{"id":35400,"date":"2024-11-14T14:53:03","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T19:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=35400"},"modified":"2024-11-21T16:56:19","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T21:56:19","slug":"aurora-sports-hall-of-fame-welcomes-class-of-2024-future-hall-of-famers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-sports-hall-of-fame-welcomes-class-of-2024-future-hall-of-famers\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora Sports Hall of Fame welcomes Class of 2024, Future Hall-of-Famers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 11th<\/sup> Annual Aurora Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony was celebrated on Thursday evening at the Aurora Town Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emcee Rod Black welcomed 200 guests to the newly-renovated cultural facility and the 2024 inductees\u2014Marcel Gery, Milton Hart, Sandy Townsend, and Grace Wong\u2014were piped in with precision by SAC Pipe Corporal Clinton Lau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The congenial sports broadcaster\u2014who starred on CTV and TSN from 1990 to 2021 \u2013 introduced the \u201cbest-dressed Mayor in Canada\u201d and mentioned to Tom Mrakas that \u201cthe last time he saw a jacket like that was in a Justin Timberlake video.\u201d Aurora\u2019s Mayor\u2014an ardent advocate for community sports organizations\u2014 donned a maroon dinner jacket with black lapels and praised the inductees from the podium for their positive impact on the community:  \u201cYour legacy of sports excellence will forever be enshrined for future generations to emulate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mayor\u2019s colorful apparel was part of an array of on-stage hues, especially when the new, distinctive red-orange ASHOF blazers\u2014with lapels trimmed in lemon yellow \u2013 were paraded on stage by past inductees in attendance, including NHL stars Mike Palmateer and Steve Vickers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black continued to warm up the audience in the cozy Aurora Town Square auditorium and worked the stage freely. He noted the connection between war and sports heroes, presenting the valor of \u201cThe Kraut Line\u201d \u2013 comprised of Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart, and Bobby Bauer who hailed from Kitchener, ON, formerly named Berlin until 1916.  Schmidt, Dumart, and Bauer captured the 1941 Stanley Cup starring for the Boston Bruins. All three players were in their athletic prime when they joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and headed overseas to fight the Nazis. With a big video screen as backdrop, Black played the role of amiable academic as he took the audience through a history lesson that praised the sacrifices by both soldiers and athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The emcee\u2019s praise of the value of the Canadian Armed Forces was poignant and timely four days before Remembrance Day. He noted that \u201c100,000 Canadians gave their lives in the Wars so we could enjoy and play sports.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His remarks evoked a round of applause, then a standing ovation as Black described \u201cour war heroes who we\u2019ll celebrate and remember next week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black\u2019s professorial reflectivity and compelling slides set the tone for the series of rich introductory videos which encapsulated the athletic careers of the four inductees. Each was imbued with vintage video and archival footage as well as meaningful testimonials of teammates, coaches, friends, and family which set up each of the inductees\u2019 speeches effectively and efficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marcel Gery, Olympic bronze medalist at the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, offered insights into his athletic life spent in the swimming pool\u2014including \u201c5 a.m. swims in a cold pool\u201d in Czechoslovakia when the butterfly specialist honed his skills behind the Iron Curtain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gery\u2019s tale about defecting to Canada after \u201csurrendering his passport to UN authorities in Belgrade, Yugoslavia\u201d sounded remarkably like a spy novel and he praised \u201cour sponsor \u2013 the North York Swimming Club\u2014for helping my wife and I settle into life in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gery lost his composure briefly when thanking his wife, Micheala, \u201cfor the sacrifice she made when we left Czechoslovakia to begin our new lives in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The much-decorated swimmer expressed his frustration with the politics of the 1980s that cost him berths in three Olympics games\u2014twice behind The Iron Curtain in 1980 and 1984 and in Canada in 1988. Gery\u2019s gratitude about his Olympic experience with Team Canada was evident and praised his Medley team members as well as the \u201cextraordinary community\u201d of Aurora for \u201cwelcoming my family and for the lives we have enjoyed here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Olympic bobsledder and Canadian Masters sprint champion Milton Hart joked with the audience about the prospective speed of his speech and noted a bet placed with the Mayor that he \u201cwould be under two minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The charming Hart acknowledged the lessons of sports that were reinforced by his tours of duty with the Jamaican and Canadian military.  He noted \u201cthat the scoreboard does not always tell the tale.\u201d  Hart also observed that \u201cthe first half does not define you\u2014but how you finish is the most important thing\u201d and he added that \u201cin life and in sports, you need good teammates around you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hart, who won four gold medals as York University\u2019s Most Valuable Track Athlete in 1996, flashed back to his \u201cbobsled tryouts where I went from 22-degrees in Jamaica to minus-32 degrees in Innsbruck, Austria a week later where we trained for the 1992 Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current YRDSB vice-principal thanked his family and acknowledged humorously that \u201cI lost the speed of speech bet.\u201d He informed Mayor Mrakas that \u201cthe cheque will be in the mail.\u201d Hart closed his speech by connecting the failures and successes experienced in sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe learn from our failures and our successes.  I was proud of my failures since I learned so much from them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A charming interlude in the Induction Ceremony was the celebration of two Future Hall of Famers. Both were recognized for their stellar athletic accomplishments and awarded $500 cheques by local community sponsors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connor Campbell, a 16 year old student-athlete from Dr. G. W. Williams Secondary School, was applauded for winning multiple gold medals in international competition. Deb Finnear of the Aurora Optimist Club and Mike Smith of Smith-Rogers Financial presented a $500 bursary cheque to Campbell who noted that \u201cKarate has helped shape my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lindsey Strom of Royal LePage presented a $500 bursary cheque to 10-year-old Angelina Chang who has accrued over fifty golf tournament victories, including two National Championships and a winning appearance at Augusta National.  This amazing achievement was acknowledged by Black who asked the links phenom what it was like to golf at Augusta.  The student from Whispering Pines Elementary School noted that \u201cthere were so many cameras and crowds.\u201d  Black segued nicely by noting \u201cJust like tonight\u201d and he shamelessly asked for golf lessons from the 3-handicapper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chang\u2019s father, who accompanied his daughter on stage, admitted to Black that \u201cAngelina beat me by 17 strokes last week\u201d in what could have been described as the most charming interplay of the evening between Black and the inductees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandy Townsend donned the red-orange blazer next and his centre stage appearance was acknowledged by the rowdy and spirited presence of the Aurora Barbarians RFC and the CDS Cyclone coaches and players with whom the legendary local sports figure has served for over twenty-five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cBrotherhood of Rugby\u201d made itself known to the audience and to their coach onstage who noted the \u201ctremendous support of my family, including my daughter who flew in from Vancouver for this ceremony.\u201d  Coach Townsend applauded \u201cthe importance of teamwork by his Country Day School coaching colleagues and players,\u201d but he reserved his greatest praise for his \u201cdance partners with the Aurora Barbarians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Townsend reflected on \u201c25 years of teaching the game to teenagers\u201d and expressed how much he loved \u201cseeing the smiles and the dedication\u201d of his student-athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legendary rugby coach stated \u201cI\u2019ve loved every minute of it\u201d and offered an allusion to Field of Dreams<\/em> when he discussed his role as an administrator and coach for the Barbs: \u201cIf you build it, they will come\u2014and this certainly applied to the growth of the Barbarians which grew from 40 players to 500 players over a period of 25 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Townsend expressed his own satisfaction with this growth through a metaphor: \u201cLeave the jersey in a better place\u2014I have left the rugby jersey in a slightly better place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace Wong\u2019s accomplishments as an international Masters Table Tennis champion were acknowledged by Black who referred to the Aurora resident as \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d and \u201cThe Queen of Table Tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wong admitted that, \u201cI\u2019ve prepared this speech multiple times\u2014far more time spent on it than my own training.\u201d  Wong discussed the \u201ccountless highs and lows of my table tennis journey\u201d and thanked the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame for \u201corganizing such a spectacular and special event.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She called out Rod Black good-naturedly for his reference to \u201cplaying table tennis in the basement\u201d and noted that the game is much more than a game played in basements.  Wong\u2014an advocate for table tennis who competed against local residents at the Seniors Centre last Friday \u2013 discussed the scope of her \u201cfirst international tournament representing Canada which featured 4,800 players in Las Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World Champion spoke fondly of her favorite sport and noted, \u201cthere\u2019s a special kind of power in the sport of table tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wong referred to her son and daughter-in-law, her mom and dad, as well as her sister and brother-in-law who flew in from the US as \u201cthe rock of support\u201d and \u201cmy biggest cheerleaders.\u201d In a personal moment, she admitted that \u201cIt\u2019s not just about medals\u2014it\u2019s about family and friends. They are the most important treasures in my life.\u201d She thanked the Town of Aurora \u201cfor welcoming me and the game of table tennis\u201d and encouraged the audience that \u201cIt\u2019s never too late to chase your dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wong, who looked elegant in her newly-donned red-orange jacket that set off her black gown, sparkled on stage during this festive night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black closed the evening with some soothing words after a chaotic week in politics by reminding the audience that \u201cSports unite us in a divided world.\u201d The famous broadcaster and local resident reinforced the importance of our ABCs which stood for \u201cAurora Breeds Champions\u201d and \u201cAlways be Canadian\u201d\u2014sentiments that resonated deeply in his audience assembled at Aurora Town Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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