BRING HISTORY TO LIFE
HALL OF FAME
Posted By CHRISTINA BERNARDO
Posted 1 year ago
The Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame's video project is in full swing.
Hall of fame board members have started to implement an ambitious project as part of its two-year Ontario Trillium Foundations grant.
Last year the hall of fame committee used the grant to get new display cases, photos, and biography plaques -- everything it needed to get up and running for public viewing (it officially opened last October).
This year, the focus of the grant is the video project, as well as developing a database by a hiring a part-time researcher to bring the research component of the sports hall of fame to life.
For the video project, hall of fame board member Waxy Gregoire has taken on the research, and has been conducting video interviews of living inductees and family members of deceased members.
Gregoire has done four interviews, including Buzz Deschamps and Jerry Barbour.
So far, 15 interviews have been recorded, and the goal is to have 40-to- 60 interviews completed before the year is done.
The inductees' stories are humourous, "and they've encountered a lot of famous people, being celebrities themselves," said Gregoire.
Gregoire said some of the interviews have been "outstanding," including a three-hour interview with Don Tannahill.
"His interview was outstanding because it was chronological and because of his career," said Gregoire.
Gregoire does extensive research on an inductee prior to conducting video interviews to establish enough background to base the questions on, so nothing is missed.
"I forward the interview questions to the person I'm going to interview," he said. "They review it to make sure the information is accurate and then we sit down and do the interview."
Finding the time to spend on the video project is one of the many difficulties Gregoire has faced, such as preparation work, accommodating the inductee when is best to conduct the interview, and trying to get as much accurate information as possible.
The self-described hockey fanatic has learned the interviews are invaluable.
"I can't impress upon the people we're interviewing the importance," he said. "Some of them are very humble. They don't realize the importance 20 years from now of a granddaughter or grandson listening to their grandfather or grandmother they never met, and telling the story of their career and how it was, and what the conditions were back in those days."
Gregoire knows the local hall of fame is one of the few sports hall of fames that have taken the approach of conducting interviews with inductees.
"Our sports hall of fame isn't all about strictly inductees," he said. "It's about telling their story and the historyof sport."
Once the interviews are complete and edited, they will be played in its entirety in the hall of fame's showroom.
"We're also going to cut CDs, so that they can be sold to people at a reasonable price," said Gregoire. "On the cover will be the replica of the plaque they received when they were (inductee) inducted."
He said clips of the interviews are also featured on the hall of fame's website at www.pshof.ca.Visitors to the website can also sign up for the hall of fame's newsletter, which provides up-to-date information on the progress of the project and anything related to the hall of fame.
Gregoire said the project will run until next March.
For more information on the Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame, contact Gregoire at 549-7912 or the arena at 549-6957, ext. 510.
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PIECES OF HISTORY
Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame
With the opening of the new Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame there is now a proper place to bring and donate all those sporting items that have been hanging around the house. The hall is looking not only for those items that relate directly to its inductees, of which the hall still does not have items relating to 21 of its 51 inductees, but also other items that relate to sports in
Penetanguishene. These articles can include pictures, trophies, newspaper articles, crests, equipment, sweaters -anything to do with sports in Penetanguishene.
Waxy Gregoire
* 57 years old;
* born and raised in Penetanguishene;
* an assistant administrator, hospital services at the
Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre;
* was assistant coach and trainer for four years for the
Penetanguishene Kings; won an all-Ontario title in the 1983/1984 season.
