Eight celebrated on wall of fame
Six individuals, championship team, service club added to Port Colborne sports shrine
Two immigrants from Italy whose dreams of playing in the Canadian Football League were dashed by injuries are among six individuals inducted into the Port Colborne Sports Wall of Fame.
Besides Paul Barchiesi and Joseph Fabiani, who both came to Canada as preschoolers and went on to have decades-long teaching careers after retiring from football, Nancy Gruhl, figure skating; Bette Kalailieff, softball; Danny Olesevich, hockey; and Brent Kovach, volunteer; were enshrined in an online ceremony Thursday night.
A boys baseball team that won an all-ontario championship in 1971 and the Port Colborne Lions Club, in recognition of its contributions to minor hockey in the community, were also inducted as part of the Class of 2022.
After graduating from Port Colborne High School, where he played football for the Blue Bears, Barchiesi spent three seasons with the Burlington Braves, then an affiliate of the CFL’S Hamilton Tigercats, before going into the thenuniversity of Western University, where he helped the Mustangs to a Canadian championship in 1974.
Barchiesi suffered multiple injuries in his rookie season with the British Columbia Lions and retired after being taken 66th overall in the CFL draft.
He began his teaching career in 1976 and coached Notre Dame College School in Welland to seven straight football championships and won six of them. He became vice-principal at Lakeshore Catholic in Port Colborne in 1988, when he also became head coach of the Gators.
Fabiano left an offer of a full scholarship from Bowling Green University in Ohio on the table in favour of attending Western after leading Port High to three Zone 3 semifinals.
In 1971, he quarterbacked the Mustangs to their first national title. His 97-yard pass-and-run play is still a Vanier Cup record.
British Columbia selected him in the 1973 CFL draft, but an injury suffered in the pre-season ended his career.
National Hockey League players Paul Bissonnette, Matt Ellis, Dan Girardi, Patrick Kane and Dan Paille were among the thousands of skaters that Gruhl has taught since becoming a coach. She continues to provide group and individual lessons at Vale Centre, where the sports wall is located.
Kalaileff, the founder of both the Port Colborne Comettes women’s fastball team and the Port Colborne
Minor Girls Softball Association, has already been inducted into the Softball Canada and Ontario Women’s Softball halls of fame. She served as the Ontario commissioner for Softball Canada and was the first woman elected vice-president of Softball Canada.
For more than 30 years, Kovach has been a fixture at hockey arenas in the community. He has also volunteered his time as a coach, convener and board member for baseball, girls softball and minor hockey at the grassroots level.
In 2009, Kovach was named citizen of the year by the Port Colborne-wainfleet Chamber of Commerce.
Olesevich attended Detroit Red Wings training camp in 1957 and was assigned to backstop their Edmonton Oil Kings affiliate for his final season in junior. He was named the league’s most valuable player that year.
The goaltender didn’t hang up his pads after retiring. As an assistant trainer and equipment manager with the Red Wings, Olesevich’s duties included being an emergency backup goalie for Detroit home games.
On Oct. 21, 1961, he replaced the injured Gump Worsley between the pipes for the New York Rangers and allowed two goals in 29 minutes in his lone appearance in the NHL. Olesevich was killed in a car accident at age 45 in 1983.
Thirty-five individuals and teams, including the eight in the Class of 2022, have been enshrined since the Port Colborne Sports Wall of Fame was created in 1991.