Six to join Peterborough Sports Hall of Fame
National team basketball player Jesse Young, baseball player Greg Hamilton announced as 2018 inductees
The 2018 Peterborough and District Sports Hall of Fame induction class has made its mark in the city, province, country and world stage.
Jesse Young in basketball and Greg Hamilton in baseball have long associations with Canadian national teams, Reg Millage was a collegiate star and golf pro, Tara Sharpe (squash) and Isabel (Young) Crary (ornamental swimming) were groundbreakers in their sport and Ed Redmond an instrumental force in the success of the Peterborough Petes of the 1970s and 1980s.
The inductees were unveiled during a press conference at the Hall of Fame on Wednesday night. They will be officially enshrined during the Hall’s induction dinner on June 1 at the Evinrude Centre. Tickets are $40, or $20 for children under 12, and available at the Hall.
Here’s a closer look at the inductees.
ISABEL (YOUNG) CRARY – Ornamental Swimming, Basketball
Isabel Crary joined the Peterborough YWCA ornamental swim team recognized as pioneers of the sport in Canada. The team won the 1953 North American Championship. In 1954, they were the Canadian Champions and won the American Athletic Union Championship. The club was invited to give a demonstration at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver. In 1955 the team won silver at the Pan American Games in Mexico City.
Although still a member of the team, work commitments denied Crary the opportunity to participate at the Pan Am games. She played in the Peterborough Ladies Basketball League winning numerous league championships and the opportunity to play in the provincial playdowns. Her life-long love of swimming translated into many years as a volunteer swim coach in Bridgenorth as well as the YMCA disabled swim program.
Now 96, Crary still enjoys swimming. “This was a real surprise,” Crary said. “(Swimming) was my thing. What’s left of (our team) get together once a year for lunch. It’s great to see each other.”
GREG HAMILTON – Builder: Baseball
Greg Hamilton was a standout all-star baseball and hockey player who played both sports at Princeton University. In 1988, he changed his career path from player to coach, scout and general manager.
Starting as an assistant coach and recruiting co-ordinator for two years at Princeton where in 1991 they won the Ivy League Championship. From 1993-98, he was Head Coach and GM of the Montpellier Barracudas in the French Elite League where he guided them to three consecutive French Championships and a bronze medal at the European Championship.
The City of Montpellier named him an Honorary Citizen in 1997 and in 2012 named the Teams field Greg Hamilton Baseball Park. He served as the pitching coach for the French and Canadian National Teams in 1994 and in 1998 as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the University of Maine.
Hamilton’s involvement with Baseball Canada’s National Teams program spans over two decades from national team pitching coach to running the junior national team to joining Baseball Canada full time in 1998 and now serves as coach and director national teams responsible for evaluating and selecting players, coaches and staff for Canada’s Senior and Junior National Teams.
He has been GM and a member of the Team Canada coaching staff for three World Baseball Classics, two Olympics (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008) and two gold medal Pan Am Games (Mexico 2011, Toronto 2015).
Hamilton continues to be recognized as one of baseball's most influential Canadians.
Hamilton was unable to attend but friend Steve Terry said he will be at the dinner.
REGGIE MILLAGE – Golf
A good all-around athlete, Millage, who joins his father Randy in the Hall, made his mark in golf. He won the Ontario Junior Tournament of Champions twice reducing the tournament record by 11 strokes. He has won the Peterborough Invitational Tournament twice, the Peterborough Golf and Country Club Championship, the Kawartha Invitational, the
City and District Junior Championship twice and led St. Peter Secondary School to five consecutive high school championships.
Millage received a scholarship to Virginia Commonwealth University at Richmond, Virginia, where he won the NCAA Virginia State Championship in 1998 and 1999. He was tied for first in two other NCAA Division I Tournaments and had 10 top five and 19 top 10 finishes and was on the VCU Academic Honour Roll four times graduating with a degree in Business Administration.
Millage was an eight-time Ontario and six-time Canadian team member who remains one of the few Canadians to have won the Monroe International Amateur.
He was a nine-year member of the Canadian PGA and a member of the RCGA National Team from 1998-2000. He played on the Canadian Tour, Hooters Tour and Nationwide Tour from 2000-04.
He represented Canada at the World Amateur Championships in Germany in 2000 and Australia in 2001 and has won over 21 professional tournaments. In 2010, he was one of two local golfers to be named to the NCAA Division 1 Colonial Athletic Conference Silver Anniversary team.
Millage is one of Canada’s top highperformance golf coaches.
“It’s amazing to come back to the hometown where it all started,” said Millage, 40.
“To walk around the Hall and see all the amazing inductees over the years there is so much history in this town and to be a part of this is unreal.”
He started playing golf as a child with his dad and is excited to join him in the Hall.
“That was the one sport we could always do together,” Millage said.
“Some of my fondest early memories are just going around and hitting the ball with him. I wouldn’t even call it playing.”
EDWARD (Eddie) REDMOND – Hockey
Born in Cobalt, Redmond came to Peterborough in 1953 to become the playing coach for the Senior B Petes Hockey Club. This was on the heels of a seven-year professional career that included stops in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Fresno, Milwaukee and the Quebec Hockey League. He amalgamated the arch rivals Petes and Eagles into one senior team.
In 1953, he commenced work with the Toronto Peterborough Transport Company which would become the major sponsor of the T.P.T. Petes.
He won two Allan Cup titles with the Whitby Dunlops and the 1958 World Hockey Championship in Oslo, Norway. He was the team captain and assistant coach.
Redmond spent the remainder of his life volunteering as coach and manager of local hockey and lacrosse teams. He was the manager of the 1959 Mann Cup finalists Peterborough Mercurys. In 1968, he was asked to become an executive member of the Peterborough Petes and went on to become the club's President. He served for over 20 years with the Petes and saw them compete in two World Championships and win the Memorial Cup in 1979.
Redmond, who died in 1989, joins his sons Mickey and Dick in the Hall.
“It’s a proud day for the Redmond family,” said Shawn Redmond, Ed’s grandson.
“My dad Dick and uncle Mickey are very proud to welcome their father into the Hall of Fame beside them. I know Eddie would be very proud to be a part of this with them especially for his work with the Petes which was such a big part of his life. Ed and my grandmother Mae were very proud members of the Peterborough community.”
TARA SHARPE – Squash
From the age of ix, when she picked up her first squash racquet, Sharpe's talent in the sport was evident.
Playing out of the Peterborough 1 Nautilus Fitness Club, from the mid-1980s through the 1990s she worked her way up the Ontario and Canadian rankings to become a member of the Canadian Junior Squash team, the Canadian Senior Development team and the Ontario Junior and Senior Women's Squash teams.
She won many championships, a bronze at the Mayfair Lakeshore International Pro Women's Squash Championships and gold at the 1992 Canadian Inter-Provincial Championships in Halifax. She was captain of the Ontario Squash team, and went on to win gold at the 1991 Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island.
That same year, she competed in a four week tour of Europe with the Canadian Junior team and later represented Canada at the Ting Classic in Kingston, Jamaica.
After a long hiatus, Sharpe won the Ontario and Canadian Ladies A Squash Championships in 2012.
She played on the Queen's University Varsity Women's Squash team, and was named MVP for Trent's Varsity Basketball team in 1997. She was the first female to ever play on a OUAA Men's Varsity
Squash team for Trent while completing her teaching degree. Some of her individual awards have included City of Peterborough Pansy Forbes Athlete of the Year in 1992, Hall of Fame Joe Stewart Award in 1992 and the 2012 City of Peterborough Senior Female Athlete of the Year.
Sharpe joins her parents Nancy and Dan Sharpe as in the Hall.
“I was raised on sports,” said Sharpe, 43, a teacher at Kenner Collegiate. “I worked hard but my parents worked harder to get themselves to where they are and to get me to where I am. It’s really exciting for all of us. We do a lot of things together as a family and this is just one more thing the Sharpes can do together.”
Paul Wilson is a squash player inducted into the Hall as a builder in a variety of sports, but Sharpe is the Hall’s first dedicated squash player.
“Squash goes under the radar a lot,” she said. “It’s pretty neat to be one of the few. A lot of people have never even tried squash so hopefully seeing this some people will go to the Y or Peterborough Squash Club and give it a try because it is a great sport.”
JESSE YOUNG – Basketball
At six-foot-10, Young was destined to play basketball. He honed his skills at PCVS helping the Raiders win COSSA Championships in 1998 and 99 and OFSAA AA bronze in 98 and gold in 1999. He was a silver medalist at the Juvenile OBA Championships.
In 1999, he was ranked the No. 1 high school basketball player in Canada and was the City of Peterborough's Junior Male Athlete of the Year.
He was invited to play with the international junior selects against the USA in the Nike Hoop Summit in Tampa Florida in 1999. The world side lost 107-95. Young, the only Canadian contributed 14 points and 8 rebounds.
Young accepted a scholarship to George Mason University in Virginia. He played on the Mason Patriots team in the Colonial Athletic Association Conference from 1999-2003. The Patriots won the CAA Conference title in 2000 and earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament (March Madness) in 2001. Named as one of the Patriots all decades best players with 1073 career points - 708 rebounds - All-CAA First Team 2002 had 12 points/9 rebounds in 2001 NCAA tournament vs Maryland - second in CAA in rebounds per game 2002/2003.
He was the top scorer on the Junior National team competing at the 1998 world championships qualifying tournament in Dominican Republic. He went on to play with the National Senior Men's team from 1999 to 2011. He was team captain 20082010.
From 2003-11 he played pro basketball in Spain and Italy winning the FIBA Euro Cup Championship with Club Joventut da Bablona, Spain in 2006. While on the Senior National team he competed at three Pan Am Games (1999, 2003, 2007) and placed fourth at the 2009 and sixth at the 2011 FIBA Americas Championships. The last time he suited up for Canada was the Olympic qualifier for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“It’s pretty amazing,” said Young, 37. “Growing up you could never think something like this could happen. Just to be mentioned in the same breath as all the incredible athletes who came out of this city is pretty amazing. To have my girls able to be here and my family is amazing.
“I fell in love with the game pretty early and, like for a lot of people, it was kind of a freedom. An escape from things. That’s why I played so much and enjoyed it so much. Being able to travel the world and met so many incredible people has meant everything.”