Dedication to Sport: Our 2024 Inductees

The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame welcomes a new group of seven great inductees into its ranks on September 28, 2024, as the 56th Induction Dinner & Ceremony.

To celebrate the achievements of our newest induction class and share some of their stories, each of the seven new inductees has their own Dedication to Sport exhibit that is on display now.

The 2024 Induction Class features a pair of rodeo athletes who are being inducted posthumously: Ray Mitsuing (Loon Lake – rodeo) and Carl Olson (Fir Mountain – rodeo) as well as Chelsea (Stone) Mazzei (Regina – taekwondo) who will be inducted in the athlete category. The two builders being enshrined are Wayne Hellquist (Saskatoon – volleyball) and Karen Howard (Melville – figure skating). The 2018, 2019 & 2023 Sherry Anderson Senior Women’s Curling Team and the 2003-2004 University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Volleyball Team will also be inducted in the team category.

Chelsea (Stone) Mazzei won 19 consecutive national championships in her weight class in sparring. She enjoyed an 18-year career as a member of the Canadian national team and served as team captain at five international competitions. In 2002 she was named the Canadian Taekwon-Do Federation International’s Athlete of the Year and the Sask Sport Female Athlete of the Year after winning four medals at junior worlds. She also medalled twice at the International Taekwon-Do Federation World Championships.

Ray Mitsuing competed as a chuckwagon driver for 36 years and qualified to compete at the Calgary Stampede each of those years. In 1992 he won the Aggregate Championship at the Calgary Stampede and also earned the fastest time award there three times. He won the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association championship seven times during his distinguished career. He finished in the top 10 on the CPCA Tour in each of his last 12 seasons. He passed away in 2024.

Carl Olson became the first Canadian-born cowboy to win a World Rodeo Championship in saddle bronc in 1947. Carl also won the first Canadian All-Around Rodeo title in 1945 and won that title again in 1948. He also won the saddle bronc national title three times and a national steer wrestling title. He was inducted into the Canadian Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1982 and passed away in 1983.

Karen Howard judged the women’s figure skating competition at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. She served as a judge and/or referee at three World Figure Skating Championships and four Junior World Figure Skating Championships. Closer to home she has been a judge, evaluator, and referee for Skate Saskatchewan for more than 40 years and continues to share her expertise to work with and mentor officials, skaters, coaches and parents.

Wayne Hellquist has served as a board member and executive at the national and provincial levels in volleyball. Hellquist spent 14 years on the board of the Canadian Olympic Committee, eight as vice president and he became the first person from Saskatchewan ever elected to serve as president. He was Chef de Mission for the Canadian Paralympic team at the 2000 Sydney Games and he also spent 20 years on the World ParaVolley board.

The 2003-04 University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Volleyball Team won the school’s fourth men’s national collegiate volleyball title beating Alberta in five sets to claim the U Sports championship. The Huskies were the top-ranked team in the country after winning the Canada West title. Six of the Huskies starting seven-man rotation hailed from Saskatchewan and three members of the team won significant individual honours at season’s end.

The senior women’s curling foursome of Sherry Anderson, Patty Hersikorn, Brenda Goertzen, and Anita Silvernagle was formed in 2016. They won six consecutive provincial senior curling titles, five consecutive national senior curling championships and three World Senior Curling Championships – each of which is a record. Based out of the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon, the Anderson foursome won their first senior world title in 2018 and repeated as champion in 2019 before winning again in 2023. This past year the rink was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame.

With the addition of these inductees, there are now 554 inductees — 254 athletes, 171 builders, and 129 championship teams. There are 53 different sports represented from 151 different Saskatchewan communities in the Hall of Fame.