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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.

The Canadian Ski Hall of Fame (CSHF) is proud introduce our “Class of 2019”.  After a successful restart to our induction process in 2018 the CSHF is excited to honor and induct a distinguished group of Canadian into our Hall.  The gala will take place on Saturday, April 4, 2020 at a ceremony in Blue Mountain Resorts in Collingwood, Ontario.

Our 2019 inductees and soon to be Honored Members include:

Athletes
Chandra Crawford, Cross country
Ashleigh McIvor, Ski cross
Jennifer Heil, Freestyle
Lauren Woolstencroft, Para-alpine
Builder and Coach
Malcolm Hunter, builder and coach
Builder
Mike Irwin, builder
Réal Boulanger, builder (Deceased)
William B. Schrieber, builder
Instructor
Lorne McFagden, Alpine Ski Instructor (Deceased).

 

This festive evening begins with a cocktail reception and is followed by dinner with an entertaining awards ceremony highlighting each inductee’s achievements.  You are most welcome to join us in celebrating these new Honoured Members.

 

Tickets are $125. and can be purchased at www.skimuseum.ca

For more information contact [email protected]

My ‘post’ report due to my being awarded a $375.00 registration grant to attend your 49th annual conference.  Had my dad been alive, I think he would have been happy to see me attend this ‘conference’.  He loved conferences and sports.  There are several museums / halls of fame that I would have liked to go to with him.

I am not a ‘man of many words’ as my dad was, so this report will be somewhat brief.  I honestly tried to take notes, but that got kind of lost in just listening and wishing our museum “Oklahoma Sports Museum” had the funds to do what others are or have done.  I also wished that the presenters had ‘handouts’ to better remember what they said.

I am a person that likes to find “diamonds in the rough”, so here are the diamonds that I found.  Most of them came from Kansas, my home state.

  1. Jackie Stiles #10, luncheon speaker.   I went to her final high school game at Hays, Kansas.  I wanted so much to console her for their team loss, and to get her autograph.  But funny how God gives you something (autograph) when it comes later in life.
  2. Gary Bender, as he spoke I began to remember him on CBS & ABC Sports.  But it was a real treat to hear how he grew up just a few miles away from me in Southwest Kansas.
  3. Janice L. Ogurcak’s business card from “World Little League Museum & Official Store”.  On the back of the card it says ‘One Complimentary Admission’.  Here I come Janice!
  4. The ‘Silent Auction’, I won the 2016 Women’s Basketball Hall of Famers’ autographed ball.  Plus the autographed Induction Program and a $50.00 Amazon Gift Card… 3 for the price of 1 – what a ‘diamond’!
  5. Meeting and talking with Saman Amarasinghe from Sri Lanka.
  6. Marla Day, Curator of K-State Costume and Textile Museum.  Marla, I wish you could come to our museum in Guthrie, OK., as we could use your guidance.

My notes from your presentation:

  • Tape is ‘evil’
  • Laminating a poster is no good, the plastic will yellow, and ‘encapsulation’ is the way
  • Copy the object, store it, and show the copy
  •  Myths:
  •  Cedar chests preserve your collection
  • It is safe to store collections in plastic

Textiles:

  • Keep out of light
  • Keep in stable environment
  • No metals (pins, staples, nails)
  • Clothing needs support – padded foam on hanger
  1. The “Heck Yes/Heck No”,  “Of Course/Nope”,  “Naturally/Definitely Not”,  “Yay/Nay”,  and “Yep Yep Yep/No No No” voting flags, a must in every decision time.

Submitted by Alan Penner, Vice President, Oklahoma Sport Museum dba Oklahoma Territorial Capital Sports Museum

The 2019 International Sports Heritage Association Conference in Wichita provided a fruitful and engaging experience for attendees. Each session had speakers who shared first-hand accounts and detailed case studies of issues affecting their respective institutions. These sessions covered a wide range of topics including stewardship, best practice, and collections care in sports heritage museums. I received many great insights from these sessions and have returned to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame with a handful of ways we can implement improvements to different areas of the museum.

One of the most important components of the conference for me was getting the chance to network with other museum professionals and exchange stories about our current and past work projects. Many attendees I networked with at the conference had similar challenges to those that we are up against at our hall of fame and it was incredibly valuable for me to hear about ways that my fellow museum professionals were able to navigate and troubleshoot certain issues. A big interest for me going into the conference on behalf of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame was to explore ways to bolster engagement with our local community and to expand our visitor base. At the open dialogue session, these concerns were addressed by moderators and attendees who shared ways they were able to get new guests in their museum doors via event programming and by making their institution a community meeting place instead of solely being a place to exhibit content on a specific topic.

I very much enjoyed having the opportunity to attend this year’s ISHA conference in Wichita and am proud of having received the conference grant on behalf of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.

Submitted by Kyle Moore, ProRodeo Hall of Fame

The International Sports Heritage Association (ISHA) announced today that it will present Wichita, Kan., native William I. “Bill” Koch with its Legacy Award during its annual conference hosted by the Kansas Sports Hall Fame on Oct. 23 and 24.

Koch will receive the award at An Evening of Champions, the conference awards banquet held Thursday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.

Koch is the second recipient of the award, which ISHA created in 2018 to recognize an individual or organization located in the geographical area of the annual conference in order to provide an opportunity for the host to honor a local sports heritage contributor.

“The Kansas Sports Hall of Fame is thrilled to host Mr. Koch back in his hometown to receive the Legacy Award from the International Sports Heritage Association. Mr. Koch’s connection to our organization runs deep and this honor recognizes not only his commitment and contributions to our organization, but his lasting legacy on the landscape of sports heritage,” sad Jordan Poland, President and CEO of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.

One of the nation’s greatest business minds and well-known philanthropists, Koch was the winning skipper of the 1992 America’s Cup – the oldest trophy in sports. He also was the winning skipper in the 1990 and 1991 Maxi Yacht World Championships, and the 1994 and 2009 12 Meter World Championships. In 1995, Koch assembled the world’s first all-women’s team to compete for the America’s Cup. His commitment to the women’s team represented a milestone in the recognition and opportunities now provided female athletes in many sports around the world.

The founder and owner of one of the largest privately-owned companies in the world – The Oxbow Group –  Koch attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he earned three degrees and earned four academic honors. He also has three Honorary Doctorate degrees, including from Washburn University and Haskell University in Kansas. At MIT, Koch also played varsity basketball and participated in track and field, and rugby.

As the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Oxbow Carbon LLC, Koch’s business acumen set the stage for the company’s unprecedented growth, making it the world’s largest marketing company of fuel grade and calcined petroleum coke. With annual sales of $4 billion, and offices across the globe, Oxbow Carbon is the world’s largest producer of calcined coke, a key ingredient in the manufacturing of aluminum, and a key supplier of sulphur, sulphuric acid and fertilizers. Oxbow also started and built an alternative energy business domestically and internationally.

Ranked as one of the 25 most generous individuals in the United States by The Journal of Philanthropy in 2011, Koch may be best remembered for his mission to help less fortunate children receive a high-level education. Over the years, Koch has contributed money, time, and energy to help individuals, teachers, and classrooms get the support they have needed. Additionally, Koch started an advanced high school in Florida.

Koch has received numerous state nd national awards for his commitment to charities in his home state and around the country. He founded the Koch Crime Commission for the state of Kansas. He received the Medal of Outstanding Citizenship from the City of Wichita, the Karl Menninger Award, and the Governor of Kansas Appreciation Award. His generosity also included funding the Wichita Boathouse – headquarters for the Wichita River Kids Club, which taught sailing, kayaking and canoeing. The Wichita Boathouse is now home to the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame and Koch has been an instrumental supporter of the organization since his induction in 2004.

He was inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame in 1993, was awarded the New York Yacht Club Medal of Honor in 1993, and named Kansan of the Year in 1993 and 1994. In addition to being Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Mr. Koch has been inducted into the Culver Academy Athletic Hall of Fame (1994), the Wichita Sports Hall of Fame (2016), and the National Sailing Hall of Fame (2018). Mr. Koch is an Honorary Admiral in four Navies, including the state of Kansas.