Never Give Up once again full for spring offering

The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame continues to deliver the inspiring stories of our inductees to students across the province through the Never Give Up program.

The program debuted in 2011 and was such a success that it developed into an annual offering. While the involvement of Ted Jaleta has been one of the hallmarks of the program, the involvement of other sports figures from Saskatchewan has been essential to its success. All of these individuals have overcome obstacles and hardships. They truly understand what it means to “never give up” and serve as positive role models.

The program is available to Grades 4-8 in schools throughout Saskatchewan. We are fortunate to have the support of SaskTel as our presenting sponsor once again. This year’s program will focus on various subject areas in the Grades 4-8 Saskatchewan Curriculum dealing with identity to showcase how sport contributes to self-identity. It will also highlight our feature inductees and Saskatchewan athletes who have made significant contributions to sport and society.

The presenters for the spring of 2023 are Arnold Boldt OC, Colette Bourgonje, Lisa Franks, and Colleen Sostorics.

The spring offering of Never Give Up will run from May 16 to June 16 with all 10 sessions full with students from across the province. This spring’s offering of the program sees Never Give Up delivered to schools in Dinsmore, Humboldt, North Battleford, Raymore, Regina, Saskatoon, Viscount, Wadena, and Wilkie.

Since 2011 Never Give Up has reached more than 20,000 students across Saskatchewan. In the past two years alone, the program has reached 41 communities, with 4,051 students taking part in 2021 and 2022.

Award-winning program returns this fall

The fall 2022 edition of Never Give Up kicked off Tuesday afternoon with our first virtual presentation.

Inductee Arnold Boldt connected with three classes from Grades 5-8 from St. Augustine Community School in Regina to begin this latest five-week offering of this Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame educational program.

Never Give Up is an education program targeting at-risk students in Grades 4-8 which focuses on answering the question: what makes a person a “hero”? By discussing the concept of a hero, Never Give Up allows the students to understand that heroes are different for everyone and often they take the form of positive role models throughout each person’s community. Never Give Up is administered virtually and involves SSHF inductees who have overcome obstacles and hardships to achieve their own personal goals in sport and life. The students benefitting from this program represent a range of diverse life experiences and thus, so too do the presenters who currently include war refugees, amputees, and Paralympians.

This year the SSHF is happy to have inductee Ed Staniowski taking part for the first time. After spending parts of 10 seasons in the National Hockey League, Staniowski joined the Canadian Forces and reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Joining Staniowski are Boldt, Lisa Franks, and Colette Bourgonje who were among the presenters when Never Give Up was offered this past spring. In total 1,134 students took part in Never Give Up in the spring of 2022. These four presenters all have unique and engaging stories to share with students across the province. All 10 Never Give Up sessions have been filled this fall.

Never Give Up earned a pair of esteemed awards this past June. The SSHF was honoured with the Museums Association of Saskatchewan’s MAS Award of Merit – Institution (under $50,000.00) for 2022 for Never Give Up. The program was also honoured with the Canadian Association for Sport Heritage’s CASH Award of Excellence.

The SSHF is grateful to have sponsorship support from SaskTel in order to make this program possible.

Success and service: Indigenous athletes make indelible mark on province

National Indigenous People’s Day is on June 21. In the spirit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 87th Call to Action, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame marks this day by celebrating Indigenous excellence and achievement in sport. In doing so, the SSHF also looks to put a spotlight on the challenges and hardships that the SSHF’s Indigenous inductees overcame in achieving their goals.

The SSHF currently has nine individual inductees who identify as Indigenous. Each has a unique story, but service to community and success over hardship are common themes with each athlete or builder.

Paul Acoose was from the Zagime Anishinabek (Sakimay) First Nation and came from a long line of distance runners. His competitive career was short, but he set a world record and defeated famed distance runner Tom Longboat before returning home to farm and raise a family.

Tony Cote had a lasting impact on the Cote First Nation where he created numerous athletic opportunities for young people. Those athletic opportunities extended across the province when he created the first Saskatchewan First Nations Summer Games in 1974. There is now a distinct Summer and Winter Games and they have both been named after Cote in his honour. Cote became Chief of the Cote First Nation also served during the Korean War.

Alex Decoteau

Alex Decoteau

Alex Decoteau has the distinction of being the first athlete born in what is now known as Saskatchewan to compete at the Olympic Games. Decoteau, from the Red Pheasant Cree Nation, finished sixth in the 5,000-metre run at the 1912 Stockholm Games despite suffering from leg cramps. He would also become the first Indigenous police officer in Canada and was killed serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1917 during the First World War.

David Greyeyes was another SSHF Indigenous inductee who served in the military. Greyeyes served in the Canadian Army during the Second World War. While overseas, the gifted soccer player, was a member of the Canadian team that won the Inter-Allied Games in 1946. He was chosen to represent Saskatchewan against top touring English teams in 1937, 1938 and 1949 – a testament to his longevity as a top player.

Jacqueline Lavallee and Fred Sasakamoose at the opening of the SSHF’s Indigenous sport exhibit at the University of Saskatchewan.
David Stobbe/StobbePhoto.ca

Jacqueline Lavallee was a two-sport star at the University of Saskatchewan where she was a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) All-Canadian in both soccer and basketball. She played for Canada at the World University Games twice and was a member of the women’s national basketball team for three years. She has been an assistant women’s basketball coach at the U of S for 14 seasons.

Jim Neilson was born in Big River, but grew up in an orphanage in Prince Albert. From those humble beginnings he would go on to play more than 1,000 games in the National Hockey League (NHL). Neilson spent 12 of his 16 years in the NHL with the New York Rangers where he played in a two NHL All-Star Games and finished fourth in voting for the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenceman in 1968. He finished his career in 1979 playing alongside Wayne Gretzky during his rookie season in Edmonton.

Claude Petit also served in the Canadian Army during the Korean War and he too would compete athletically while serving overseas. Petit was a five-time Canadian Army heavyweight boxing champion and was also the only Canadian to win the British Army Heavyweight title. Inducted as a builder, Petit coached Team Canada at international competitions, worked as an official for several years and served nine years as president of the Saskatchewan Boxing Association.

Fred Sasakamoose was born in the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, but was taken from his family when he was six and suffered abuse at the St. Michael’s Residential School. Sasakamoose managed to thrive as a hockey player, being named the Most Valuable Player in the Western Canada Junior Hockey League. He made his debut in the NHL with Chicago in 1953-54 at the age of 19. His NHL career lasted 11 games, but his story had an enduring impact. Sasakamoose became an important community leader and served as Chief for six years. He reclaimed his language, becoming fluent in Cree later in life and worked to promote and develop sport programs for youth including the Fred Sasakamoose “Chief Thunderstick” Championship. In 2018 he was made a member of the Order of Canada.

 Bryan Trottier is one of the most successful hockey players to come from Saskatchewan. He has won six Stanley Cups, the most of anyone in the province. Trottier scored 524 goals and had 1,425 points in 1,279 NHL regular-season games. He was also played in eight All-Star Games. The Hockey Hall of Famer wrote on the NHL website about his youth in Val Marie.

Kenneth Moore is inducted as a member of the 1930 Memorial Cup-champion Regina Pats hockey team. Moore would go on to win an Olympic gold medal in 1932 with a team based out of Winnipeg. Moore, from the Peepeekisis Cree Nation, is believed to be the first Indigenous person to win a gold medal for Canada. There is an excellent account of the toll the Residential School system had on the Moore family and how Kenneth’s parents were able to escape and spare him the same horrors that befell some of his siblings.

Colette Bourgonje won’t formally be inducted as a member of the Hall of Fame until the SSHF Induction Ceremony and Dinner on September 24, 2022. For the past two years she has been sharing her inspiring story as part of the SSHF’s award-winning Never Give Up educational program. A 10-time Paralympian, Bourgonje was the first Canadian to compete in both a Summer and Winter Paralympics. Eighteen years after her Paralympic debut she won Canada’s first medal at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame is proud to be located in Treaty 4 territory, home to the Cree, Dakota, Lakota, Nakoda, and Saulteaux people since time immemorial and are the traditional homelands of the Métis Nation. The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame also celebrates the history of sport and the people from the land that is covered by Treaties 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10. These lands have been the home of the Cree, Dakota, Dene, Lakota, Nakoda, and Saulteaux people since time immemorial and are the traditional homelands of the Métis Nation.

While National Indigenous People’s Day is an ideal time to celebrate and share these stories and resources, reconciliation is an ongoing process.

This spring, the Hall of Fame completed and began offering our Indigenous Legacies in Sport outreach program that is offered to schools. It is geared towards elementary school students and highlights some of the achievements and stories of Saskatchewan’s great Indigenous athletes and builders.

The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and the University of Saskatchewan have partnered on a display case and video kiosk celebrating Saskatchewan Indigenous athletes and their achievements. This exhibit is on permanent display in the Physical Activity Complex at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Kinesiology in Saskatoon.

Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame has created an incredible new resource for learning about Canada’s great Indigenous athletes. The Indigenous Sport Heroes Education Experience is a first-of-its-kind educational program that was designed to provide educators with the opportunity to integrate Indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing and being into their classrooms.

SSHF wins national sports heritage award again

The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame (SSHF) has won the Canadian Association for Sport Heritage’s CASH Award of Excellence for a second straight year.

This year, the SSHF was honoured for their Never Give Up education program at the Canadian Association for Sport Heritage (CASH) Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, June 1.

Never Give Up is an education program targeting at-risk students in Grades 4-8 which focuses on answering the question: what makes a person a “hero”? By discussing the concept of a hero, Never Give Up allows the students to understand that heroes are different for everyone and often they take the form of positive role models throughout each person’s community. Never Give Up is administered virtually and involves SSHF inductees who have overcome obstacles and hardships in order to achieve their own personal goals in sport and life. The students benefitting from this program represent a range of diverse life experiences and thus, so too do the presenters who currently include war refugees, amputees, and Paralympians.

Never Give Up really hit its stride in 2021 when Covid-19 required that all education programming be conducted virtually. Over the course of 24 sessions (six weeks in May/June and six weeks in October/November), the program reached 35 different communities and a total of 2,047 participants. The SSHF is grateful to have sponsorship support from SaskTel in order to make this program possible.

Inductees Arnold Boldt, Lisa Franks, and Ted Jaleta, along with Colette Bourgonje – who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this fall as a member of the Class of 2021 – shared their inspiring stories with students across the province.

Colette Bourgonje delivers a Never Give Up presentation to a class in 2021.

In 2021, the SSHF won the inaugural CASH Award of Excellence for their exhibit Prairie Pride: A History of Saskatchewan Football.

The CASH Award of Excellence was created to recognize and celebrate the achievements of CASH members. Projects were eligible to be nominated from four categories: museum, events, communication and collection.

The CASH Award of Excellence was evaluated by the Awards Selection Committee using a point system.

CASH is comprised of 70 members and is a national association of institutions, organizations, and individuals dedicated to the preservation of Canada’s rich sports heritage.

Meet the 2014 Sochi Saskatchewan Olympians & Paralympians

The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame will be hosting many of the 2014 Sochi Saskatchewan Olympians & Paralympians this afternoon, Tuesday May 6 between 4-6 p.m. for a public autograph session. What better place to do this than against a backdrop of our exhibit, The Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games presented by McDougall Gauley, which will close with the conclusion of this public event.

Admission to the autograph session is free. Donations are gratefully accepted.

Autograph cards will be offered to all attendees while supplies last.

Attending this afternoon’s event are athletes, coaches and volunteers from the Games, including:

Colette Bourgonje (Paralympian)
Adam Burwell (Olympic, Coach)
Kali Christ (Olympian)
Ben Coakwell (Olympian)
Karen Howard (Olympic, Official)
Brittany Hudak (Olympian)
Marsha Hudey (Olympian)
Curtis Hunt (Paralympic, Coach)
Wayne Kiel (Paralympic, Coach)
Susan Lang (Official)
Paige Lawrence (Olympian)
Ken McArton (Olympic, Official)
Todd McClements (Coach)
Scott Perras (Olympian)
Graeme Rinholm (Olympian)
Lyndon Rush (Olympian)
Rudi Swiegers (Olympian)
Chelsea Valois (Olympian)
Kaspar Wirz (Paralympic, Coach)

The SSHF thanks the Canadian Sport Centre, Saskatchewan and Sask Sport Inc. for making this opportunity possible.