No better name to go on a cup
IN HONOUR OF CHRIS CRITELLI
Jack Donohue, the former Canadian national men and women’s basketball coach, loved to tell the tale of a raw, athletic teenager wearing cut-offs and Converse All-Star sneakers at the national basketball team tryouts and her rise to national and international storied status.
That teenager was Chris Critelli — a graduate of St. Catharines Denis Morris Catholic High School.
Donohue had a phenomenal 17year-old athlete in camp, but, in his words, “a terrible basketball player.”
In an archival Brock University news story, Critelli recalled the New York City-born Donohue telling assistant national coach Norm Vickery: “You can go across the rest of the country and if you can find someone as athletic as Chris, bring her in.
“You’ll find better basketball players, but you won’t find anybody as athletic.”
That “terrible basketball player”/ phenomenal athlete morphed into one of Canada’s most decorated hoopsters.
In 1976, the teen was named to the Canadian Olympic team. And in 1980, repeated as an Olympian.
Critelli’s collegiate career included three-time all-Canadian honours and Academic all-American; two CIAU national championships (Laurentian — 1977, 1978) and two NCAA championships (Old Dominion — 1979, 1980).
Add three bronze medals at the 1979 Pan Am Games (San Juan, Puerto Rico), 1979 FISU Games (Mexico City) and 1979 World Championships (Seoul, South Korea).
In 1998, Critelli was inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame; in 1999, the two-time Olympian was welcomed into the St. Catharines Sports Hall of Fame and in 2000 the Garden City native was named to the Ontario Basketball Hall of Fame.
And recently, in front of a capacity crowd at Brock University’s Bob Davis gymnasium, Dr. Jack Lightstone, Brock president and vicechancellor; Gord Grace, chief executive officer (OUA); and Peter Baxter, OUA president, invited Critelli to centre court to officially announce that the OUA women’s championship basketball trophy would in the future be called the Critelli Cup.
The veteran of 33 years of devoted service to Brock University as an assistant coach, head coach, athletic director, assistant athletic director and recipient of the John McManus Award given to a retired coach who exemplifies the highest ideals and qualities of sportsmanship and service while coaching in university sport, is indeed worthy of the honour.
“Chris is a living legend in this country,” said Charles Kissi, coach of the No. 7 nationally-ranked Brock Badgers men’s basketball team. “She is a trailblazer who has paved the way for so many players and coaches.”
Dr. Lorne Adams, former Brock athletic director (2001-2010) and distinguished professor, was delighted to learn about his former colleague’s latest honour.
“Chris’s contribution to basketball in the OUA and indeed in the country has been unparalleled,” said Adams. “Chris has given me much more than I could ever have given her. I am honoured to call Chris a colleague and most of all a dear friend.”
The Critelli Cup will be presented March 12, OUA women’s championship basketball weekend.