Allan first lacrosse player in Ontario Sports Hall of Fame
At this Thanksgiving time, Peterborough received a gift of positive publicity from Monday’s Ontario Sports Hall of Fame dinner at the Weston Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto.
In front of the elite of sport in the province, two Peterborough sports icons, Bob Allan and Bob Gainey, were inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
The OSHOF, in its 22nd year of operation, is not as well-known as some of the country’s other sports hall of fame. Without a bricks and mortar home like the other halls, the OSHOF was created with the mandate, according to their program, to “ensure that those memories remain firmly engrained in our hearts and minds and time will not diminish the nature of our legend’s deeds for generations to come.”
Joining the Peterborough “Bobs” in the hall on Monday were hockey great Paul Coffey, Olympic rower Marnie McBean, major league baseball pitcher, John Hiller and horse racing’s John Campbell.
Also the 2017 Syl Apps Ontario Athlete of the year award was given to Olympic gold medal swim mer, Penny Oleksiak. (The 2016 recipient was Peterborough’s Brad Sinopoli.) Trish Stratus, WWE Superstar, won the Sandy Hawley Community Service Award and Howard Starkman of the Blue Jays won the Brian Williams Media Award.
The highlights of the evening, especially for those of us from Peterborough, were the speeches of Bob Gainey, Bob Allan and Paul Coffey.
Gainey was first up and he told of the role his family and the city of Peterborough played in his development. He mentioned the Peterborough Community Church Hockey League, his many games in the Civic Arena and later playing in the Memorial Centre for the Junior B Lions and the Petes. He mentioned a few of the local coaches and league officials that helped him along the way. Bob left no doubt that growing up in Peterborough was the key to his success. Bob was the 37th hockey player inducted into the hall. He joins the likes of Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros.
Allan identified himself as the senior citizen of the 2017 class and commented that his video introduction only had black and white stills because video wasn’t invented when he played.
Surprisingly, Bob is the first lacrosse player, of the about 130 athletes inducted into the hall. He stated how honoured he was to be the first for lacrosse. Bob said that it was 71 years ago that he first held a lacrosse stick. That was the year the Miller Bowl was built and Bob, a teenager, was one of the first local boys introduced to the sport. Like Bob Gainey, Bob attributed his success to the many local people that guided him along the way. Bob then recognized the table of Peterborough lacrosse personnel who attended the dinner in his honour.
The two Bob’s sure exposed the importance of the city of Peterborough played in their lives but it was a few humorous remarks by Paul Coffey that cemented the “Boro” legacy.
Paul, in his light-hearted acceptance speech, mentioned he also played lacrosse growing up. He added, smiling at the Peterborough table, how he hated to come to Peterborough for lacrosse because they always beat his team and him.
It often takes something like the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame gala to shout-out how unique the city of Peterborough is in supporting its athletes. Even though we complain about the city’s weak effort with facilities, honours like this show it is volunteers that make our teams and athletes so special.