Volume 4, Issue 2 Newsletter Winter 2011

Nova Scotia Sport Hall of fame

on the go

As the 12th Canada Winter Games gets underway February 12 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, athletes have some

lofty goals to achieve.

In the first 11 Games – one of which was held on Nova Scotia soil in Cape Breton in 1987 – provincial athletes won 21 gold medals, 32 silver and 43 bronze.

In 2007 in Whitehorse, Yukon, only one gold was won – by half-pipe snowboarder Alexandra Duckworth in a demonstration sport. There were three silvers and four bronze medals won in those games.

Obviously, the bar has been set to exceed that total and, maybe, to match or better the 14 total medals won in 1979 in Brandon, Manitoba, or in 1995 in Grand Prairie, Alberta.

Research on the Canada Games websites from 1967’s first Winter Games in Quebec City to the most recent four years ago, as complete as possible, lists the following as Nova Scotia gold medallists, a lofty achievement in a variety of sports, many against long odds and almost all against provinces with larger numbers of competitors chosen from a huge population pool.

Gold medalists:

1967 – Quebec City - G. Jones, wrestling, 160 lb1975 – Lethbridge - Chris Clarke, boxing, 125 lb - Graham Eldridge, weightlifting, middle

heavyweight1979 – Brandon - Robert Macdonald, weightlifting, 110 kg - Mike Nickel, boxing, 54 kg - James Jones, boxing, 63.5 kg1983 – Saguenay-Lac St. Jean - Graham Mauger, weightlifting, 110 kg + - Derek Logan, judo, 54 kg

1987 – Cape Breton - Men’s Basketball - Angela Coady / Glenn Maccara, figure skating,

novice dance - Elizabeth Rutt, table tennis, U-13

Nova Scotia Strikes Goldat Past Canada Winter Games

Chris Clarke, Halifax, proudly displays his 1975 Canada Games boxing gold medal won in the 125 class. Chris, a 2006 inductee to the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame, later won a gold medal in the lightweight division at the Pan-American Games and fought for Canada in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. In 1979, he won the British Commonwealth welterweight title over Clyde Gray before 10,000 fans at Halifax Metro Centre.

1991 – Charlottetown - Jason Peebles, boxing, 54 kg - Jim Dan Corbett, weightlifting, snatch, 75-

82.5 kg - Jim Dan Corbett, weightlifting, clean and

jerk, 75-82.5 kg - Jim Dan Corbett, weightlifting, total, 75-82.5

kg1995 – Grand Prairie - Jennifer Hanna, artistic gymnastics, balance

beam

1999 – Corner Brook, NL - Amanda Berry / Kate MacDonald, target

shooting, team air pistol - John Mattatall / Christa Wilson, figure

skating, novice pairs2003 – Bathhurst/Campbellton, NB - James Blood, figure skating, men’s Special

Olympics level 2 - Curtis White, boxing, 67 kg to 71 kg class2007 – Whitehorse, Yukon - Alexandra Duckworth, snowboarding half

pipe (demo sport)

Past Games Athletes Star on World Stage

✒ SIDNEY CROSBY, a Canada Games athlete in 2003, has been a hockey superstar since he was a youth player in Cole Harbour. He has starred in the Quebec Major Junior league, was chosen first in the NHL draft by Pittsburgh, was the youngest captain ever

named by the team, led them to the Stanley Cup in 2009, and has won many individual awards including the NHL scoring championship, NHL MVP and Canada’s Male Athlete of the Year.

✒ JOE DIPENTA played in Canada Games in 1993. Growing up in Cole Harbour, he was drafted 61st overall by the Florida Panthers. He played with Halifax Mooseheads and Boston University and eventually was a Stanley Cup champion defenseman with the 2007 Anaheim Ducks.

✒ DAVID KIKUCHI, a gymnast in the 1995 Canada Games and a coach of the gymnastics team in 2007, competed in every discipline in the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. His best finish was 9th in the

team all-around competition in 2008. His top individual showing was a 23rd in rings in 2008.

Jones Named to Games Hall of Honour

One of Canada’s great curlers, a two-time

world champion and six-time national champion (A Canadian record), as well as a multi-winner of the Nova Scotia championship, Colleen Jones has been named to the Canada Games Hall of Honour.

Induction into the Canada Games Hall of Honour occurs every two years during every Canada Games. The Hall of Honour recognizes, honours and celebrates exceptional Canada Games alumni who have distinguished themselves as athletes, coaches, officials or administrators, or who have made an outstanding contribution to the development and advancement of the Canada Games Movement.

At the 1979 Canada Winter Games in Brandon, Manitoba, Jones helped Team Nova Scotia capture a silver medal. She played an important role to help secure the 2011 Canada Games in Halifax. Jones won four consecutive Scott Tournaments of Hearts between 2001 and 2004 and, besides her world wins in 2001 and 2004, was runner up in 2003. She is a member of the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame.

Colleen will be recognized at a ceremony February10 at the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame at which time speed skater Catriona LeMay Doan, and builders Jim Morell of Fredericton and Guy Rousseau of Quebec will also be celebrated.

Back Row: Mark Parker (manager), unknown, David Brown, Stephen Woodman, Grant MacDonald, Kevin Veinot, Scott Gordon, Jason Wilson, Bev Greenlaw (coach)

Front Row: Wade Smith, Charles Ikejiani, Keith Donovan, Peter Leppard, James McQuaig, Augie Jones

Basketball Gold Still a Thrill 24 Years LaterKevin Veinot looks back at the 1987 Canada Games

basketball gold medal win with pride.

Now principal at North East Kings Education Centre in Canning, and an assistant coach of Acadia Axemen, for whom he starred in the 1980s, Veinot says the championship game win against Quebec was like “David and Goliath. We did something (against a much larger province with a large basketball base) that no one had ever accomplished, and still hasn’t in winning the basketball gold medal.”

Inducted in 2005, the 1987 team went 6-0 in preliminary rounds in the Cape Breton Games, then whipped British Columbia 116-86 in the semi-final before taking on Quebec in the final.

With 1,200 people packing a jammed gym, Nova Scotia jumped to a 38-35 halftime lead before running away with a 91-76 win.

“It had to be the biggest emotional win of all of our basketball careers,” Veinot says. “We had all been on provincial teams for the previous four to five years and hadn’t really won much, but this was the ultimate victory. While coaching today, I stress to our players that it doesn’t matter the size of the community you come from, it’s the size of the fight you have in you to achieve. I certainly use that win as a motivator.”

Wade Smith, vice principal at Sir John A. Macdonald High School in Tantallon, reflects that the longer he’s away from that win, the more significant he feels it is in the history of Nova Scotia sport “as a member of the first and only Nova Scotia gold medal basketball team at the Games.”

He said many people made sacrifices to be part of that team... the players, of course, but the coaching staff, and the coaches and teams for whom the Canada Games team members played who gave up their players for that one-week period (and practice time, too).

“Everyone made a commitment,” says Smith. “Today (teammate) Augie Jones is head coach of the 2013 Canada Games men’s basketball team and I’m his assistant. We stress to the players they can’t take anything for granted and stress how difficult it is, and will be, to attain our goals. We were 21 and under in 1987. Now the Games team will be 17 and under so there is a different dynamic with our players.”

He says they impress on their players that the “game owes you nothing. You owe it the sweat and tears and sacrifice. You have to play hard, with no excuses. These are things I took away from my 1987 experience.”

Many members of the 1987 team have made their mark on society in the 24 years since. While Smith and Veinot are in school administration, Jones teaches at Dartmouth High, Scott Borden is a probation officer, Jason Wilson a corrections officer, Keith Donovan and Charles Ikejiani are medical doctors. Grant MacDonald is an engineer and James McQuaid runs a music studio and promotes young artists. Others are still working and living in the province.

Many are still involved in basketball. Borden, Smith and Wilson all coach minor basketball with the latter also assisting at Dartmouth High. Manager Mark Parker, who works at the QEII Health Sciences Centre, is a coach at Citadel High. Jones is an assistant with Saint Mary’s University

men’s team. Games team coach Bev Greenlaw is head coach of Acadia University women’s team.

“It’s great to be able to give back,” says Smith. “As get older we realize the accomplishment we made and the sacrifices people made for us to do that.”

Hall of Fame Inductees Who Have Been Canada Games Participants – Winter & Summer

(Listed by Induction Year)ATHLETES:

NAmE SporT CANAdA GAmES YEAr YEAr INduCTEd

Richie Spears Basketball 1969 1980Lyle Carter Softball 1969 1984Susan Mason MacLeod Swimming 1973, 1977 1985Nancy Garapick Swimming 1973 1986Rob McCall Figure Skating 1975 1993Andrew Cole Swimming 1981, 1985 1993Anne Dodge Canoe/Kayak 1973 1994Karin Maessen Volleyball 1975, 1989 1994Karen Fraser Moore Volleyball 1979 1996Bob Piers Tennis 1969 1997Mike Henderson Hockey 1975 1999Cecilia Branch Athletics 1973 2001Barry Shakespeare Tennis 1969 2003Ricky Anderson Boxing 1975 2003Chris Clarke Boxing 1975 2006Ken Reardon Tennis (coach) 1981, 1985 2006Carroll Morgan Boxing 1971 2008Don Brien Canoe/Kayak 1977 2008Cindy Montgomerie Tye Soccer 1993 2010Janice Cossar Field Hockey 1985 2010Robyn Meagher Athletics 1985 2010Ross Webb Soccer 1977 2010

TEAmS:SporT CANAdA GAmES YEAr YEAr INduCTEd

Softball 1981 2001Basketball 1987 2005

Builders (includes coaches and managers, as known, not referees, umpires or officials):NAmE SporT CANAdA GAmES YEAr YEAr INduCTEd

Eddie Gillis Baseball 1977 1980Freda Wales Ski (athlete) 1971 1981Owen Sawler Rowing 1973, 1985 1987George Kehoe Hockey 1967 1988Nigel Kemp Swimming 1977 1989Keith MacKenzie Basketball 1975, 1979 1991Joyce Myers Badminton (athlete) 1967, 1971 1996George Athanasiou Soccer 1993 1997Al Yarr Basketball 1967 2000Terry Henderson Softball 1977 2002Bernie Chisholm Athletics (athlete) 1969 2004Hugh Matheson Hockey 1971, 1975, 1979 2004Steve Konchalski Basketball 2001 2007 Don Koharski Lacrosse (athlete) 1969 2007Wayne Finck Lacrosse (athlete) 1969 2008Gus Fahey Hockey (athlete) 1967 2009Kevin Heisler Athletics 1981, 1985, 1989 2010Carl Buchanan Games President 1987 2010

Members of Inducted Teams Who Participated in Canada Games (as known)

Joan Selig Langley, Merle Richardson, Judy Rice, Nancy Dunbrack Tokaryk, Helen Castonguay, Kathy Mullane – 1975 Canada Games Field Hockey team - inducted with Canadian championship team in 1995

Judy Lugar – Sailing - athlete 1985, manager 1993 - inducted in 2006

Andreas Josenhans – Sailing manager, 1981 - inducted in 1983

Glen Dexter – Sailing athlete 1969 - inducted in 1983

David Brown, Scott Borden, Keith Donovan, Charles Ikejiani, Augie Jones, Peter Leppard, Grant MacDonald, James McQuaid, Wade Smith, Kevin Veniot, Jason Wilson, Stephen Woodman, Mark Parker (Manager), Bev Greenlaw (Coach) – 1987 Men’s Basketball - inducted in 2005

Karin Maessen, Karen Fraser Moore – Dalhousie University Women’s Volleyball 1982 - inducted in 2002

Paul Long, John Butts, Greg Patton, Carl Smith, Scott Billard, Darrell Hadley, Harold Lowe, Mike Hart, Craig Cavicchi, Jeff Whitman, Jim Fitzpatrick, Paul Blackmore, Dave Fraser, Danny Ryan, Jim Hoffman (Asst. Coach), Ron Clarke (Coach) – 1981 Canada Games Junior Softball - inducted in 2001

Terry Henderson (Coach), Hughie Matheson, Robert Putnam, Mike Henderson – 1980 Brookfield Elks Softball - inducted in 1988

1905 Pitcher now on disPlay at hall

With Love: On the Back of a Harley Davidson

At 5 o’clock on June 7, 1905, the room was decorated in purple and white – the

colours of the Amherst Ramblers hockey team. With three cheers and the Ramblers chorus, the Ramblers Club greeted Lorne Simpson and his bride, Miss Annie Higgins. The wedding was underway.

One of the greatest hockey players in the Maritimes, Lorne was also a member of Ramblers Club. He was dedicated to sports. When the ice had melted for the season, he worked to keep baseball and football clean and respectful.

It was not just a wedding, though. Lorne had taken a job in Edmonton, so this was also a goodbye. The Ramblers Hockey Team presented the young newlyweds with a beautifully engraved silver water pitcher, “From RHT 1905”. Then off went the pitcher and the happy couple to Edmonton. Soon, however, the Simpson family returned permanently to Nova Scotia, setting up a home in Stewiacke.

Lorne’s daughter, Lorna, was also a hockey player. Coached

by her father, she played for the Stewiacke Ladies, before moving to Massachusetts.

Lorne gave his daughter the silver pitcher, shortly before he passed away in 1951. She kept it until she passed away when the pitcher went to Earlene, Lorna’s daughter (Lorne’s granddaughter).

Earlene and her husband cared for the pitcher until 2010. They realized it belonged in Nova Scotia, so they got on their Harley Davidsons and drove about 1000km from their home in Massachusetts to the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame.

Now, the pitcher is back in Nova Scotia and the Hall of Fame will keep it and its story for all to enjoy, because it is not just a silver pitcher, is it? It is over 100 years of history, born from the Nova Scotian love of hockey and the love shared between two people. So,

grab someone you love and bring them to the Hall of Fame, because even hockey can be romantic.

Hall of Fame intern, Tinisha Stilling, prepared this story.

on the Gowinter 2011 – Volume 4, issue 2

Publisher – Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fameeditor – Joel Jacobsonlayout & desktop – Paula Yochoffresearch – Shane Mailman, Tinisha Stillingcontact – Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame Tel: 902.421.1266 Website: www.nsshf.com Email: sporthalloffame@eastlink.ca

Chris Flynn First Non-Pro Named to Canadian Football Hall of Fame Since 1963

The Canadian Football Hall of Fame is about to

slightly alter its all-professional player focus to include amateur athletes.

Chris Flynn, former star quarterback with Saint Mary’s Huskies in the 1980s, a three-time Hec Crighton Award winner as the outstanding player in Canadian University football, was recently elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

He was a Canadian college quarterback who could do it all mechanically, yet through an intuitive art of improvisation had an uncanny ability to call the right play in any given situation. The vision of Chris Flynn scrambling in the backfield, warding off defenders, and controlling the play until he uncovered his receiver, was a sight that fans will forever cherish in the career of an exceptional athlete.

His individual distinctions were awesome; four-time AUS All-Star QB; three time CIS All-Canadian QB; CIS records

for most TD passes in a season and career; leading rusher QB in CIS history; and the ultimate mark of greatness, his unprecedented three times as national MVP Hec Crighton Trophy winner. From 1987 to 1990, Chris led Saint Mary’s to a 27-2 regular season record, both losses coming on the road in 1987; four AUAA championships; a 2-2 record in four Atlantic Bowls; and two Vanier Cup appearances. In 1988, ’89 and ’90, Flynn and the Huskies lost only three games, one each season and all to the eventual national champions.

BlackBerry Sponsors Hall of Fame Theatre

BlackBerry has signed a three-year sponsorship agreement

obtaining naming rights to the BlackBerry Theatre in the Hall of Fame. The theatre area is a marquee location hosting schools, groups, media conferences, corporate meetings, receptions and thousands of visitors to the Hall. Executive Director Bill Robinson stated “BlackBerry is a great international Canadian company with which we are proud to be associated with.

The new Hall of Fame has attracted over 80,000 visitors annually in its first four years of operation.

Nova Scotia National Champion Basketball TeamsCanadian interuniversity sport ✒ 1964-65 – Acadia University *✒ 1970-71 – Acadia University *✒ 1972-73 – Saint Mary’s University *✒ 1976-77 – Acadia University *✒ 1977-78 – Saint Mary’s University✒ 1978-79 – Saint Mary’s University✒ 1992-93 – St. Francis Xavier University✒ 1998-99 – Saint Mary’s University✒ 1999-200 – St. Francis Xavier University✒ 2000-2001 – St. Francis Xavier

Canadian Juvenile Boys

✒ 1932 – New Waterford St. Agnes *✒ 1950 – Queen Elizabeth High School Lions *✒ 1956 – Queen Elizabeth High School Lions✒ 1961 – New Waterford Central High School✒ 1964 – Queen Elizabeth High School Lions

Canadian Men’s senior

✒ 1972-73 – Halifax Wandlyn Inn✒ 1977-78 – Halifax Budget Rent-A-Car✒ 1980-81 – Halifax Budget Rent-A-Car

Nova Scotia Teams Win Major Hockey Championships

Nova Scotia hockey teams, in several categories, have experienced considerable success at the national level.

The list below ranges from professional to senior men’s, junior men’s and university men’s.

Calder Cup – playoff champions of the American Hockey League✒ 1971-72 Nova Scotia Voyageurs *✒ 1975-76 Nova Scotia Voyageurs✒ 1976-77 Nova Scotia Voyageurs✒ 1992-93 Cape Breton Oilers

allan Cup – senior men’s championship✒ 1934-35 Halifax Wolverines *✒ 1997-98 Truro Bearcats

alexander Cup – Tier Two senior men’s championship✒ 1952-53 Halifax Atlantics *✒ 1953-54 Halifax Atlantics *

Hardy Cup – Tier Two senior men’s championship✒ 1989-90 Dartmouth Moosehead Mounties

royal Bank Cup – Junior A championship✒ 2001-02 Halifax Oland Exports

Canadian interuniversity sport university Cup

✒ 1993Acadia University✒ 1996 Acadia University✒ 2004 Francis Xavier University✒ 2010 Saint Mary’s University

* inducted in the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame

Fred Perry Jr. celebrates St. F.X. national championship in 2001.

Canadian Men’s interMediate

✒ 1946-47 – New Waterford Strands✒ 1947-48 – New Waterford Strands

* inducted in the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame

Pat Daly Named 2010 Volunteer of the Year

Long-time volunteer, Pat Daly, was presented the Volunteer of the Year award at Induction Night last

November.

The president and CEO of Marcap Realtor Managers, a property management company, is a former member of the Hall’s board, chaired the Hall of Fame Golf Tournament for the last 14 years through he helped raise over $300,000, and was a major player in the capital campaign to develop the current Hall of Fame site.

Pat, an original Gold Club member, is a former national women’s ski team coach.

“He’s a doer,” says Hall of Fame executive director Bill Robinson. “With his passion for the Hall, he has been one of our most consistent, long-time volunteers.”

The Tim Hortons Sports Simulator is more realistic than ever as men and women, boys

and girls, test their skills against the computer-generated athletes on screen.

A new software package has been added which shows better graphics as hockey, soccer, basketball, football and baseball enthusiasts —people of all ages—live their dreams of outsmarting the computer athletes. The response time of the computer is quicker which adds to the enjoyment of the participants.

Updated Graphics Excite Simulator Users

Bill Robinson (right) and John Randles (left), a long-time friend of Pat, making the presentation last November.

A gala November night brought together six athletes and three builders as the newest inductees to the Nova

Scotia Sport Hall of Fame.

Pictures tell the proverbial 1,000 words. The joy on the faces of the new entrants to the provincial Hall of Fame shows the excitement of being recognized among the elite in provincial sport history – as athletes and builders. Memories created on induction night will live forever in the hearts and minds of the nine new Hall of Fame members and their families and friends.

The 2010 Induction Class of the Nova Scotia Sport Hall

Stars Shine on Induction Night 2010 of Fame was recognized November 6th. Inductees were Carl ‘Bucky’ Buchanan, builder; Janice Cossar, multi-sport; Mike Forgeron, rowing; Kevin Heisler, builder; Robyn Meagher, athletics; Rick Rivers, builder; Gary Sabean, karate; Cindy Tye, soccer; and Ross Webb, soccer.

Hall of Fame inductee Gary Sabean is interviewed on stage by emcee Bruce Rainnie.

Did You Know…

✒ Sydney-native Paul Boutilier was a member of Canada’s 1980 World Junior Championship Team and was voted the best defenceman in the tournament. He was drafted 21st overall by the New York Islanders in 1981. In 1983, his first year as a pro, he played 29 regular season games and two playoff games with the Islanders and earned

a Stanley Cup ring. He was inducted in 1994.

✒ Three basketball inductees had tryouts with National Basketball Association teams and one played a season in the world’s top basketball league. Brian heaney (inducted 2009) played with Baltimore Bullets after a superb career at Acadia University. richie sPears (1980), New Waterford, started with the Axemen in the 1950s and 1960s, then had a tryout with St. Louis Hawks but chose to remain in Nova Scotia. micKey FoX pictured right (2009), a many-time All-Canadian with Saint Mary’s Huskies, was drafted by Detroit and Portland but remained in Nova Scotia to build a teaching career.

✒ douGlas “duGGer” macneil, Halifax, has been inducted to the Hall of Fame THREE times – as a member of the 1948 Saint Mary’s hockey juniors (inducted 2002), the 1952 through 1954 Halifax Atlantics (1980) with whom he was a player-coach, and as an individual athlete, a tough defenseman with every

team on which he played (1988).

✒ william nJoKu, Halifax, starred for the Saint Mary's Basketball team. The 6'8 Centre was all-Canadian and voted Canada's top CIS University player in 1992-93. William was drafted in the second round of the NBA draft by the Indianna Pacers.

✒ Port Hood claims two Hall of Famers. Hockey superstar al macinnis, with a Stanley Cup ring, Olympic gold medal, the first Nova Scotian to win a winter gold, and multi-all-star recognitions, and football icon Bruce Beaton, a two-

time Grey Cup champion and many-time conference and league all star, both hail from the small Cape Breton community. MacInnis was inducted in 2008 and Beaton in 2009.

✒ miKe henderson, Brookfield, played in the 1975 Canada Winter games as a hockey player but was recognized by the Hall with induction as an individual athlete in 1999 as an athlete for his stellar long-time performances with Brookfield Elks fastball team. That club was inducted in 1988 for winning the 1980 national senior men’s championship.

✒ Paul maclean, Antigonish, made a splash in the hockey world by playing Major Junior hockey, CIS hockey with Dalhousie Tigers, leading them to their first AUS hockey title, was a member of Canada’s national team, and had a 10-year career in the National Hockey League. He scored more than 40 goals

three times, finished 11th in league scoring in 1984-85 with 101 points and scored 324 goals and 349 assists in a 719 game career, he’s now an assistant coach with Detroit Red Wings. Paul was inducted in 1995.

Paul’s Team Canada Sweater is in the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame. Note the misspelling of his last name. He was BEST DEFENSEMAN in the tournament and they STILL got it wrong.

In MemoriamPaul mason, Bedford, N.S., a member of

Fisherman’s Market Midget Boys Fastball national champions, passed away December 11, 2010 in Halifax. He was also an active hockey player and coach, an avid runner and promoted healthy living. The team was inducted to the Hall in 2006.

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