Athletes, coaches honoured Victoria in Hall of Fame
Three-time Olympic swimmer Rick Say recalls walking by the plaques in Saveon-Foods Memorial Centre, featuring previous Victoria Sports Hall of Fame inductees, and thinking to himself: “I wonder if I will ever be part of this?”
The answer is that Say will be able to show his four-month-old daughter, Karmyn, daddy’s plaque in the years ahead.
Former baseball player Steve Sinclair will also able to take his son William, 12, and daughter Olivia, 10, to Royals hockey games and do the same thing. The majority of Island ball fans cheer for either the Blue Jays or Mariners and Sinclair pitched for both teams during his pro career.
Say and Sinclair were part of the Class of 2015 inducted into the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame during ceremonies held Oct. 17 at the Westin Bear Mountain Resort.
“It’s a tremendous honour to be appreciated like this by your home community,” Sinclair said.
Also inducted in the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015 were former national team soccer player Ike Mackay, who played in two World Cup qualifying campaigns for Canada; twotime Olympic marathoner Bruce Deacon; 10-time Winter Paralympics medallist skier Lauren Woolstencroft; and shooting legend Sandy Peden. Enshrined into the builders category for 2015 are Elaine Dagg-Jackson, an Island curling icon and five times the Canadian coach at the Winter Olympics, and wrestling coach Ed Ashmore, whose lifetime of work on the mats produced Olympians and world championship medallists.
It is during moments like this when you look back on your career almost as an out-of-body experience, Say noted.
“I remember standing on the podium between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte at the world shortcourse championships in Indianapolis, and having Larry Bird place the silver medal around my neck, and then meeting Peyton Manning in the athletes’ hotel,” Say recalled.
It was just what he did, a normal part of life as a high-level athlete.
“I got to travel the world and swim in three Olympics. Back then, I didn’t have the perspective. But now I do, to appreciate it — and also appreciate that I didn’t get there alone, because it takes a community to raise an athlete,” added Say, who works at the Panorama Recreation Centre.
Say won a total of eight medals at the Commonwealth Games, Pan Am Games and Pan Pacific championships, but the big one eluded him despite twice making Olympic finals.
“That [Olympic medal] was my goal and I wish it had happened. But it was an unreal experience regardless, captaining the Canadian team for six years, in a career of racing against the two greatest swimmers of all-time in Phelps and [Ian] Thorpe.”
Sinclair recalled a pro career that took him from Medicine Hat to Dunedin, Florida, to Syracuse to the biggest stage.
“It is very tough to get there [MLB] and even tougher to stick,” said Sinclair, now general manager of the Oak Bay Marina, whose pro baseball career spanned 13 seasons.
Peden shot at the highest levels of rifle before turning his attention to coaching. He recalled with pride seeing two of his full-bore rifle athletes, Jim Paton of Victoria with gold and Zainal Abidin of Malaysia with silver, on the podium at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. Yet, Peden added, the most satisfaction is often found at the grassroots level of coaching.
“It’s when you see the success of your kids, and know that you’ve done a job,” Peden said.
The Hall of Fame selection committee, chaired by Lois Smith, sorted through more than 40 submissions for the Class of 2015. Almost all were of worldclass calibre.
The induction ceremony brought to 204 the number of athletes, builders and teams enshrined into the Victoria Sports Hall over 21 years.