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Written by Citizen staff
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Tuesday, 02 December 2008 |
Gale Russell, Len McNamara and Hugh Nicholson admire the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame display at the Northern Sport Centre. Russell is vice president of the hall of fame, McNamara is athletics and recreation coordinator at UNBC and Nicholson is publisher of the Prince George Citizen. (Brent Braaten photo)
Seeking higher profile, the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame partners with The Citizen in the continuing effort to recognize excellence in local sports
The Prince George Sports Hall of Fame is on a mission to raise its profile within the community. With help from the Prince George Citizen, the hall is doing precisely that.
In two city facilities -- the CN Centre connector and the Northern Sport Centre -- plaques honouring local hall of fame members are now on permanent display. The plaques, 52 in each location, were paid for by The Citizen.
As well, the newspaper bought a Prince George Citizen sign that is part of the hall of fame wall at the CN Centre connector and picked up the tab for a Prince George Sports Hall of Fame sign at the Northern Sport Centre.
In total, the paper contributed more than $5,000 toward the project.
“Prince George and the surrounding area has a long tradition of producing some outstanding athletes and The Citizen is pleased to be able to contribute to providing a legacy to those people and to commemorating their achievements,” said Citizen publisher Hugh Nicholson.
The partnership between the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame and The Citizen was cemented by hall of fame board member Ron Neukomm and Citizen advertising representative Wayne Cameron.
“It has been really quite heartwarming, the support we’ve had,” Neukomm said. “These things don’t happen unless we have support from the community and The Citizen is making a difference.”
The display at the CN Centre connector building also features a large wooden Prince George Sports Hall of Fame sign that was designed and constructed by Northern Capital Wood Products. The Martin family, inducted into the hall of fame as a group in March of 2005 for involvement in hockey and baseball, donated $2,000 toward the sign.
The hall of fame celebrates the achievements of athletes, teams, coaches, officials and builders. Nominations for induction are made by community members.
The Prince George Sports Hall of Fame Society, a non-profit organization, was formed in 1996 and its first induction ceremony was in 1997. The most recent ceremony was in April, when Boyd Bayne (boxing), Don Nachbaur (hockey), Shafeed Rahman (soccer) and Fernie Ollinger (hockey and baseball) were welcomed as hall of fame members.
Since 1997, the hall of fame has also recognized the city’s top youth athletes with awards of excellence. Youth athletes who were honoured in April were Amanda Asay (baseball/hockey), Mackenzie Cupp (judo), Tim Hempsall (speedskating), Ryan Howse (hockey), Christine Kennedy (basketball), Kenny Lally (boxing), Kyle McMahon (swimming), Leif Paulson (lacrosse), Katie Spencer (soccer), Megan Tandy (biathlon), Alyx Treasure (track and field) and Stefan Zwiers (judo).
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 December 2008 )
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