B.C. stars headline class of 2017
Whitfield and Huynh joining the likes of NHL legend Lanny McDonald
TORONTO — Lanny McDonald has always been larger than life.
As charismatic as any NHL player in recent memory, the farm boy who could skate and shoot, grew and maintained a legendary red moustache and recorded more than 1,000 points in the 1970s and ’80s. He then blossomed into a hockey executive and a noted humanitarian.
McDonald will headline the 2017 class of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Unveiled Wednesday, but not officially honoured until November’s induction ceremony, the class also includes golfer Mike Weir, triathlete Simon Whitfield, speedskater Cindy Klassen, wrestler Carol Huynh, lacrosse player Gaylord Powless, the Edmonton Grads women’s basketball team as well as doctors Robert W. Jackson and Charles Tator.
Billed as the “highest sporting honour in Canada,” Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame inducts new members into its Calgary-based facility every year. The 2017 class, the 62nd annual, is not short on Olympic glory.
A four-time Olympian and the first Olympic champion in men’s triathlon, a very smiley Whitfield discussed his “defining moment” following Wednesday’s news conference.
It isn’t crossing the finish line in Sydney to collect that historic gold medal at the 2000 Olympics. It isn’t his gutsy silver medal-winning performance eight years later at the Beijing Olympics.
No, being Canada’s flag-bearer to open the 2012 Olympics in London takes the cake.
“I was so focused going into London on racing that when you’re announced as flag-bearer, I hadn’t really pictured that as part of the story,” Whitfield explained. “It was a bit of a— I wouldn’t say curveball, but it just wasn’t something I had walked myself through ...
“When you carry the flag in the opening ceremony, you feel like you’re representing the athletes. When you walk in as a Canadian representing Canadians and waving our country’s flag, it dawns on you that you are truly representing all Canadians. I took that very seriously.”
Now 41 and running a paddleboarding business in B.C., the Kingston, Ont., native’s face lights up at the mention of the Canadian flag inside Olympic Stadium: “At the time it was a blur,” Whitfield said. “But then it comes back to you as it settles.”
Huynh, a two-time Olympian from Hazelton, won gold in the women’s 48-kilogram division in Beijing and bronze in London, while the Edmonton Grads went 27-0 in Olympic competition in the early to mid-1900s. (Unfortunately, women’s basketball did not become an official Olympic sport until 1976, robbing the Grads of well-deserved hardware.)
In total, the Grads — whom Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball and an original member of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, labelled as the “finest basketball team” ever — won an incredible 502 of 522 games from 1915 to 1940.
“It’s amazing to me, too,” said 95-year-old Kay Macbeth, the Grads’ last living player.
NHL players did not compete in the Olympics until 1998, so the Winter Games aren’t a chapter in McDonald’s story. His resume does feature two championships, though — the 1976 Canada Cup and 1989 Stanley Cup — and that championship moustache.
The 64-year-old McDonald waxed poetic about his roots, specifically his hometown of Hanna, Alta.
“It used to be home of (Dallas Stars general manager) Jim Nill and Lanny McDonald,” said McDonald, addressing a sleepy crowd at the Intercontinental Hotel and pausing just before the punch line.
“And then Nickelback came along and they put up their own sign. Now it’s home of Nickelback.”
Nickelback ribbing aside, McDonald is in town to witness the improbable playoff run by the Maple Leafs, one of his former teams. And to reflect on not only his storied career, but also those of eight other great Canadian success stories.
“It never gets old,” said McDonald, who is already in the Hockey Hall of Fame (1992) and Alberta Sports Hall of Fame (2015). “You never dream of being honoured in such a way. Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame? You didn’t even know that such an award was possible or existed.
“I am humbled, honoured. And especially to go in with the kind of class of people who have made a difference in other people’s lives and inspired more young people to play the game, get off the sidelines, get into the game.”
Klassen — who along with 2003 Masters champion Weir was unable to attend the event — bagged half a dozen long-track Olympic medals, including one gold in 2006, over an illustrious career. Klassen and fellow speedskater/cyclist Clara Hughes share Canada’s highest medal count with six apiece.