Monthly Archives: December 2019

December 11, 2019

Janice L. Ogurcak
Secretary, ISHA Board of Directors
Chair, ISHA Grant Committee

Dear Janice,

Thank you for selecting our organization to receive a registration grant for the
2019 ISHA conference in Wichita. As per all of the ISHA conferences we have
attended over the years, these are days we look forward to as staff with Curling
Canada.

Our organization does not have a bricks & mortar Hall of Fame or Museum, nor
is there any potential in the future. But we have moved our strategic planning
forward to ultimately create a mobile, digital and augmented reality experience
for our fan base and new fans at our events. And we have gotten to this point
because of our attendance at the ISHA conference and the things we have
learned from the sessions and the networking with vendors and other museums.
The ISHA conference has offered invaluable information and contacts about the
digital world and its place in the Hall of Fame or Museum industry.

In particular:
• SESSION 2: Oh, What a World!: gave us valuable insight as to the
preservation of our collection which we are very guilty of not doing!

• SESSION 3: Wizard of Ease: we are currently investigating the experience
of personal information tools via mini speakers and/or augmented reality via
mobile phones.

• SESSION 4: If We Only Had a Library: our takeaway was to look at how we
get writers, story-tellers, historians access to our small collection of books.

• SESSION 5: A Roadmap to Oz: this information was passed on to our own
Foundation including booking a session this winter with Golf Canada to listen
to their successes.

• SESSION 6: From Now On: we have recently licensed a new merchandiser.
This session gave us perspective on what we need to do.

• SESSION 8: I’ll Get You, My Pretty: We are working hard in this area in our
demographic issues so the information and the role playing we did at the
conference were indeed valuable.

This winter, a group of Curling Canada staff will be in charge of implementation
of a new, updated plan mainly because of the resources we accessed via ISHA.

Sincerely, and thank you again,

Danny Lamoureux

Curling Canada
Director, Curling Club Development & Championship Services
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The Selection Committee of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame voted six individuals — including Lindsey Vonn, Bob Gebhard and Alonzo Babers  — to be inducted at the 56th annual banquet, set for April 23 at the Hilton Denver City Center (1701 California St.).

 Joining four-time overall World Cup skiing champion Vonn, former Colorado Rockies general manager Gebhard and two-time Olympic gold medalist Babers as April inductees were former University of Denver hockey coach George Gwozdecky, 1977 Heisman Trophy voting runner-up Terry Miller, and impending U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Famer Erin Popovich when the Class of 2020 was selected today. The Selection Committee will pick the 2019 Athletes of the Year at a January 2020 meeting as the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame recognizes collegiate, high school and Olympic/Pro athletes at the Hilton Denver City Center banquet.

Lindsey Vonn of Vail is the winningest women’s World Cup skier of all time, having claimed 82 titles, just four shy of Ingemar Stenmark’s record regardless of gender. Vonn retired in February due to the cumulative effect of injuries after earning a bronze medal in the downhill at the World Championships. In 2012, she earned her fourth World Cup overall title, joining Annemarie Moser-Proell as the only women to accomplish that feat. Vonn was also a season-long champion in the World Cup downhill a record eight times to go along with five in the super-G and three in the combined. Her 20 World Cup globes are the most by any skier, woman or man.

 Vonn is one of just six women to have won World Cup races in all five disciplines of alpine skiing — downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super combined. 

 Vonn won an Olympic gold medal on the downhill in the 2010 Winter Games, becoming the first American woman to land that title. That year, she was named the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year. In all, Vonn competed in four Olympics (2002, ’06, ’10 and ’18), winning three medals. At world championships, she claimed eight medals, including two golds in 2009 — one each in downhill and super-G. Vonn, who will turn 35 years old on Friday, was the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame’s 2009 Athlete of the Year.

 Bob Gebhard was the first GM of the Rockies as he was hired in 1992, the year before the franchise started Major League play. He continued in that role until his resignation in 1999. Under Gebhard’s watch, the Rockies went to the playoffs in their third season, earning a spot in 1995 as a National League wild-card team. At the time, that made them the first MLB expansion team to reach the postseason prior to its eighth season of competition. That year began a three-year run of the Rockies finishing with winning records.

Gebhard led the way in building the team’s farm system, hiring Don Baylor as the franchise’s first manager, and overseeing the expansion draft.

The Rockies were also very successful at the gate, setting a Major League attendance record by drawing 4,483,350 fans to Mile High Stadium in 1993. Every year during the Gebhard years, the Rockies attracted at least 3.2 million fans, with the team having moved into Coors Field in 1995.

Gebhard pitched in the Major Leagues with Minnesota and Montreal from 1971-74, finishing with 41 innings on the mound and a 1-3 record in the Bigs. He began his front-office career in 1976 with the Expos as field director of minor league operations.

Alonzo Babers, who ran track and played one season of football at the Air Force Academy, made a splash at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles by winning gold medals in both the 400-meter run and the 4X400-meter relay. Babers made a quick rise to the highest level of track. In 1984, a year after graduating from the Academy with a degree in aerospace engineering, he ran a personal-best 44.86 in the 400 to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team. 

In the 400 final at the Olympics, Babers posted a time of 44.27 to earn the gold medal. And in the relay final, Babers ran the third leg as the American team claimed gold easily with a clocking of 2:57.91.

Babers was a Lieutenant in the Air Force while training for and competing in the Olympics. He started his flight training just a month after the Olympics, and he was active duty in the Air Force from 1983 to ’91. He went on to become a pilot for United Airlines.

George Gwozdecky coached the DU hockey team for 19 seasons (1994-2013), guiding the Pioneers to NCAA titles in 2004 and ’05. In his final dozen years at the DU helm, the team never failed to win at least 20 games. Overall, Gwozdecky accumulated a 443-267-64 record as coach of the Pioneers. Under Gwozdecky, DU won three regular-season titles in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and four WCHA playoff crowns.

 

Gwozdecky won NCAA titles as a player (at Wisconsin in 1977), an assistant coach (at Michigan State in 1986) and a head coach (at DU in 2004 and ’05), becoming the first person to accomplish that feat. Twice he was named NCAA national coach of the year, in 1993 and 2005. He came to DU from Miami (Ohio), where he was head coach for five years. Gwozdecky was previously a head coach at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, where the team won an NAIA national title in 1983.

After working as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, Gwozdecky became head coach at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch in 2015.

Terry Miller is considered one of the top running backs Colorado high school football has produced. As a senior at Mitchell in Colorado Springs, he rushed for 2,785 yards as the Marauders finished runner-up in the 1973 AAA state playoffs. He was subsequently named the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame’s High School Athlete of the Year for ’73. Miller also played point guard on a Mitchell basketball team that won the state title in ’73, and he ran high school track.

Miller went on to star in football at Oklahoma State, where he finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1977 to Texas’ Earl Campbell, and fourth in 1976. He led the Big Eight Conference in rushing in both 1976 and ’77 and was named Big Eight Player of the Year both years. From 1974 to ’77, Miller rushed for 4,754 yards and 49 touchdowns at Oklahoma State, where he went into the athletics Hall of Honor in 2006.

Miller was the fifth pick overall in the 1978 NFL draft, going to the Buffalo Bills, where he rushed for 1,060 yards as a rookie. In 48 NFL games from 1978 through ’81, Miller rushed for 1,583 yards and eight TDs and caught 35 passes for 382 yards.

Erin Popovich, a 2007 graduate of Colorado State University, is believed to be the first Paralympian voted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. She won 14 gold medals — and 19 medals overall — in swimming over the course of three Paralympic Games. That includes an extraordinary performance in the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, where she claimed seven titles in seven events.

Twice for her achievements, Popovich has been named winner of the ESPY Award for Best Female Athlete with a Disability.

On Nov. 1, Popovich will be inducted into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame, joining such Colorado Sports Hall of Famers as Babe Zaharias, Peggy Fleming, Bill Toomey, Connie Carpenter-Phinney and fellow former CSU swimmer Amy Van Dyken. 

Popovich retired from competitive swimming in 2008 and accepted a job at the Colorado Springs-based U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, where she’s Associate Director of Paralympic Swimming.

Tickets for the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Banquet are $200 each and Sponsor tables start at $2,500. For additional ticket and table information, please phone the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame (www.coloradosports.org, 720-258-3535). The Colorado Sports Hall of Fame & Museum is located at Gate 1 on the west side of Empower Field at Mile High at 1701 Bryant Street in Denver.

Since its inception in 1965, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame has inducted 264 individuals prior to Tuesday’s selection meeting. The first class of inductees featured Earl “Dutch” Clark, Jack Dempsey and former Supreme Court Justice Byron “Whizzer” White. Missy Franklin, Daniel Graham, Todd Lodwick, Tom Southall, Bob Smith and Marv Kay were inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame this past April.

The inaugural Order of Sport Award was presented to the Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2019 Inductees on October 23rd during the 64th Induction Festival. The  Order of Sport is a National Level Award established by Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and a symbol of the organization’s purpose: to build Canada through sport. The fully accredited museum and not-for-profit organization is committed to improving the opportunity for sport to represent Canada’s shared values to Canadians and the world, preserving and promoting the past, present and future of Canadian sport.

The Order of Sport is Canada’s highest sporting honour. Individuals inducted annually into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame (Hall of Famers) receive the Order of Sport in recognition of their continuing role in building Canada through sport and the value of the return and impact they have on their communities.

What distinguishes Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame’s recognition program from other sport awards or hall of fame organizations is its consideration of any person’s significant contributions to sport in Canada irrespective of the type of sport or game, with whom the sport or game is accredited, or with whom or how it is organized within Canada or internationally.

For more information about the Class of 2019 inductees or how to submit a nomination for an athlete or sport builder, please visit sportshall.ca. Nominations are due by January 15, 2020.

 

Photo – Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2019 Inductees (L-R): Waneek Horn-Miller (Water Polo), Colette Bourgonje (Para Nordic Skiing & Wheelchair Racing), Jayna Hefford (Ice Hockey), Doug Mitchell (Builder, Multisport), Guylaine Bernier (Builder, Rowing), Vicki Keith (Swimming), Alexandre Bilodeau (Freestyle Skiing) and Martin Brodeur (Ice Hockey)

 

Annual Induction Ceremony and 2020 Olympics Exhibits Keep Oregon Sports Hall of Fame Busy in September and October

On September 24, the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and Museum held its 39th annual induction ceremony at the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland. We inducted Mark Radford and Ray Blume, Oregon State basketball stars from the late 70s; Molly McConnell, National Golden Gloves and world champion welterweight boxer; Dr. Bob Gill, outstanding high school and college football player, and all around sports enthusiast and organizational leader; 1975 Portland Timbers (NASL Champions); and Kenny Moore, All American and Olympics distance runner and long time track and field writer for Sports Illustrated.

In October, we mounted a special, “Countdown to Tokyo 2020” pre-Olympics exhibit in the lobby of KGW CH8, Portland’s NBC affiliate, who share offices with NBC Sports Northwest, and will broadcast the 2020 Olympics.  Photos and bios of 30 Oregon Olympians are on display.

In addition, a special section features artifacts worn by 2 world famous Oregon Olympians: Steve Prefontaine’s Oregon letterman’s jacket, a running singlet and a Nike waffle trainer shoe, with Prefontaine photos and bio; and Don Schollander, Olympic swimming medalist, parade jacket,  and Saturday Evening Post cover photo of Schollander festooned with his medals.

Finally, the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame will loan the new USA Olympic and Paralympic Museum, in Colorado Springs, a pair of Prefontaine Nike waffle trainer shoes to exhibit prior to and through the 2020 Tokyo Games.

It’s been a busy few months with no letup in sight…..planning is already underway for celebrating our 40th anniversary in 2020. Stay tuned for special events…..to follow, soon.

On Friday, November 15, the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame inducted seven new honoured members at a ceremony in the Halifax Convention Centre. These inductees included arguably Nova Scotia’s greatest female basketball and soccer players, the most beloved player ever to compete with the Halifax Mooseheads, the province’s biggest rugby star, two incredibly dedicated builders and promoters of local sport, and our first ever Special Olympics athlete. A force to be reckoned with in the sport of power lifting, highly decorated Special Olympics athlete Jackie Barret made history joining the Hall of Fame this year.

Barrett was inducted with the all-time leading scorer for Canadian women’s university basketball, Justine Colley-Leger; varsity and national team soccer superstar Suzanne Muir; Mooseheads legend and NHL player Jody Shelley; and, the record-holder for the most caps as a Canadian rugby scrum half, Morgan Williams. In the builder category, long-time Little League coach, baseball manager and community hero Henry Boutilier, along with international basketball official and mentor Roger Caulfield, were also inducted on November 15. The event was broadcast live by Eastlink Community TV.

Photo credit: Nick Pearce. (Left to Right: (back row) Suzanne Muir, Jackie Barrett, Jody Shelley, Morgan Williams, (front row) Henry Boutilier, Justine Colley-Leger, and Roger Caulfield.

On April 1, 2020, the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame will present an event featuring many of Canada’s top female athletes of all time. Titled “Women on Top of the World,” the event will help kick off the IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship taking place in Halifax and Truro.

At a dinner gala taking place at the Halifax Convention Centre, co-hosts Bruce Rainnie and Karen Furneaux will talk with some of the country’s most influential, inspiring and iconic women.

The head table will feature Olympians, World Champions and many women who have achieved “firsts” in international sports. Guests scheduled to appear include: Canada’s top female curler Jennifer Jones, basketball trailblazer Chantal Vallee, speed skating legend Catriona Le May Doan, WNBA player Kia Nurse, Canadian hockey icon Hayley Wickenheiser, curling record-setter Colleen Jones, Canada’s most accomplished female gymnast Ellie Black, and ice dance champion Tessa Virtue.

Joining this stellar line-up of women in sport will be local business woman and Events East CEO Carrie Cussons, along with a special performance by acclaimed singer, songwriter and musician Reeny Smith.

Tickets go on sale through Ticket Atlantic today, Monday, November 18. Tickets are $225 for adults and $100 for youth. To purchase individual seats or tables, go to ticketatlantic.com.

Proceeds from the event will go toward the development of a major female athlete exhibit at the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame.

The Women on Top of the World event will follow a Women’s Summit event hosted by Events East on March 31, 2020 (more details to follow).

Here is more information about the Women on Top of the World head table:

Jennifer Jones is an Olympic gold medallist (with an undefeated record as skip at the 2014 Winter Games), and ties Colleen Jones for the most-ever national championship wins.

Chantal Vallee, head coach of the Hamilton Honey Badgers of the Canadian Elite Basketball League, is the first-ever woman to act as both head coach and general manager of a professional men’s team.

Catriona Le May Doan is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, five-time World Champion, and the first woman to break the 38-second barrier in the 500m speed skating event.

Kia Nurse, drafted 10th overall in the first round by the New York Liberty of the WNBA, is a Pan American gold medallist and two-time FIBA Women’s AmeriCup gold medallist.

Hayley Wickenheiser, who was a member of Canada’s women’s national ice hockey team for 23 years and captain of the team for a decade, is a four-time Olympic gold medallist, seven-time World Championship gold medallist, and the first woman to play full-time professional hockey in a position other than goalie.

Colleen Jones, recently named the second greatest Nova Scotian athlete of all time, skipped her curling teams to two World Championship wins and six national gold medals. She is also a well-known television news journalist with CBC.

Ellie Black holds six all-around Canadian titles, ten Pan American medals, and a Commonwealth Games all-around championship title, while also having achieved a silver medal for individual all-around at the 2017 World Championships and a record fifth-place finish in the Olympic all-around competition.

Tessa Virtue is a two-time Olympic champion, three-time world champion and eight-time Canadian national champion in ice dance. She and ice dance partner Scott Moir are the longest-standing and most decorated Canadian ice dance team of all time.

Carrie Cussons is the President and CEO of Events East Group, managing the new Halifax Convention Centre, Scotiabank Centre (Atlantic Canada’s largest multi-purpose facility) and Ticket Atlantic. She is also the Chair of the 2020 IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship and the secretary of the 2020 North American Indigenous Games.

Reeny Smith is a three-time winner of Music Nova Scotia’s African Canadian Artist of the Year award, a two-time East Coast Music Award winner, and a Top 10 finalist in the CBC Searchlight competition.

Co-host Karen Furneaux is a two-time World Champion and three-time Olympian in the sport of kayaking. She is an ambassador for the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame education program and runs her own company called I Promise Performance Inc.

Co-host Bruce Rainnie is the President and CEO of the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame, a long-time play-by-play commentator for Olympic sports, and the former host of CBC’s Compass program in PEI.

Learn more about the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame online at nsshf.com.

 

Media Inquiries Contact:

Katie Tanner

Museum & Communications Coordinator

Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame

902-404-3343 / [email protected]

 

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Atlanta’s Steven Lester Receives Academy’s Sport Artist of the Year Award

DAPHNE, Ala. – After four decades of leadership in the commercial creative field, Atlanta’s Steven Lester fully embraced his passion for painting and quickly gained notoriety for what he calls “representational expressionism.” Because Lester’s action sports themes resonate with vibrant life and elicit a visceral, emotional response, he was named the United States Sports Academy’s 2019 Sport Artist of the Year.

Lester received the 2019 Sport Artist of the Year – Dr. Znenliang He Culture Award from Academy President Dr. T.J. Rosandich and unveiled an original painting of American gymnast Simone Biles at the Academy’s 35th annual Awards of Sport program in Daphne, Ala. The painting, called “Courage to Soar,” depicts Biles performing on the balance beam at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The piece is now on permanent display at the Academy’s American Sport Art Museum & Archives (ASAMA) on its campus. Numerous other works by Lester are also on temporary display in the museum.

Growing up in Atlanta, Lester loved drawing, painting and playing sports. He played baseball through college and achieved a black belt in two forms of martial arts. After graduating from Georgia State University with a degree in Visual Arts, he began his career as a commercial illustrator with an emphasis on sports. He produced a series of Gameday program covers for Georgia Tech University, and his skills landed him a role as the Creative Director of Turner Broadcasting System. After getting a taste for television, Lester ultimately became a Vice President and Creative Director for two international advertising agencies, where he won more than 100 national and international awards.

Even though Lester achieved commercial success, he never lost sight of his lifelong ambition of becoming a full-time sports artist. Upon retiring from leadership in the advertising field, Lester shifted his focus to his love of painting. His dynamic, narrative subjects are both contemporary and imminently relatable. His work is in demand by major corporations, universities, art collectors, athletes and private individuals who appreciate his unique style and approach.

He was selected as one of only 16 artists in America to be a 2019 Fellow in the Clark Hulings Fund’s Art-Business Accelerator Program.

Lester has been invited to stage several live painting events at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

The Academy’s Awards of Sport honor those who have made significant contributions to sport in categories as diverse as the artist and the athlete. The Academy’s American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA) annually recognizes these men and women through its Sport Artist of the Year, Honorary Doctorates, Medallion Series, Athletes of the Year and Alumni of the Year awards.

 

Founded in 1984, ASAMA is dedicated to the preservation of sports art, history, and literature. The ASAMA collection is composed of more than 1,800 works of sport art across a variety of media, including paintings, sculptures, assemblages, prints and photographs. The museum is open free to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. For more information, go to www.asama.org.

 

The United States Sports Academy is an independent, non-profit, accredited, special mission sports university created to serve the nation and world with programs in instruction, research and service. The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of sports.

 

The Academy is based in Daphne, Ala.  For more information, call (251) 626-3303 or visit www.ussa.edu.

 

United States Sports Academy 2019 Sport Artist of the Year Steven Lester discusses his original painting “Courage to Soar” at the institution’s 35th annual Awards of Sport program in Daphne, Ala. The piece is on permanent display at the Academy’s American Sport Art Museum & Archives.

 

Painter Steven Lester received the United States Sports Academy’s Sport Artist of the Year award during the institution’s 2019 Awards of Sport program in Daphne, Ala. Lester, center, is pictured with Academy President Dr. T.J. Rosandich, left, and Board of Trustees Chairman Robert C. Campbell III, right.

 

Town & Team: An Inseparable Bond

This exhibit tells the story of the strong bond between the Packers and the community they represent. Starting in the late 1920s and well into the 1960s, most players lived downtown or nearby and were everywhere to be seen by fans who might have idolized them but also gave them their space. More recently, the connection between town and team can be seen through the charitable work of both the players and the organization. This exhibit features Packers’ hang-outs and the communities’ commitment to support the team.

Admit One: The History of the Packers Tickets

This exhibit tells the story of how the Packers have always been the hot ticket in Green Bay, dating all the way back to a packed house in their first professional league game and continuing today at legendary Lambeau Field. It explores the history of Packers tickets being sold at various locations including the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Legion Park, and the downtown Packers office building. This exhibit also features memorable tickets at Lambeau Field such as Vince Lombardi’s first win, the Ice Bowl, the Instant Replay game, and the Monday Night Miracle.