Media shut out of 2012 collection of worthy BC Sports Hall of Fame inductees
SCENE & HEARD: The BC Sports Hall of Fame introduced its media category of honoured members in 1998. It was such an intense and difficult vote that year, the selection committee eventually settled on a tie, resulting in Ted Reynolds and Jim Coleman sharing the podium. Reynolds was the heralded CBC television sportscaster who performed with unmatched elegance at numerous Olympics and international events; Coleman was the consummate wordsmith whose newspaper columns charmed the masses at a national level.
The two media legends, who have since left us, set the bar for future Hall of Fame nominations in the broadcast and print category. The level of their expertise created an unspoken but keen competitive spirit among potential candidates.
When the Class of 2012 inductees was announced last week the list of 10 included five worthy athletes, two builders, one pioneer, one W. A. C. Bennett Award winner and the 1945- 46 Pacific Hockey League Vancouver Canucks in the team category.
Conspicuous by its absence: a media inductee.
“There were no new nominations put forward this year and we thought it was time to revisit that category,” says selection committee chair Marion Lay.
Lay was a 2005 Hall of Fame inductee recognized as an elite athlete, coach, advocate and administrator. She was a world- class swimmer but never a great skier. Today her right arm is still cradled in a sling as a result of a December tumble at Whistler. HERE ‘ N’ THERE: The Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 148 soccer team ( 1966) is being acknowledged at the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame awards dinner on Feb. 16. It’s the squad that played in four Sun Tournament of Soccer Championship finals. Manager Scotty Kemp and coach Doug Macdonald have been able to contact everyone involved with the exception of Daryl Thompson and David Mackie. Consider this an all- points bulletin as to their whereabouts ... Promoter/ broadcaster Tom Mayenknecht has created the inaugural Paul Carson Broadcast and Media Awards in memory of the popular television and radio personality who died in December 2010. Half of the nominees are regular contributors to Team Radio, where Mayenknecht works.
SHORT HOPS: Can’t you just hear Clancy Loranger clearing his throat and saying: “What took you so long?” as he dusts off the spot he’s been holding in Media Heaven for his old pal Hal Sigurdson? Loranger died of cancer in December 2010 and Sigurdson passed last Monday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
They were dubbed “The Odd Couple” by Canucks players and management when they travelled the NHL circuit together for several years as rival hockey writers, Loranger with The Province and Sigurdson with The Sun.