{"id":9014,"date":"2014-11-19T16:01:01","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T21:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=9014"},"modified":"2014-12-10T13:50:53","modified_gmt":"2014-12-10T18:50:53","slug":"builders-of-aurora-sport-honoured-at-2014-hall-of-fame-induction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/builders-of-aurora-sport-honoured-at-2014-hall-of-fame-induction\/","title":{"rendered":"Builders of Aurora sport honoured at 2014 Hall of Fame induction"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Steenhorst receives his green sweater upon his induction. Auroran photo by David Falconer)<\/em><\/p>\n

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

With the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame Induction Dinner a resounding success earlier this month, The Auroran touched last week on the inductees to the athlete and coach category of the hall.<\/p>\n

This week, the focus is on those who built Aurora\u2019s sporting community into what it is today.<\/p>\n

Inducted into the \u201cBuilders\u201d category were Alex Ansell, the late Peter Miller, and Ben Steenhorst.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ansell was the first of the three to speak, getting the audience laughing on numerous occasions.<\/p>\n

He recounted his days skating on frozen ponds in West Hill, and making his way down to the mouth of the frozen Highland Creek as a young boy.
\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t have any artificial ice rinks,\u201d recalled Mr. Ansell. \u201cBut, we still had a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Ansell didn\u2019t play on an indoor rink until 1952, and the following year his team in West Hill was playing on the first artificial rink in Scarborough.<\/p>\n

That was where Mr. Ansell was crushed into the boards by a young Bobby Baun, who later spent 17 seasons in the NHL, 14 with the Maple Leafs.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t remember what I was saying afterwards, but I do remember who hit me!\u201d said Mr. Ansell, which brought laughter from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Aside from his hockey prowess, he joked that in his day, everyone played every sport. He brought up the gold medal for wrestling he won in the Ontario-Quebec Athletic Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese days, I\u2019d have to lose a few pounds to get back into my weight class.\u201d
\n

\"Alex

Alex Ansell, ahead of the Induction Ceremony<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"Suzanne

Suzanne Goobie accepted the award on behalf of her late father, Pete Miller.<\/p><\/div>
\nWhen Mr. Ansell wanted to get back into hockey at a later age, there were two old-timer teams in the Aurora area. He and a friend of his decided to create their own.<\/p>\n

Now the Aurora Oldtimers, he brought up the original name for the team, unbeknownst to most of the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan anyone here tell me what the word \u2018azoic\u2019 means?\u201d he questioned. \u201cIt means before time. We were old-timers!\u201d<\/p>\n

It was at this time that he became secretary treasurer of the league, vying to add different age levels to a league that was only 35+.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be able to ask somebody their age, and say \u2018sorry, you\u2019re not of age yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

All joking aside, Mr. Ansell touched on the joy that hockey brought to him and his family in Aurora.<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle did I know when I was growing up trying to learn to skate that I would be here today\u2026over the past 40 years, I\u2019ve been doing what I enjoy. It\u2019s a fun thing and not a job if you look forward to it all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Miller\u2019s award was accepted by his daughter, Suzanne Goobie, in what she described as \u201can honour for the family\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Goobie recalled nominating her father for the Citizen of the Year Award in 1999, and although he didn\u2019t win, she saw the night\u2019s festivities as a much larger feat in her eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday his name is in the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd how cool is that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She commented on her father\u2019s unique sense of humour.<\/p>\n

When Mr. Miller fell ill, Susie visited him in the hospital, reading him the letter she prepared for the Citizen of the Year nomination a number of years back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe then looked at me with his famous grin, and said \u2018nice letter Susie, but you missed a lot of stuff.\u2019 That was dad, always joking and always with something to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

She read the letter again at his funeral after his passing.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor everyone there, it was a sad day, but an extremely proud one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Described by his son Gerry as \u201chaving his hands in everything\u201d, Mr. Miller was not one for the spotlight, but Mrs. Goobie was beaming at the accolades her father was receiving.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe may not be here tonight to celebrate with us, but tonight, Pete Miller is the centre of attention, and our family is over the top and full of pride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Miller was instrumental in the building of the Aurora Community Centre, worked with the Aurora Minor Football Association, and was involved in numerous clubs and other organizations around town.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the things people could see,\u201d said Mrs. Goobie. \u201cBut what people could not see was him taking one more of his children, or taking the neighbour\u2019s kids, anybody he could fit into the station wagon to drive them to sporting functions.<\/p>\n

In Mr. Miller\u2019s spirit, his family has created the Pete Miller Charitable Foundation, raising money for Southlake Hospital.
\n\u201cHe always thought about giving back to the community. That is one legacy he left to his family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Steenhorst gave the final speech of the evening, a founder of club soccer in Aurora. <\/p>\n

A man who knows everybody, he brought up the relationship he had with each of the other inductees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m baffled to be selected,\u201d said Mr. Steenhorst. \u201cIt\u2019s humbling\u2026I know Greg [Hotham], he used to play on my soccer teams as a boy. I know Ed McNally, I know Mr. Ansell\u2026for years, and then some. I used to work with Pete Miller, at one time I was the equipment manager of the Aurora Tigers. I think it was because I had a truck.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had the crowd almost in tears telling his stories behind the construction of the Aurora Soccer Club\u2019s clubhouse in Highland Park, building when the eyes of the Town were turned the other way.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you have to bend a few rules,\u201d said Mr. Steenhorst. \u201cYou put up the walls and the roof when no one is looking.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recalled a time the Town of Aurora locked the door of the under-construction clubhouse for the winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they didn\u2019t do anything about the back door. We continued drywalling, plumbing, and insulation. It was near done by spring!\u201d<\/p>\n

A longtime resident of Aurora, Mr. Steenhorst continued to reminisce about the experiences he had in Aurora sports along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed many a challenge and successes, and I\u2019m so proud to be here tonight celebrating with my fellow inductees. It\u2019s truly an honour.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Steenhorst receives his green sweater upon his induction. Auroran photo by David Falconer) By Jake Courtepatte With the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame Induction Dinner a resounding success earlier this month, The Auroran touched last week on the inductees to the athlete and coach category of the hall. This week, the focus is on those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8988,"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-9014","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\/2014-11-20-12.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-2lo","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 23:15:00","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\/9014","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=9014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}