The gifted athletics coach and administrator, who died last week, was all about creating champions, nurturing talent and service to others.

He loved his athletes more than himself and understood what made them tick.

Armstrong had an uncanny nature of knowing how to motivate his athletes and saying the right things. He made them feel like winners.

It wasn’t only in athletics, but also in football that he proved influential, with his charges accumulating enough assorted silverware to fill a mass of trophy cabinets.

Always available, always comfortable in the spotlight, and never short of an opinion, he was everything: coach, manager, administrator, organiser of runs and walks, and the conscience of sport.

Armstrong relished in building something from the ground up, but more than that it was selfless service.

He died of cancer on Aug 1, aged 82, and every tribute that followed remarked on what a humble gentleman and a muti-sport strongman he was.

In his final years, as illness exhausted him, sport, family and friends were what kept Armstrong going. It was his life.

He loved doing work for social organisations, as well, for the joy it offered, and the relationships it could build between different people.

His humility is why sporting personalities had maintained a close relationship with Armstrong over the years as a mark of respect for the man who had made an impact on their sporting careers.

Malaysia’s sprinting great Dr Mani Jegathesan said he had known Armstrong since the 1960s when athletics was driven by the fierce rivalry between clubs such as Jets and Lights.

“As a key promoter of athletics at club level, Leslie embodied the amateur spirit in terms of developing young athletes,” said Jegathesan, who represented Lights.

In his 55 years in athletics at national and state levels, Armstrong played a major role in various capacities, most prominently as president of Kuala Lumpur-Federal Territory Athletics Association in his advanced years from 2015-2017.

Former national women’s sprinter Mumtaz Jaffar said many elite athletes owed their progress in track and field to Armstrong’s technical and fitness expertise, while his ability in uncovering talent was exemplary.

Banking on Armstrong

Armstrong was the sports coordinator at Public Bank from 1983 to 2002 when it was a powerhouse in athletics, football, hockey and netball.

The bank’s former football captain, Thomas Samuel, recalled that Armstrong was the team manager when Public Bank won the Governor’s Cup inter-bank tournament in 1991.

“He was always proud of that achievement,” said Samuel, who is now honorary secretary of the Ex-State and Ex- National Footballers’ Association.

He said under Armstrong’s strict and structured physical training programme, the team could play at full capacity for 120 minutes or more.

“He made us feel so welcome and just wanted us to enjoy ourselves, and he was like that all the time,” he said. “His famous words that we all remember with humour is ‘you bloody rascals’”.

E Elavarasan, the assistant head coach of the national football team, said Armstrong was his boss in the bank’s sports department for 20 years.

“He taught me everything on and off the pitch and I was privileged, like many other athletes, to benefit from the mentorship of a fine gentleman and dedicated coach.

“His kindness, integrity, and the positive impact he had on the sporting fraternity speak volumes about him,” said Elavarasan.

Former national 400m hurdles record holder, Anto Keney Martin, noted that Armstrong was one of the prime movers of the inter-bank athletics competition that at its height produced about 70% of the national track and field stars.

He said the championships were a regular fixture in the domestic athletics calendar in the 1980s and 1990s and it was because of people like Armstrong that athletes maintained flexibility in terms of their working-training schedule.

The feats of ex-national athletes like sprinter G Shanti, hurdlers Nur Herman Majid and Martin, and decathlete Hanapiah Nasir hogged headlines in the sports pages, with Armstrong’s unvarnished comments on the sport getting equal coverage.

Armstrong and a hitman

The football exploits of former Sabah hitman Scott Ollerenshaw in the M-League began with the influence of Armstrong.

Ollerenshaw said in 1994, Armstrong first introduced him to Pahang FA, then to Kuala Lumpur FA, and finally Sabah FA.

He was referred to Armstrong, who was then active with KLFA, by a friend in Australia. “I sent him a video of myself playing and he obviously saw something in me.”

“I trialled at Pahang, scoring two goals against Kuala Lumpur in a friendly match, and they said ‘no.’

“A couple of days later, I trialled at Kuala Lumpur, scoring two goals as well, and they too said ‘no’,” he said from Kota Kinabalu.

Ollerenshaw said Ken Shiletto and Yunus Alif, the coaches for Kuala Lumpur and Pahang respectively, said there had been a miscommunication as they were looking for a centreback not a striker.

The former Socceroos player then returned to Sydney, only for Armstrong to call him 48 hours later to say Sabah wanted to have a look at him.

“I wasn’t sure about going to Sabah because both Pahang and KL had rejected me, but Leslie encouraged me to give it a shot,” he said.

Ollerenshaw said although he did not play well in a friendly match for Sabah, coach Kelly Tham signed him up, “and the rest is history.”

“It’s fair to say that without Leslie’s influence, help and encouragement ,I wouldn’t have ended up playing in Malaysia. For that, I will always be eternally grateful to him.

“He was a lovely man, humble, helpful and honest,” said Ollerenshaw, who won the Golden Boot award twice when he represented Sabah in the M-League in the 1990s, and is now technical director of Sabah FA.

The wake service for Armstrong continues today from 2pm-10pm at the St Ignatius Church funeral parlour, Petaling Jaya, and the funeral mass is at 10am tomorrow at the same church followed by the final rites at MBPJ Crematorium in Kg Tunku.