All In The Family

The history of Saskatchewan sport is full of great sporting families. If you dig a little deeper, more family connections emerge as talent and passion are passed along from one generation to the next.

All In The Family, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame’s new featured exhibit celebrates these familial sporting connections and the great history of sporting families in the province.

Curling is always a sport with strong bloodlines and Saskatchewan has had two of the most prominent families in the sport. The Richardsons – curling primarily with his brother and two cousins – won four men’s world championships in five years. Saskatchewan’s first Brier national championship was won by the Campbell brothers who competed in 10 Briers and won a medal nine times.

The Bentley brothers –Doug, Max and Reg – became the first trio of brothers to each get a point on a goal in the National Hockey League. Max and Doug would be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and the SSHF.

Don and Nick Metz both had great NHL careers with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The brothers from Wilcox won four Stanley Cups together and Don won a fifth championship with the Leafs in 1949.

In some cases, sport brings people together. John Konihowki and Diane Jones Konihowski met while competing on the provincial track team in high school and eventually married after both starring on the track for the University of Saskatchewan. John would win four Grey Cups in Edmonton, focusing on football and Diane won two Pan Am golds, a Commonwealth Games gold and qualified for the Olympics three times.

Betty Lou (Bingham) Dean and David Dean were both inducted into the SSHF as swimming builders, while Cyprian Enweani and Vanessa Monar Enweani were both inducted after representing Canada in athletics.

There are plenty of other family connections and stories that span the ages that are part of All In The Family which will be on display at the SSHF into 2025.