Piers family, Diane Daniels to be recognized
The Truro Sports Heritage Society Awards Dinner will be held March 5 at the Best Western Glengarry in Truro.
The event will recognize the many outstanding athletic achievements by local athletes and teams in 2016, along with deserving coaches and volunteers. Athletes of various ages, from 12 to 78, will be honoured from a wide variety of sporting activities.
Bruce Rainnie, a CBC TV commentator and sports announcer, will emcee the event. He will speak about his experience of covering the Olympics and the various interesting experiences he has had with athletes from around the globe.
Tickets are $25 for students and $40 for adults. Tables of 10 are available for group purchase. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Sara at 1-902-957-0084 or sara_ mckenna@hotmail.com.
Following are Dave Armstrong Memorial Sporting Families Award recipients:
Piers family
Known as Truro’s First Family of Tennis, the Piers family has been playing, coaching, organizing and building multiple sports in the Truro area for generations.
The family legacy starts with John Piers, whose efforts to build the sports of tennis and basketball in Truro resulted in his selection to the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame as a builder in 1980. His induction was followed by two of his sons, David in 1988 as an athlete, and Bob in 1997 as an athlete.
David was unbeaten on the Maritime tennis circuit for and amazing 15 years. During his career, he won 58 Nova Scotia Open titles and was the No. 1-ranked 18 and younger player in the Canada in 1952. David also coached four national junior champions.
Jack Piers grew up playing tennis with his brothers and father in Truro. He was a member of the Truro Tennis Club executive for more than 20 years, most recently as the tournament director with his wife Romaine as his co-director. Jack and Romaine are lifetime members of the TTC.
Bob has an outstanding record
as a coach and player. In tennis, he won the 1958 boys under-13 singles and doubles national championships. This was followed by the Canadian Open under-18 boys title in 1963. This legacy of winning was followed with 27 provincial crowns. A standout basketball player at the University of New Brunswick, Bob was selected as the UNB Male Athlete of the year in 1966. As a coach and builder, Bob has won dozens of NSSAF championships in track and field, volleyball and basketball for the CEC Cougars.
Jeff and Karen Piers (the children of Bob and Carol Piers) excelled in basketball as players and coaches. Jeff was a standout high school point guard who went on to captain the St. Francis Xavier X-Men, and, after graduation, returned as an assistant coach to the program, winning a national championship with the X-men in 2001.
Karen was arguably one of the best female basketball players in Nova Scotia history, playing her college basketball for the Oregon Ducks (NCAA, Division 1) and winning three PAC 10 championships during her collegiate career.
Karen later coached the NCAA Sacramento State Hornets and the University of Idaho Vandals. Karen was also a fine tennis player and instructor at the TTC.
Diane Daniels
Diane Daniels has “horsed” around since the early 1950s.
With the passion of her parents and the tutelage of people like Ingham Palmer, Doug Harkness and Frank Daniels, among others, she developed a devotion and love for the sport of harness racing. From her first job as counter clerk to writing with substantial authority on the sport, she has been an integral and sustaining spirit in the sport she loves.
She is currently the Truro Raceway race office supervisor and has worked concurrently as a field rep with Standardbred Canada for more than 11 years.
She has organized Standardbred youth camps, helped with re-establishing amateur driving events, the Ladies Amateur Driving Challenge, won the Bobby Leyte Memorial Award, been sales secretary, and has written her “Trackside” column, which appears in the Truro Daily News, for the past 13 years.
There is so much about Diane that makes her worthy of this special award.
Perhaps this quote from her is best reflective: “I feel privileged to have been involved and been able to work and volunteer with a sport to which I am so truly dedicated.”