CBU’s call to the hall
Capers to recognize sports greatness with new hall of fame
Cape Breton University will recognize its sporting past with the Capers Hall of Fame, something the school’s athletic director said was a long time coming.
John Ryan, who’s served as athletic director for 12 years, said he had met with former athletic directors Dave MacLean and Dr. Carl (Bucky) Buchanan to talk about the idea of a hall of fame about six or seven years ago. A lot of other universities have a sports hall of fame in place, and with a rich history at CBU for athletics, they wanted to do the same.
The discussion was renewed again recently by new CBU president and vice-chancellor David Dingwall. A working committee was created with cochairs Kirk MacRae and Anita Delazzer and Capers women’s basketball coach Fabian McKenzie and women’s soccer coach Ness Timmons.
“We spent about five or six weeks doing interviews with hall of fame members within the Cape Breton hall of fame, the Nova Scotia hall of fame, we talked to business leaders, administrators at other universities to find out what it should look like, feel like, make sure that it’s a special area for the university,” said Ryan. “Then we put together a concept paper for President Dingwall, made a presentation to him and we’re launching it.”
Bucky Buchanan and the 1977-78 Capers men’s hockey team will be the first honourees into the hall. The induction will be held Sept. 17 as part of the inaugural Cape Breton University President’s Leadership Dinner.
Buchanan will be inducted into the builder category. He started his career in 1968 as the director of athletics. Buchanan is credited with growing the program over 35 years and producing national championship teams and athletes, while establishing community connections through athletics.
The 1977-78 Capers men’s hockey team defeated the Red Deer College Kings of Alberta 5-4 to capture the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Hockey Championship in Montreal.
“Dr. Carl (Bucky) Buchanan is a logical choice because he’s the original builder of the (athletics) department and his accolades speak for themselves,” said Ryan. “The 1978 national hockey championship team, it’s a great opportunity being the 40th anniversary of that team to have a chance to recognize them and the first team to win a national championship for the university.”
There is plenty of Capers sports history the hall can look to for future induction candidates.
The Capers men’s baseball team won a national crown at the club level, winning the 2005 tournament at the Susan McEachern Memorial Ball Park in Sydney by defeating the York Lions 1-0 in the final.
The Capers women’s soccer team won a national title on home soil in 2007, defeating the York Lions 2-1 in the final at Veterans Memorial Field in New Waterford.
And just last year, the Capers men’s soccer team claimed a national crown in Kamloops, B.C., besting the Montréal Carabins 3-2 in a shootout.
As for athletes, four Capers — John Ryan (men’s basketball), Sarah Drake (women’s soccer), Kelsey Hodgson (women’s basketball), Karolyne Blain (women’s soccer) — have their jerseys retired to the rafters of the Sullivan Field House. Another standout, like Capers women’s basketball alltime leading scorer and AUS all-time leading rebounder Alison Keough, is among the 63 Capers athletes who have been U Sports all-Canadians.
“Most hall of fames when you launch a hall of fame, sometimes you induct nine or 10 to get things started. We don’t want to do that,” said Ryan. “We want to make sure we have a controllable number, two or three each year, and we want to make sure they’re the cream of the crop, that it takes a great deal of accomplishment to enter the Capers hall of fame.”
Ryan said there has been discussions about a physical space for the hall of fame, and they’re aiming for a “first-class facility” to showcase the history of Capers athletics. It could be a great recruiting tool for coaches and a retention piece for current students as well, he added.
“We see it as a community engagement piece,” he said. “We see taking it on the road
during the summer to different festivals to highlight our hall of fame, highlight some of our members who are from those communities.
“We see it being bigger than just a room. We want it to be something we can take out to the community and get people engaged.”
Teams, builders and athletes will be the categories inducted into the hall. Ryan said a board of directors and a selection committee will be created.
“We see it as a community engagement piece. We see taking it on the road during the summer to different festivals to highlight our hall of fame, highlight some of our members who are from those communities.”
CBU athletics director John Ryan