Five new inductees for provincial Hall of Fame
The COVID-19 pandemic will throw a wrench into the Stars and Legends Awards Gala, but it hasn’t prevented the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame from honouring five new inductees.
Sport Newfoundland and Labrador has announced that three athletes, an athlete/ builder and a builder are the 2020 inductees into the province’s top Hall of Fame. They are: Cross-country skier Kirk Howell (athlete), runner Anne (Barrington) Johnston (athlete), boxer Erin Woodrow (athlete), athlete/builder Gail (Moore) Roberts (of volleyball, basketball and field hockey) and builder Doug Redmond (soccer).
The Stars and Legends Awards Gala, celebrating the Hall of Famers and provincial award winners for 2019, was scheduled for May 9 in St.
John’s but has been cancelled because of the pandemic. The ceremony will be rescheduled.
The new Hall of Famers were selected by the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame Board of Governors.
KIRK HOWELL
Howell enjoyed a 15-year career, starting in 1987, when he placed first in all cross-country events at the Atlantic Canadian championships.
He would continue to perform well, placing first at the 1990 Atlantic Canadian championships and would soon find himself attending numerous national and international competitions. From 1991-1993, he was a member of the junior national team competing in European Ski Tour races and the Junior World Championships.
In 1995, he competed in the Canada Winter Games where he placed first in the 10km freestyle, 2nd in the 15km classic and 15km classic mass start, making him the overall winner of cross-country skiing in the Games. Those results led him to qualify for the World Cross-country Championships in 1995.
ANNE (BARRINGTON) JOHNSTON
Anne (Barrington) Johnston has been involved in the sport of athletics for more than 20 years.
In 1996, she was selected to the provincial 17 & under track and field team, leading to her selection to the Canada Summer Games teams in 1997 and 2001. In 1998, she became a member and team captain of the Memorial University’s cross-country running team.
While competing for the Sea-hawks, she was a secondteam All-canadian (1999 and 2000), and CIS first-team all Canadian in 2001.
She was inducted into the Memorial University Athletic Honor Society in 2002.
Johnston competed for Canada, helping the country finish seventh at the FISU World University cross-country championships in Spain.
She is considered as one of the top female athletes in the province, winning multiple provincial events and last summer setting a new Tely 10 course record.
In May 2018, she ran her first marathon in Toronto and finished as the second overall female. This qualified her to run in the Boston Marathon in April 2019, where she ran a time of 2:42:03 and finished as the second Canadian female and the 37th overall female.
In January, she ran the Houston Marathon and finished in the top 15 out of an international field.
DOUG REDMOND
For over 40 years, Doug Redmond has served the sporting community of Newfoundland and Labrador, specifically soccer. He has been a member of numerous committees and projects over the years, including the Canadian Soccer Association, various organizing committees for international friendly relations, host committees for FIFA U-16 Men’s World Cup and Men’s World Cup (in 1986), the NLSA and various others.
He also served on the Canadian Soccer Organizing Committee for both the Women's FIFA Under-20 World Cup in 2014 and the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015.
In 1979 and 1984, Redmond received the Charlie Bhnisch Award for his overall promotion of soccer at the local level and then took home the Sandy Foster Award in 1981 for his contribution to the overall development of soccer in the St. John’s region.
He served as the Commissioner of the provincial Challenge Cup from 1987 to 2000. From 1990-2000, he was elected secretary of the NLSA, and then elected vice-president in 2001. In 1996 and 2015, Redmond was named Sport NL executive of the year.
The provincial Soccer Hall of Fame inducted Redmond as a Builder in 1998, just after the St. John’s Soccer Hall of Fame recognized and inducted him in 1997.
He has been the NLSA’S president since 2002.
GAIL (MOORE) ROBERTS
Gail Roberts excelled in many sports, including volleyball, basketball and field hockey, succeeding as an athlete, coach, administrator and official.
Roberts captained the Memorial University women’s volleyball team and competed in the first Canada Winter Games as a member of the provincial volleyball team.
Her coaching career began in 1970, and she served as a provincial volleyball and basketball official between 1970-1979.
She was vice-president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Volleyball Association from 1973-1975.
As a coach, Roberts won eight St. John’s high school volleyball championships, five provincial high school volleyball championships, eight St. John’s high school basketball championships, six provincial high school basketball championships and nine St. John’s high school field hockey championships.
Roberts joined the Canadian Olympic Committee in 1997 and served until 2013 as a “B” Director.
She is a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador volleyball and basketball Halls of Fame.
ERIN WOODROW
Erin Woodrow is a trailblazer in the boxing community, not only in Newfoundland and Labrador, but at the national and international levels as well. At the age of 14, Woodrow participated at the provincial and national levels in hockey, basketball and soccer, where one day a twist of fate led her to the boxing ring where she fell in love with the sport.
Female participation in the boxing world in the late 1990s was not common.
In 1997, she won the silver medal in the national intermediate championship and made boxing history in Newfoundland and Labrador when she became the first female to win the Intermediate 51kg weight category at the nationals in Sarnia, Ont.
From there, Woodrow went on to compete in her first senior nationals where she won the silver medal that placed her on Canada’s “B” team.
After taking time to pursue her education and career that brought her to Western Canada,
she re-discovered her love for boxing and in 2008 won the Western Canadian championship and numerous other competitions throughout Canada.
After winning numerous gold medals in various provincial championships in Alberta, she then became part of Canada’s senior national female team in 2010-11 after winning the national title.
It took her all over the globe, including competitions throughout the United States, the Pan American Games in Brazil and the Prime Minister’s Tournament in Turkey.
She retired in 2012, and has since dedicated herself to developing and managing a program out of the Boys and Girls club of Calgary.