Honouring the hometown heroes; Huge crowd for the opening of the new Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame
Posted By James Burns
Posted 2 years ago
Last Saturday night a large crowd gathered to celebrate the official opening of the Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame.
A wine and cheese reception started off the proceedings as people took the opportunity to take a look at the brand new hall of fame. What started out as a collection of framed photos in a small display case at the arena has grown to become a large space dedicated to local sports people.
There are now a number of displays celebrating many locally-played sports, including hockey, baseball, soccer, football, athletics, golf, and horse racing. Decades of Penetanguishene sporting achievement are catalogued in a spacious room with sports uniforms, equipment, photos and trophies.
Plaques on the wall give details of every one of the athletes, builders and teams that have been inducted into the hall of fame.
The emcee for the official opening ceremony was Buzz Deschamps, himself a previous inductee. Chairman David Dupuis began the evening with a speech thanking the many people who had helped to make the hall of fame a reality. He also thanked the Ontario Trillium Foundation for its two-year grant of $134,600, which will allow the hall to continue to grow.
He was followed by speeches delivered by a representative of the Trillium Foundation, the Mayor of Penetanguishene Anita Dubeau, and Simcoe North MP?Bruce Stanton, who also read out a congratulatory letter from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The celebrations then moved upstairs for the 11th annual dinner and ceremony, attended by 250 people. Deschamps took the audience down memory lane and entertained them with a host of amusing stories. Andr‚ Boileau sang a selection of songs from his recently-produced CD, which was also on sale during the evening.
Boileau is giving the proceeds of its sales to the Arena Fund.
Dupuis recognized 35 previous inductees who were in attendance, along with their families.
Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop handed out certificates from the government for each of this year's inductees.
Jamie Mayer, the youngest inductee yet, was recognized for his achievement of winning the Bantam Boys Canadian Bowling Championship.
Alvin Robillard was inducted for his achievements in hockey. He told the Free Press that this was a proud moment for him.
"It's a real honour," he said. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be here. I've mostly played local hockey."
Robillard played for many decades for local teams, and only stopped playing a couple of years ago - a decision, he says, was thanks to a teammate of his, Michael Dubeau.
"The main reason I packed it in is because he was getting too heavy to carry around," he joked. He also blamed fellow inductee, referee Ken St. Amant, for his career not going further.
"I could have maybe gone further if I hadn't spent so long in the penalty box, thanks to Ken," he said.
The other inductees were Thorpe "Mate" Lichtenberg, an athletic director; Reginald "Reg" McConkey, a hockey coach; and St. Amant, a long-time referee. Lichtenberg and McConkey's inductions were accepted by their family members, as both men are deceased.
Dupuis was pleased with the way the evening went.
"It was a very successful evening," he said. "This has been 12 years in the making, and it is such a feeling of satisfaction for all of the people who were involved.
"I feel vindicated about going after our dream, convincing the council and the town, and sticking with it. A lot of people told me that this is as good as any museum or hall of fame that they have seen; we're very proud of it."
This is not the end of the story for the new hall of fame, however. Dupuis and the committee are keen to see the hall continue to evolve. The money from the Trillium Foundation will help to make it happen.
"We don't want the hall to have the same exhibits all the time," said Dupuis. "Things will change every two years with new inductees, but we have other plans as well."
Those plans include videotaping all living inductees and the families of those who are deceased. There will be research files on all inductees, archives, a database, a website, and a professional video.
"We want this to be a real living thing," said Dupuis. "In the future, we want to have education programs and tours.
"We hope that the community keeps supporting it and takes the time to come along and see all of the exhibits."
