Sarnia Lambton Sports Hall of Fame 2014 Induction
Monday september 29, 2014
The Thirty Second
Annual Sarnia Lambton Sports
Hall of Fame induction dinner
was held on Saturday September
27th at the Camlachie Community
Centre with 266 people in
attendance.
Two local
athletes were inducted under the
Amateur Athlete category.
Accepting on behalf of Mark
Kilbreath was his wife Diane who
is pictured with their children
Katlyn and Jacob. Mark
passed away in 2012 at the age
of 54 was a talented multi sport
athlete that included wrestling
and racquetball. Mark won
numerous competitions in
wrestling and became one of the
top ranked doubles racquetball
players in the country.
Mark Hart also
received the Amateur Award for
his accomplishments in lacrosse
and hockey. Hart was a
member of two National
Championships teams with the
Point Edward Jr. B Pacers and
earned a full hockey scholarship
to Colgate University.
"It's a great honour to be a
part of the Sarnia Lambton
Sports Hall of Fame." Hart said
after receiving his award
"Not only for Lacrosse and
hockey but to be able to share
it with everybody here tonight
with well deserved Inductees and
many many great inductees in the
past. It's a great honour to be
here and I'm ecstatic to be part of
this event."
The Earl
MacKenzie Award honours those
people involved in sports at
least 30 years prior to the year
of induction. This year
recipient was Dean McEachen.
"It's surreal." McEachen said
"I'd reflect on it the first
time I won MVP a guy came over
to me at a big dinner banquet
like tonight and said, you know
enjoy this moment it doesn't
happen often and I'm really
enjoying the moment."
McEachen
accomplishments range from great
success in amateur sports to
founding, coaching and
administration for local sports
team with beginnings in 1957.
McEachen competed in fastball,
hockey, touch football,
billiards and sailing and won
many team awards along with
individual awards.
The Bud Haveling
award for Special Achievement
was presented to Referee and
Umpire Charles Maxwell.
Maxwell officiating began in
1968 as a volunteer umpire for
SMAA fastball and high school
basketball. His umpiring
spanned over a total of 44 years
in Men's Ladies and Minor
baseball, fastball and two
pitched. In 1970 Mr. Maxwell
became a minor hockey referee
and refereed hockey for 26
years. Mr Maxwell's was very
appreciative after receiving his
award. He said that he did
a lot but enjoyed every minute
of it.
Doug Campbell was inducted under
the Bud Morrison Category.
This category recognizes a
person who over a number of
years has made significant
contributions to the youth in
their sport endeavours. (ie:
coach, manager, official,
trainer, facility maintenance,
including school officials)
"I'm still
speechless, I have been since
the day I found out that I been
elected and it's so surreal."
Campbell said " I'm coming to
grip with it but I'm still
floating on cloud nine."
Campbell came to
Canada in 1963 and continued to
play and coach soccer until
1997. He later became a
level 3 trainer and has trained
with AAA, Jr.C and Jr. B hockey
throughout Lambton County and
has completed 14 consecutive
years as trainer at the Alliance
Hockey Under 17 AAA camp held in
Woodstock. Campbell
is known amongst the minor
hockey community for his many
attributes including his
positive attitude, willingness
to help in any situation and
most importantly, for always
treating minor hockey players
with respect and kindness. Today
he is the Trainer for the
Lambton Shores Predators.
The Professional
Athlete award is presented each
year
to
athletes for their outstanding
performance at the professional
level. In this category the
athlete must have achieved
professional status and
maintained that level for three
years or three seasons and be
retired from his/her
professional career for a
minimum of three years.
Kerry Fraser met
and surpassed the requirements
with his 30 year career as an
NHL referee. Kerry who
retired at the end of the
2009-2010 season was selected to
referee in twelve different
Stanley Cup Finals with his
first in 1985 as the youngest
referee ever. He
officiated at the 1996 World Cup
in both Europe and Gold medal
rounds in North America. He also
officiated at the 1998 Winter
Olympics in Nagano, Japan, two
NHL All Star games and the 2010
Winter Classic held at Fenway
Park in Boston.
Kerry was overwhelmingly
selected as the best referee in
the NHL thought independent
polls of NHL players conducted
annually by ESPN and the Toronto
Sun. Referee magazine
selected Kerry as one of the top
10 officials of the century in
any sport.
"I'm am
humbled." Kerry said "I truly believe
that my career was enhanced
based on the background that I
had as a young athlete growing
up in the city and the
opportunities the Sarnia Minor
Athletic Association provided
and then on to the Junior level.
Without the tutelage of
those great people that donated
their time as coaches and
managers I never would have
succeeded in the National hockey
league as a referee."
The team award was presented to
the 1962 Jr. Knights Football
team for winning the league
title. They went on and
defeated the Toronto Lakeshore
Bears 19 - 0 to win the Ontario
Junior ORFU Championshp, the
first team to bring back the
Ontario Championship since 1934.
The team were finalist at the
Eastern Canadian Finals losing
to the Montreal NDG Maple Leafs.
Members on the 1962 team
included
Jack Craig, Jack Armitage, Cal
Adams, Tom Belton, Don Ecker,
Dave Fleet, Al Ische, Logan
Millman, Mike Moore, Rollie
Ranson, John Clark, Ted Eveland,
Doug Fraser, Mac Kechnie, Gene
Lakusiak, Barry Mattingly, Jim
Patterson, Skip Ross, Gerry
Stewart, Paul Wellington, Dan
Charyk, Dan Churchill, Lou Daws,
Dan Plazek, Ron Jackson, Ray
Mallette, Ed Petronski, Ernie
Plain, Larry Cassin, Chuck Dunn,
Stan Griffiths, Pat Hudak, Ed
Tyro and Dick Waring.
Staff Members included Archie
McAffer, Don Mattingly, Tom
Dwinnell, Ed Macdonald and Carl
Burden.
The final
presentation of the evening was
the Rose Hodgson Memorial Award
presented in recognition of
outstanding contributions to our
community. Rose was a founding
member of the Sarnia Lambton
Sports Hall of Fame who
contributed her time to our
community and country and the
award was created in her memory
to honour her achievements.
Past recipients of the award
include Wilma McNeil, Bonnie &
Bob Young, Grace Schultz-Muser,
Steve Locke, Don Cook, Jorge
DeGuzman and Bonnie Kearns.
The 2014 Award was presented to
Dave Watson.
"It's amazing" Watson said after
accepting his award. "It's just
amazing, I never thought I be
grouped in that same category."