Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame welcomes Class of 2019
- Ayolt de Roos
- 17 Oct 2019
Yesterday – Wednesday, October 16th – the Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame held its 10th annual induction ceremony. During the festive evening at Michelangelo Events and Conference Centre (1555 Upper Ottawa Street, Hamilton). The following 5 members were inducted.
Hilda May Binns was just a child when she lost the use of her legs due to polio. This didn’t stop her from reaching the top, where she won an astounding 58 wheelchair-racing medals. Her tally includes 6 medals at the Paralympics (including Canada’s first ever gold medal in 1968), 18 at the Parapan American Games and 34 Canadian championships. After her career she went on to become a founding member of the Steel City Wheelers and the Ontario Wheelchair Sports Association.
Bernie Faloney arrived in Hamilton in 1957, joining the CFL’s Tiger-Cats. As quarterback of the Black and Gold, he led the team to the championship game in 7 of his 8 seasons, winning the title twice. The five-time all-star, one time Most Outstanding Player and member of the CFL Hall of Fame already has his number retired with the Ti-Cats and has the street outside of Tim Hortons Field named after him, and will now add a place in the Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame to that impressive list.
Nancy Lewington was in her teens when she set the Canadian record in the 100 meter sprint: 11.8 seconds. She went to the Olympics in Rome that year, where an old leg injury played up, cutting her tournament — and what later turned out to be her whole career — short. Her legacy however continued off the track, as a featured Olympian in the Art of the Olympians program, showcasing her work as a talented photographer, whilst contributing to a wide array of educational programs.
Thérèse Quigley came to the campus of McMaster University in 1990, as director of athletics and recreation. Her fingerprints are to be found all across campus, from the construction of Ron Joyce Stadium to driving the creation of the Sport Medicine Clinic. The struggling football program got a boost when she hired Greg Marshall and women’s sports across the board started to flourish. By having a similar impact at Western University, after leaving McMaster, she will have two parties to look forward to: in just a couple of weeks she will also be inducted into the London Sports Hall of Fame.
Paula Schnurr, currently the cross country and track head coach at McMaster University, won 18 gold medals while representing Mac herself, winning her a total of 4 Thérèse Quigley Awards (recognize that name?), for best female athlete of the year. After that she went on to claim silver at the 1994 Commonwealth Games and represented Canada at the Olympics twice (1992 and 1996). As a coach she’s not bad either, helping her runners win 30 medals, including bronze at last year’s nationals. This prize — ending a 54-year drought for the university — helped her become the first woman to win coach of the year for men’s cross-country.
As you can see, this year’s class combines for quite some talent, titles, medals and honours. Athletes, coaches and personalities worthy of their induction into the Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame, joining the other 57 individuals and 6 teams, already part of this select group.
New location
In the upcoming months, there will be another reason for the Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame to throw a party, as they have found a new home at the Eva Rothwell Centre (460 Wentworth Street North, Hamilton)
The new location, which will house all the pictures and biographies of the inductees, along with an extensive collection of Hamiltonian sports memorabilia, will open to the public later this fall.
Do you have a piece of Hamilton sports history at home?
Happen to have gotten a stick from Stanley Cup winner Robert Thomas while he was with the Hamilton Bulldogs? Or do you still have the ticket stub from the 1999 Grey Cup (which the Tiger-Cats won) in your wallet? The Hall of Fame might be interested in those items.
Please contact John Pellizzari at United Trophy or Sharon Garden to see if you’re housing a piece of Hamilton sports history at home.
Lead photo by The Hamilton Tiger-Cats
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