Classy bunch headed to Hall
McDonald headlines 2017 inductees
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.
On Wednesday, by means of his humour, his wit, his ability to work a room and his 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 GM) Jim Nill and Lanny McDonald,” said McDonald, pausing 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 was in Toronto 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.
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 and doctors Robert W. Jackson and Charles Tator.
“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.”
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 is not short on Olympic glory.
A four-time Olympian and the first Olympic champion in men’s triathlon, Whitfield discussed his “defining moment” following Wednesday’s news conference: being Canada’s flag-bearer to open the 2012 Olympics in London.
“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 ...”
Klassen — who along with 2003 Masters champion Weir was unable to attend the event — bagged a half-dozen long-track speedskating Olympic medals, including one gold in 2006, over an illustrious career.
Huynh, a two-time Olympian, 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.