{"id":8913,"date":"2014-11-12T16:37:04","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T21:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=8913"},"modified":"2014-12-10T13:50:42","modified_gmt":"2014-12-10T18:50:42","slug":"aurora-sports-hall-of-fame-inducts-class-of-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-sports-hall-of-fame-inducts-class-of-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora Sports Hall of Fame inducts Class of 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n

The bright light of community sports shone down on The Mansion Events Centre in Aurora last week when the second class of athletes, coaches and builders were inducted into the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s class included ex-NHLer Greg Hotham and Canadian national soccer player Ed McNally in the \u201cathletes\u201d category, and volleyball coach and Aurora Storm founder Bruce Stafford in the \u201ccoaches\u201d category.<\/p>\n

Three inductees joined Class of 2013\u2019s Frank Stronach in the \u201cbuilders\u201d category \u2013 Alex Ansell for his work with the Optimist Club and Oldtimers hockey, Peter Miller, who was instrumental in the building of the Aurora Community Centre, and Ben Steenhorst, who has been a key driver in Aurora soccer as it is today.<\/p>\n

Under the wit and humour of Master of Ceremonies ,TSN\u2019s James Duthie, each inductee shared their story with the hundreds of attendees last Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe [honour] six unbelievable contributors to the sports community \u2013 a hockey hero who started here and rose to the pinnacle of his sport, a soccer player who did the same, a volleyball player who turned into a magnificent coach who runs one of the great volleyball programs of this country \u2013 and I know that because girls on my daughter\u2019s soccer team leave to play volleyball, so I am a little bitter! \u2013 and three builders who [exemplify] developing this community in sports, soccer, hockey and softball who made it what it is today,\u201d said Mr. Duthie.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hotham began his time on stage with what a night of speeches cannot go without; a Seinfeld reference. <\/p>\n

He recounted an episode where the character Kramer is sent off to a \u2018fantasy camp\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife Janine said to me, \u2018well your whole life is a fantasy camp too. And while in some ways it was, really what it was was a dream. I lived the Canadian dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Hotham, who played sixty games with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs, didn\u2019t leave many dry eyes in the room when he told the story of his first professional trip to Maple Leaf Gardens.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere I was, a small town kid from Aurora, coming out onto Maple Leaf Gardens ice\u2026and you look up and there\u2019s 16,000 people looking at you.\u201d
\nChoked up, he finished, \u201cI\u2019ve never had a feeling playing hockey like that in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike Mr. Hotham, Mr. McNally was not born in Canada, but in fact emigrated from Scotland at the age of eleven. He took care to thank the Hall of Fame, saying the past few months have been \u201ca joyful and emotional ride through the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. McNally not only played alongside fellow inductee Mr. Steenhorst, but was coached by him as well. Mr. McNally acknowledged the bond in his speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell done, Benny. I\u2019m glad that we could share this special moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recalled the beginning of his playing career, including his first \u201ccontract.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI should have known I was going to become a professional soccer player when my first agent\u2026my mother\u2026negotiated my first contract\u2026well not really a contract, but anyways\u2026with the Aurora Hearts over a drink at the Legion on a Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the way, I didn\u2019t get that signing bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n

All jokes aside, Mr. McNally thanked his wife Rebecca and his best friend Pat for all the hard work they put into both his nomination and induction.
\n\u201cThey talked to my old teammates, earned support, found photos in my old scrapbooks\u2026even photos I didn\u2019t know still existed. Without both of you, this honour would not have happened tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

After spending a number of years with his hometown Seniors Soccer Club, Mr. McNally and Rebecca now put their athletic efforts into their daughter\u2019s soccer career.<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether, our proudest moment was the day our daughter was born. Now we get to relive the joy of soccer through her. Soccer has brought so much good into my life\u2026I am deeply humbled by this honour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facing out into the crowd dressed to the nines, Mr. Stafford admitted he was still a little humbled and overwhelmed by all the attention.
\n\u201cI even have twelve of my neighbours here celebrating with me tonight,\u201d said Mr. Stafford, which was met by applause from a raucous fan club.<\/p>\n

Now in his seventeenth year coaching Storm Volleyball, he said that he could not have done it without the support of his family. He had the pleasure of coaching his two daughters during the organization\u2019s early years, and was able to retire twelve years ago with the suggestion and help of his wife Sharon.<\/p>\n

\u201cSharon worked while I volunteered. She knew how happy I was when I was in a gym, teaching young people the sport of volleyball. Sharon, I love you, and I thank you.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started Storm Volleyball, I had no idea we\u2019d be at where we are today. I\u2019m truly grateful.\u201d <\/p>\n

Next week, The Auroran will focus on Mr. Ansell, Mr. Miller, and Mr. Steenhorst.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The bright light of community sports shone down on The Mansion Events Centre in Aurora last week when the second class of athletes, coaches and builders were inducted into the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-11-13-19.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-2jL","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 07:34:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}