‘It takes a village’ big theme at Wall of Fame induction
Three athletes, one builder added to Notre Dame school’s shrine
There is no “I” in team, but there are two in the saying, “It takes a village.”
That athletes feed off the love and support of their teammates, coaches, friends and, especially, their families was a recurring theme when Notre Dame College School’s 2024 Wall of Fame class was inducted Friday morning in Welland.
Each of the inductees talked about the people who helped them achieve success on and off the field, as did the presenters who introduced the three athletes and one builder/coach whose names were added to the wall inside Dillon Hall, the main gymnasium at the Catholic high school in Welland.
In a three-minute video, newly retired Canadian Football League offensive lineman Chris Van Zeyl, Class of 2001 and a two-time Grey Cup champion, paid tribute to “incredible teachers who coached you and who really took the time to focus on the student and the material they were teaching.”
The Fonthill native, who played 11 seasons and won two Grey Cups with the Toronto Argonauts followed by six with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, also touched on the influence Notre Dame coaches such as Rick Oreskovich, Tim Bisci, Bernie Tessier and Andy Lucchetta had on his career.
“You were my introduction to the weight room, you were my introduction to hills, you were my introduction to football,” he said. “You taught me safely, you taught me in a way that was conducive to learning and growing to love the game.”
In addition to thanking his former teammates on the Fighting Irish “for pushing me along and showing me how to learn how to be a great football player,” he thanked his parents, Casey and Betty, who accepted the honour on his behalf at the induction ceremony. Van Zeyl said parents made sure “I would show up” and “stayed on the straight and narrow.”
“You pushed me to be a great human being,” Van Zeyl said. “I wasn’t always perfect, but you were always there to support me and show me love.”
In his introduction, Tim Bisci, head coach of the senior football team and a member of the 2023 induction class, recalled that Van Zeyl as a Grade 9 student was a “six-foot-one, skinny, slightly uncoordinated kid who had a certain toughness about him.”
Van Zeyl also went out for basketball after he began attending high school in 1997.
“Basketball in Chris’s own words, ‘May have been a bit of a stretch,’ ” Bisci quipped.
“He played the game with the same toughness that he showed on the football field and five fouls just wasn’t enough to keep him in the game at all times.
“The football field was where Chris excelled throughout his high school and career as an athlete.”
An inductee who was a standout on the hardwood — as well as on the fairways — for the Fighting Irish was Scott Murray, Class of 2002.
Presenter Mike Rao pointed out that Murray, who went on to win a Canadian men’s university championship as the captain of a Brock Badgers team coached by his father, Ken, in 2006, was one of the first basketball players to transfer to Notre Dame after beginning his career at a public high school.
“Coach Rao mentioned it, I did make a mistake going to the blue and orange school, but we’re not going to talk about that,” the onetime Welland Centennial Secondary School student said. “But I traded one blue and orange in for a better shade of blue and gold. I showed up here a young, cocky boy in Grade 10 and I left as a young, confident man.”
Murray, who works with numbers every day in his job as a branch director with RBC Dominion Securities in Toronto, said he doesn’t think about statistics when he recalls his three years playing on the basketball and golf teams at Notre Dame.
“It’s funny, but I don’t remember the big wins, I don’t remember the wins and losses, the big shots I made or putts that I missed or balls that went out of bounds,” he said. “I know I hit a few because my dad would always remind me. But what I do remember are the people. ‘Is it the journey or the destination?’ is an age-old question. It’s about the people you meet along the way.”
Rao said he had “the privilege of growing along with Scottie through his years here at Notre Dame, and that’s exactly what we did.”
“I tried to teach him some basketball. He taught me a lot of things along the way, as well,” Rao said. “I think it was that relationship that really bonded us together and, speaking to the student body here today, you build those relationships here, you build them with people beside you. Those are the memories you live for the rest of your life and remember for the rest of your life.
“The people he hung out with in those bleachers are still the people that he hangs out with today. The people he converses with today, myself included, are the people that we met here.”
Vanessa Van Der Zalm, Class of 2012, played field lacrosse at the University of Vermont after graduating from Notre Dame. However, she also excelled in basketball and hockey in each of her four years in high school.
“What was evident to everyone was that Vanessa possessed passion, dedication, leadership and expertise in every sport she participated in. “Anyone who coached Vanessa from grades 9 to 12 would say simply this: ‘She didn’t just play basketball, hockey and lacrosse — she dominated all three sports while she was here,’ ” Agi Mete, her one-time lacrosse coach with the Fighting Irish, said in his introduction.
He described Van Der Zalm’s stats in field lacrosse at Notre Dame as “incredible.” In her final year, she scored 123 goals and collected 71 assists on a team that went 25-0 and defended its Ontario championship. Over her four years at Notre Dame, she had 420 goals and 199 assists for an average of five points per game.
Her No. 23 has been retired by the team.
Van Der Zalm, a Pelham native who now lives in Vancouver where she owns a marketing company, pointed out the influence Mete had on her life.
“In fact, I wouldn’t have picked up a stick without you,” she said.
Van Der Zalm said if she had to sum up her career as a studentathlete in one sentence, it would be, “Hard work pays off.”
She specifically addressed student-athletes in the packed gymnasium, underscoring the need for a strong work ethic.
“I hope you continue to put in the hard work because I can tell you it’s difficult but completely worth it at the end of the day,” Van Der Zalm said. “Some day, I would like to see some of your names up on the wall.”
Besides hard work, success in sports requires a “huge village.” In Van Der Zalm’s case, that included teammates, 10 of whom went on to play field lacrosse at the university level, her coaches and her parents, Arnold and Terry.
She thanked her mother, calling her “my personal taxi.”
“You’re obviously more than that. When I asked to play lacrosse in Grade 9, she didn’t say, ‘No,’ she said, ‘Fine,’ ” Van Der Zalm recalled. “I was already playing on two travel hockey teams, two basketball teams.
“She just kept driving me around, my biggest cheerleader.”
Van Der Zalm thanked her father for teaching her that “You only get out when you put in.” She said he spent long nights working so the family could afford for her to play three sports at a high level.
Karen Bank Wallace, Class of 1978, was Notre Dame’s first cheerleading coach, serving in the role from 1986 to 2011. She was inducted as a builder-coach. “My Notre Dame journey began 50 years ago when I came to this school for the first time with my elementary school class of Grade 8 students,” she recalled. “As we came to the end of the tour, I immediately knew exactly where I wanted to be — right here.”
Wallace made a point of thanking Ken Murray for hiring her as the Brock University cheerleading head coach in 1992.
“If you really want to grow, seek out friendships with people who aren’t afraid to challenge your limited views and hold you to a higher standard,” she said. “Those friends will change your life, and I’ve been blessed with the best friends and mentors that I could ask for.”
Wallace, who worked as the financial secretary in the school’s main office for 33 years, thanked the student-athletes she coached at Notre Dame. “They say, ‘It takes a village’ and I would not be standing here before you without them and the young women who stepped up to lead their team,” she said. “To every captain and team leader, too many to name, I accept this honour on behalf of all of us.”
Wallace recalled the team’s first year in 1986 and singled out all the six principals she worked with, starting with John Belcastro.
“He was a visionary who said, ‘You can do this.’ Notre Dame has always been ahead of its time,” she said. “By recognizing me, you recognize all of these amazing athletes who worked long and hard to be seen — seen as a female athletic team worthy of honour and recognition.”
She said her parents sat in the bleachers “every Tribune Tournament, whether they were here to watch my brother play or watch the cheerleaders perform when I was coaching.”
“I coached because I loved those kids and the sport,” Wallace said. “There is no other feeling like helping a young athlete develop their determination, work ethic, resilience, confidence, discipline, leadership, skill and respect for each other, their team and their school.
“My hope has always been that they can transfer all of these skills, and more, into their adult lives and families.”
‘‘ To every captain and team leader, too many to name, I accept this honour on behalf of all of us.
KAREN BANK WALLACE NOTRE DAME’S FIRST CHEERLEADING COACH