WHERE LEGENDS LIVE ON

Members of the 1976-77 Confederation College '67's men's curling team won the Ontario golf medal. The team included Clint Barton, Ivan Strachan, Les Dunville and Jim Dunville.

BY DIANE IMRIE


THE athletes at the 2017 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in Ottawa last provided some great moments and memories.

The pride of Balmertown, Ont. - Eric Radford - made history by winning his sixth consecutive pairs skating title with his partner Meagan Duhamel, the most by any other pair team since the first official championship took place in 1914, which also happened to be held in our nation’s capital.

I also had the opportunity to watch Patrick Chan skate his long program to one of Eric’s compositions, which was a truly magical combination that had me transfixed throughout the entire number. It was also nice to reconnect with Marathon’s Kris Wirtz, who was there as a coach of some young pair skaters. Kris, along with his brother, the late Paul Wirtz, were early coaches of Eric’s.

There were some other former skaters on hand who, although not hailing from our region, have a connection to our community as they themselves experienced historic milestones in their careers on the ice at Fort William Gardens. It was here that Kurt Browning, who was serving as the Athlete Ambassador in Ottawa, defeated Viktor Petrenkoto win his first Skate Canada International gold medal back in 1988.

Brian Orser, who always provides a great show as a coach standing at the boards and mimicking his skaters movements on the ice, won his first junior national skating title in 1979 when Thunder Bay hosted the national championships.

WHEN I returned to Thunder Bay I hit the ground running to help put the finishing touches on an exhibit we recently opened at the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in celebration of the Confederation College’s 50th anniversary. The school also has a rich sports history.

Confederation College of Applied Arts and Technology was officially established in 1967, starting out with nine employees in a small office on May Street and a budget of $38,000. Classes began in October of that year with 238 full-time students across nine programs receiving instruction in Sir Winston Churchill High School and four portable classrooms in Thunder Bay.

Fifty years later, Confederation College employs over 800 people with a budget of $75 million and boasts over 34,000 alumni and supports an average of 7,800 full- and part-time learners across over 60 full-time programs.

All throughout their history, sport and recreation has been a part of student life at Confederation College. The sport of curling that has played a special role in the institution’s history. In 1967 the men’s curling team was the first varsity team to be established and in 1968, when the institution became a member of the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA), the team consisting of Glenn Saari, Don Hemsworth, Reed Berringer and Brian Knibbs won the first-ever OCAA men’s curling title.

Becoming known as the 67’s, women’s and mixed varsity curling teams were eventually added with Confederation College teams going on to truly dominate curling at the provincial level. From 1984 to 1990 and 2012 to the present day, teams that claimed OCAA curling titles have had the opportunity to compete in the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA) championship, with four Confederation College teams bringing home national honours.

The first title came in 1984-85 when Bruce Hogue skipped his team of Bob Sinclair, Larry Champagne and Joe Pulakto the CCAA men’s title. In 1987-88 the mixed curling team of Lorne Jackson, Kathie Sinclair, Dale Jackson and Donna Rae Craig brought home CCAA gold from Medicine Hat, Alta. The following year, Kim Tolen skipped her team of Laurel Kostuk, Karen Cartwright and Pamela Morphet to the 1988-89 CCAA women’s curling title and repeated that accomplishment in 1989-90 along with Kostuk and Jackie Beacham and Lynn Gosselin.

In 1975 the Fitness Centre, including ‘The Bubble’ was opened and welcomed members from the college and broader community. Since that time, a number of varsity, tournament and team activities have been added to campus life including such sports as badminton, cross-country running, judo, golf, hockey, indoor soccer, skiing, touch football and volleyball.

In 1995, the 67’s became the Thunderhawks.

Another sport that produced a number of OCAA champions was skiing. The men claimed team titles in 1984-85, 1985-86 and 1988-89 with the women doing so in 1981-82 and 1999-2000.

Individual overall OCAA skiing titles have been won by such skiers as A. Clark, Rob Mazurkewich, Leonard Kutra, Liz Roehring, Jacquelyn McKenzie, Teresa Plater, Andrea Kukko and Marla Henderson. Other OCAA titles were claimed by David House (cross-country running), Dave McCallum (judo) and the 2005-06 Men’s Division II golf team of Jesse Liman, Chris Gardiner, Dustin Mauro and Steve Gibson.

A total of eight athletes are currently members of the OCAA Hall of Fame, including Kim Beaudry (nee Tolen), Tara George (nee Coulterman), Marla Henderson, Kathie Jackson (nee Sinclair), Lorne Jackson, Laurel Kostuk, Angela Wiwcharyk (nee Lee) and Jacquelyn McKenzie as well as coach Jeff McKenzie and builder Ron Fearon.

When the college named their Athletes of the Millennium, Hogue and McKenzie were awarded the honour.

Another interesting connection to sport history is the fact that Confederation College also played a significant role in the creation of the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. It was with the urging of then-Board of Governor Edgar Laprade, along with Royal Canadian Legion member Fred Bragnalo, that the first meeting of what would become the Steering Committee of the Hall of Fame was held on September 24, 1975 on campus.

Over the next two years, along with the assistance of such people as College representatives Ken Cunningham and Fitness Centre manager Larry Vezina, the Hall of Fame became more formalized going on to hold its first Annual General Meeting in June of 1977. So as the college is celebrating its 50th anniversary the Hall of Fame will be celebrating its 40th.

Until next time keep that sports history pride alive.


Diane Irmie is the executive director of the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.

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