The Orangeville Sports Hall of Fame

The Purpose of the Orangeville Sports Hall of Fame

The purpose of the Orangeville Sports Hall of Fame is to celebrate those who have honoured our community through sport.  This may be either an athlete who was born here and went on to achieve greatness in sport or who while living here represented Orangeville at a high level.  There must also be room in any great Hall of Fame for those who helped build sport as a coach, on an executive, as an official or in any other capacity as deemed appropriate by the committee both within our community or someone from our community who has contributed to the greater sporting community at large.  Regardless of the selection criteria as set out below all of those who have brought honour to our community through sport should be able to find their way into the Hall

Who is eligible?
Nominees may be considered under one of the following 2 categories:

Athletes: To be considered for selection into the Hall of Fame an athlete must have been outstanding in their field of endeavour or have been highly proficient in many fields without necessarily reaching the top level in any one.  The athlete must achieve an “outstanding” level over an extended period of time or attain a single remarkable achievement of note.  Athletes competing at any level whether it be local, district, provincial, national, international, or professional shall be given equal consideration.  Exemplary feats of sportsmanship may be considered on an equal level with athletic endeavours.

The committee should attempt to maintain a broad focus however documentary evidence should be available and considered along with the views of the athletes contemporaries including team mates, coaches, and competitors.

The criteria for teams will be the same as those used for athletes however a maximum of one team may be selected in any one selection year.

Builder: To be considered for selection into the Hall of Fame as a builder a person must have made an outstanding contribution to sport either within the community or someone from the community who has made an outstanding contribution to sport at large.  This would include but not be restricted to coaches, officials, executives, sponsors or a combination of the aforementioned.  There would need to be a contribution to sport over an extended period of time however just because someone contributed over a long time does not necessitate inclusion in the Hall.  It is necessary that the contribution be made at a consistently high level or achieved consistently high results.

Nomination Form  Deadline for nominations for 2008 will be announced in plenty of time for submissions prior to a deadline.  Date of the 4th. Annual Induction Dinner will also be announced.

Nomination Form  Deadline for nominations will be March 28, 2008.

 Previous Years

Sports Hall of Fame Induction Dinner 2005
This inaugural dinner, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Orangeville, was held Saturday, May 28, 2005 and was a great community event for Orangeville.  The highlight of the evening was the induction of the first four members of the Orangeville Sports Hall of Fame, and seeing them truly moved by the recognition.

The four inductees (l to r): Dr. George Campbell (Accepted by his grandson), Phyllis Briscoe, Terry Sanderson (accepted by his daughter) and Bryon Mackie.

Sports Hall of Fame Inductees 2005
The charter inductees to the Orangeville Sports Hall of Fame have been selected by the Community Committee as follows:

Terry Sanderson - Lacrosse/Hockey - Athlete/Builder
Has won a multitude of provincial and national lacrosse titles as a player and a coach in addition to coaching 2 provincial hockey champions.  Current coach of the Toronto Rock.

Phyllis Briscoe- Lacrosse – Builder
Long time president of Orangeville Minor Lacrosse and has coached several women's provincial field lacrosse champions.  Also active in the Ontario Lacrosse Association

Bryon Mackie - Boxing - Athlete/Builder
Won two Canadian amateur boxing titles as well as national professional titles.  More impressive though is his work in creating a very successful local boxing team where none existed before and in his work with troubled youths.

Dr. George Campbell - Lacrosse – Athlete
As far as we can tell the only Orangeville resident to win an Olympic medal.  He was on the gold medal winning Canadian Lacrosse team at the 1908 Olympics in London, England. He is also a former Orangeville mayor

Induction Dinner 2006
The second annual Induction Dinner took place at 6:30 pm Friday, March 31, 2006 at Don Cherry's Restaurant, Alder Street Recreation Centre.

Our Guest Speaker for the event was Dr. Richard Pady, world class triathlete and owner of Healthy Results Fitness in Orangeville.

The event featured this year's Hall of Fame inductees selected in the categories of Athlete, Athlete/Builder or Builder.  The nomination and selection process commenced in January 2006 and nominations closed February 28th. 2006. 

Sports Hall of Fame Inductees 2006
The second group of inductees to the Orangeville Sports Hall of Fame as selected by the Community Committee for induction were as follows: 

The four inductees (l to r): Jamie Litt Mark McKendry (accepting for his sister, Michelle McKendry Ruthven), Bill Gillespie (accepting for his father, Doug Gillespie), Brian Rohmer (accepting for his father, Jack Rohmer)

Jack Rohmer - Builder
A long-time tireless worker in the sports of hockey and lacrosse as well as the founder of the Orangeville Figure Skating Club;

Michelle (McKendrey) Ruthven - Athlete - Skiing
8 world cup top ten finishes to go along with a 7^th place finish in the alpine combined at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary and a 6^th place finish in the same event in the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France;

 Doug Gillespie –Athlete - Hockey & Lacrosse
Considered by many to be Orangeville’s greatest athlete, he had a sure fire NHL career stopped by the Second World War.  Upon returning from the war Mr. Gillespie continued to win several provincial hockey and lacrosse championships as both a player and a coach;

Jamie Litt – Athlete - Hockey
Mr. Litt scored 613 points in a stellar junior hockey career and led Orangeville to its first Jr. C hockey title in 1989/90.

2007- Held at Alder Street Arena

Ross Martin – Builder - Cross Country Skiing/Gymnastics 2007
Ross started out his athletic career as a competitive middle distance runner and high jumper in high school and university before taking up softball, hockey and cross country skiing. During his time as a teacher at ODSS he coached gymnastics, volleyball, track, and cross country skiing. He shared his love of sport with others by founding both the Orangeville Gymnastics Club and the Mono Nordic Ski Club. He continues to remain active in cross country skiing by coaching elementary school age athletes at Mono Nordic.

Karen Pirie – Builder Hockey 2007
Karen was active in minor hockey and was also president of the Dufferin-Halton men’s non contact hockey league for 8 years. She was best known however for her 15 years volunteering with the Orangeville Crushers Jr. B and C hockey club where she went on to become the first female general manager of a junior hockey club in Ontario. During her tenure the team won 6 mid-Ontario Junior C Championships, were an all-Ontario finalist in 1990/91 and were all-Ontario champions in 1989/90. Karen was also instrumental in the return of Junior B Lacrosse to Orangeville.

Al Pilcher – Athlete Cross Country Skiing 2007
Al won numerous awards and competitions while competing as a student athlete at ODSS. He is most well known however for the time he spent competing on the world stage competing for Canada in the 1985, 1989, and 1991 World Championships. At the time of his induction his 7th place finish in the 50K Classic in 1989 was still the best ever by a Canadian male. He also went on to compete on the World’s biggest stage at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary and in 1992 in Albertville.

Ray Hunt – Builder Hockey 2007
At the time of his induction Ray Hunt had been involved with Orangeville Minor Hockey in one form or another for over 35 years. During that time Ray had touched the lives of literally thousands of the town’s youth as a coach, convener, ice scheduler as well as president of the organization for a number of years. Orangeville’s version of “Mr. Hockey” has received countless awards for his dedication to the community including a Paul Harris Award from the Rotary Club of Orangeville in 2003.