Fort Erie sports wall to honour 3 athletes

At first glance, Cory Annett, Ted Miskolczi Jr. and Jane Renshaw appear to have had little in common during their heyday as athletes.

They excelled in different sports, played in different eras — and in one case played on a different continent.

What unites Annett, who played professionally in the Canadian Football League, Miskolczi, whose hockey career took him to Germany, and Renshaw, a 2006 Slo-Pitch World Series champion, is that their roots trace back to Fort Erie.

Their hometown will celebrate those roots on Friday, June 7, when the three will be inducted into the Greater Fort Erie Sports Wall of Fame as athletes.

Going on the wall in the team category are the 2018 Fort Erie Cannons, who captured the Niagara District Baseball Association senior men’s championship, as well as the Ontario senior A title.

Cathy Dennahower, who chairs the wall of fame selection committee, praised the 2019 inductees for “instilling hometown pride and setting an example for athletic hopefuls of all ages.”

“Well respected at home, provincially, nationally and internationally, their accomplishments in four respective sports continue to put Fort Erie on the map,” she said.

After graduating from Lakeshore Catholic High School, Ronald (Cory) Annett competed in the Great Lakes Football League before going on to play Division 1 at Eastern Michigan.

An offensive lineman, Annett was taken in the first round, third overall, by the Toronto Argonauts in the 2002 CFL draft. He played two seasons with the Argonauts and another two with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Though born 48 years ago in Port Colborne, Miskolczi honed his hockey skills playing in Fort

Erie’s minor system. After one season in Junior B with the Fort Erie Meteors, the right-shooting forward spent four years in the Ontario Hockey League with the London Knights, Windsor Spitfires, Belleville Bulls and the Owen Sound Platers.

Miskolczi played with the Johnston Chiefs, ECHL; St. Thomas Wildcats and Branford Smoke, both in the Colonial Hockey League; and Dorsten EC, Germany, in a five-year pro career that wrapped up in 1994-95.

Renshaw, nee Reichelt, has played fastball, softball and slopitch for more than 50 years. She won Canadian and Ontario senior softball championships with the Fort Erie Atwoods in 1973 and 1974, and 42 years later a World Series Slo-pitch title with the Sportaculars, an all-women’s over-50 team.

The dinner and induction ceremonies will be hosted by Kinsmen Club of Fort Erie.