “lost soul” with destructive thoughts.

Sports were in the rear-view mirror when he went to Ryerson to take Urban Planning. But a visit to the U of G campus to see a friend in the summer of 1992 ended up being a life-changing event.

“On my way out, I noticed the stadium,” says Vastis. “I literally walked into the building. This older gentleman sees me. He was an Italian man, Tony. He took me for a tour around the whole complex.”

That was legendary Gryphon Football trainer Tony D’Angelo. After showing Vastis around the facility, he introduced the young Torontonian to defensive coordinator Pat Tracey. He told Vastis that if he came to Guelph, he would be one of about 90 players invited to secure 20 spots.

“I inadvertently walked on and got recruited by Tony the equipment guy,” he says with a laugh. “He touched the heart of a lot of players.”

It was time for another test, this one more physical than emotional. On the second day of camp, Vastis had to participate in a gruelling series of sprints, a long run, and the infamous Gauntlet where two players do a head-to-head tackling drill in front of the entire group. He had not been sharp athletically after giving up sports and at 220 pounds, he was getting his “ass beat” by the bigger, dominant line players. Vastis was ready to quit.

“Every inch of my body was in pain,” he recalls. “I didn’t think it was right for me. But Coach (Dan) McNally saw something in me that I didn’t.”

Vastis got a practice off to rest and regroup and from there, one of the best careers in Gryphon Football history was born. With mentors like the great Mike O’Shea and Steve McKee, the rookie thrived. He was a third-string backup on the D line and first-string special teams player.

“The thing I remember is Bill was a very athletic player,” says Vastis’s defensive line coach and current staff member Brian Cluff. “And outgoing. To earn a dress position on a team that ultimately won a championship, that’s hard to do.

“He was one of the most complete players I’ve ever had the opportunity to coach. He could play the run as effectively as rushing the quarterback. He was a very versatile, durable athlete. And tough as nails.”

The highlight of Vastis’s first season fittingly came in the Yates Cup at SkyDome, a game the Gryphons dominated with a gratifying 45-10 win over the rival Western Mustangs. With Guelph up by a comfortable margin, O’Shea led a play that resulted in Vastis pouncing on a fumble. It was a big play indeed and the final nail in the coffin for Western, though O’Shea gave it to Vastis for not trying to pick the ball up and run with it.

“I still regret it to this day,” he says.

Vastis adds that playing football again made him feel something deeply. Strict European parents weren’t always supportive of children participating in these kind of challenging environments and being a part of Gryphon Football was almost like having a new family. That didn’t mean the path was easy. And Vastis sometimes made it hard on himself. He was loud, the city boy with the purple jeep. The maturity would come but it took time – after more tests.

Vastis thought the 1993 team was even better than the Yates winner the year before but by season’s end, they lost key players to graduation. In his third year, players like he and Kyle Walters were young leaders on a team that Vastis believed was living on past accomplishments. Rock-bottom came when Guelph lost to York in 1994. Vastis wanted to quit again. He and a group went to Brass Taps and proceeded to drink and smoke the night away before another chance meeting altered his path.

Defensive guru Dennis McPhee, the current Gryphon DC, had many positive words for Vastis in that defining moment. Former Toronto Argonaut great and NFL player Terry Greer was with Coach McPhee. The wide receiver showed Vastis his Super Bowl ring from his stint with the San Francisco 49ers and it got the young man’s attention.

“Terry told me that this (loss to York) could be the best thing to happen to me or the worst thing,” Vastis says. “He asked me if I wanted to win. I said, ‘Of course, I want to win.’ He let me wear the Super Bowl ring.

“It was like a switch went on.”

Vastis recommitted to football and the Gryphons were on the cusp of another upswing. The 1995 team had a good foundation but had trouble scoring, resulting in a second last-place finish in the league. The following season began better but there were challenges ahead.

After opening with victories against McMaster and Waterloo, the Gryphons hit a roadblock in London. Western dominated Guelph in the opening half of their early-season meeting but after a reset during an emotional halftime, the visitors got it together and played well in the second. The Gryphons lost that game, though they did exact their revenge against the Mustangs in the league semi-final weeks later.

The definitive turning point of the season involved York once again. The Gryphons trailed the Lions 24-0 at the half and were just 30 minutes away from another crippling loss, bringing back the bad memories of 1994. The room was dead silent for the first few minutes but linebacker coach Rob Pavan decided to speak up. Vastis remembers Pavan coming up with one of the most inspirational speeches he had ever heard and the team ran out for the second half screaming together. Guelph mounted the comeback and it ended on a game-winning 25-yard field goal from Krystian Stringer.

“That kick triggered the whole season,” Vastis says of the 27-24 victory over York. “It rallied everyone and put us in a mode.”

They would go on to defeat Western and then win the Yates Cup on the road in Waterloo before losing to Saskatchewan in the national semi-final. Vastis broke his finger in that meeting with the Huskies and played with blood dripping down his hand. It was his final game and though he had interest from the Calgary Stampeders, he never attended the CFL Combine and his gridiron career ended with an All-Canadian nod, a second Yates Cup, and the school’s sack record.

“I’m glad about what we did in ’96,” says Vastis. “There was a real story.”

With football behind him, he was ready for the next chapter. The foundation for his incredible financial career began in his fourth year at Guelph when Vastis met Wally Gabler Sr and Peter Partridge Sr at the Football Gala. He was overlooked for an award and embarrassed, feeling like he had let his father George down.

But 30 minutes with those two mentors determined the future for Vastis. They told him to come back strong for his fifth year, get his financial licences, and build a business plan. Now 22 years into his RBC career, Vastis is considered one of the top wealth advisors in the country. As RBC’s Vice-President & Director, Portfolio Manager, Vastis overlooks the accounts of 220 families. He has multiple degrees, including his Bachelor of Commerce from Guelph, the Family Enterprise Advisor designation from the University of British Columbia, and the Singularity University Executive Program in Silicon Valley. Vastis has an appointment to lecture at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business for the Masters of Economics and Masters of Finance programs. Before the coronavirus arrived, he was scheduled to take a senior executive course at Harvard, though that is now postponed until next year.

But one of the most important aspects of Vastis’s post-football career has been his work to help others outside of the RBC office. He is adamant that the one thing we all lose is time. That, he says, cannot be negotiated so how we use it is critical. Offering a hand to those who need it is therefore a huge part of what Vastis does. His journey on this front began with the creation of a single group – Gryphons on Bay Street. He knew of the fraternity in Toronto’s business world, which included members from the usual academic institutions like Western and Queen’s. He wanted Guelph alum to have the same opportunity – so he started a regular gathering. And he even created the Gryphon tie to identify them.

One venture has always led to another. When his second daughter was born premature, Vastis fed her through a tube for six weeks while at Mount Sinai Hospital. She was then moved to Credit Valley Hospital and the CEO there, a Guelph alum, asked Vastis to join their board. He put his vast experience to use and has created fundraisers like Brawl on Bay Street, Laugh Out Loud, Fight for Girls, and the Conquer Cancer ball hockey tournament, always, as he says, connecting the dots.

Vastis considers the creation of a Gryphon scholarship in honour of his mother to be one of his proudest moments. He credits U of G Alumni Advancement Officer Sam Kosakowski for the idea of naming the award. The Sotirea Vastis Women’s Grit Scholarship will be given annually to a female Gryphon student-athlete who is empowering women in both sports and academics, will teach and mentor others, and possesses GRIT. The inaugural scholarship was given in November to Gryphon basketball player Ashley Wheeler. The veteran player and Child, Youth, and Family student missed all of her fourth year with a torn ACL. But she has brought herself all the way back.

“The past year was one of the hardest I’ve had but being forced to sit on the sideline for a season taught me a lot about myself and challenged my physically and mentally,” Wheeler told Vastis for an entry on his RBC blog. “I truly learned what it means to be resilient and did everything I could to be prepared for the start of the season.”

Wheeler, who has been tested, represents everything Vastis values. And he lovingly warned the young Gryphon she has a lot of work ahead now that her name is attached to Sotirea Vastis. A basketball player was a good choice for Vastis, who says he always tried to embrace the “Mamba Mentality” that has been made even more famous since the recent passing of NBA great Kobe Bryant.

For the time being, his Distinguished Alumni award is on hold. He’s fine with that, using this strange time to focus on family and do things like learn to cook gourmet meals at home. It’s a time for reflection and Vastis has much to be thankful for after enduring so many challenging tests, including a major health scare 15 years ago when he had complications from a Meckel’s diverticulum while his wife was in hospital for the high-risk birth of their third child.

Vastis feels like he’s just getting started, among the same trenches just in a different field.

“When you look in your past, especially about sports, you always talk about the great times,” he says, noting that football gave him that much-needed grit. “The wins, the best plays, the people that you met. When you fast forward in life and look at where you are today and where you want to be, you credit a lot of it to the successes.

“We attribute that success to the foundation of where we started from, the roots of who we are. Had it not been for Guelph, I really don’t know what I would be doing. I’m the summary of all moving parts that Guelph gave me.

“It’s not my award, it’s everyone’s award.”

And had it not been for a quick visit to the U of G campus almost 28 years ago, the life of Bill Vastis would look completely different.

“Tony was the start,” he says. “When he let me in, I was flabbergasted. He taught me to care.

“When you do things out of love, you cannot be stopped.”

Written by: David DIcenzo