The Huntsville Sports Hall of Fame has announced its inductees and awards for 2023.
Wendy McConnell, president of the organization, says those names will be added to the Summit Centre’s wall in a celebration event on Oct. 14 at the Active Living Centre, which will also see awards handed out for other sport-related achievements.
In the athlete category:
- Linda Rosbottom will be honoured for her “tireless efforts with ladies baseball,” says McConnell.
- Colin and Rick Boucher, a “father-son tandem who both played professional lacrosse” in the National Lacrosse League.
- Joanne Bennett, who was a “big goal-scorer for women’s hockey for many years.”
Coach category:
- Rocky Clarke, for the Huntsville Junior C Hockey program. “Coaching is a thankless job, and Rocky did it in spades, and did it for so many years. I know that the guys all thought the world of him and that he was one of the best coaches in town. So we’re really excited that Rocky’s finally going in.”
Builder category:
- Alex Robertson, for lifetime contributions to Huntsville’s sports scene. “Alex devoted so much time to refereeing and umpiring in Huntsville, both baseball and hockey, and he gave tirelessly of his time.”
Team category:
- The 1997 Senior Masters Lacrosse Team, for a comeback victory that year which won them the national championship.
Awards:
- The Jan Glenn Award for female sports personality of the year goes to Nicole Dutkiewicz, for her involvement in curling. “She’s a name that’s synonymous with the curling club,” says McConnell.
- The Mike Greaves Award for male sports personality of the year goes to Mike Hill and Glen Duffield. “Those two fellers have worked for many, many years for soccer, going back to the old Huntsville German-Canadian Club. Just in the past couple of years they’ve developed a ladies soccer program that is doing very, very well.”
- The Peter Jacob Award for consistent excellence in Huntsville Sport goes to Sharon Stahls. “If anybody knows Sharon Stahls, they know that she is synonymous with sport in Huntsville. She works behind the scenes with the Terry Fox Run, the Ironman kids’ triathlon. There’s any number of events you’ll find her working behind the scenes.”
McConnell says this is just a small portion of the more than 100 nominations on the current list.
“As you can imagine, with a list of over 100 names, it certainly bodes well for our longevity,” she jokes. “I think the best thing about it is each year we’re getting new names added to the list. So we’re going to be inducting people into the hall for many, many years to come. And if your name is on the list, you may not get in right away, but certainly you’ll go in eventually.”
Tickets to the Induction Night event are $25 at the door or on hshf.ca.
