HIGH ACHIEVERS: Heather Wallace’s living legacy in squash to be celebrated among 5 Ottawa Sports Awards lifetime achievement honours

By Martin Cleary

For the past 37 years, Heather Wallace has been the commander of Squash Central in Ottawa, given she was a world-class player and remains a renowned coach and tireless competition organizer.

And her achievements and dedication to squash, which will make its Summer Olympic Games debut in 2028, hasn’t gone unnoticed by officials in her sport and the Ottawa sports community.

Organizers of the Ottawa Sports Awards Dinner have been one of her greatest admirers and they’ve stepped forward again this year.

On Feb. 7, Wallace will be one of four recipients in the Lifetime Award category. She will be recognized for her years of dedicated and productive coaching young players in Ottawa as well as national women’s teams at international championships and Games.

“It’s a real honour to be nominated and a great surprise (to win the award),” Wallace said in a phone interview. “It made me think back. I’ve been coaching 40 years. I started coaching young kids (in 1983), when I was in university and have done it ever since.”

Lifetime awards also will be presented to Jean (Rocky) Lamontagne (speed skating, technical official), Bruce Meredith (adaptive snow sports, volunteer/administrator) and Martin Comtois (Le Droit sportswriter, sport media).

The Mayor’s Cup was won by Phyllis Bergmans, who is “a driving force supporting youth sports participation in Ottawa and a strong advocate for girls and women to be involved at all levels of sport,” read the Ottawa Sports Awards Dinner press release.

Winners will be announced shortly for the athletes, teams and coaches of the year as well as the individual sport award winners. There also will be Special Recognition Award winners.

When Wallace emigrated to Canada in 1986 via England, Scotland, Zimbabwe and Zambia, she made an immediate impact on the Ottawa squash scene.

In 1987, she won the first of her seven individual sport awards at the Ottawa Sports Awards Dinner as the city’s squash player of the year. She followed that by winning the award again in 1989, 1991 and 1993 through 1996.

As a coach, she watched nine of her athletes win the squash player-of-the-year award 20 times, including Samantha Cornett (five times), Iman Shaheen (four), Runa Reta (three) and Robin Clarke (three).

As a player, Wallace reached the women’s singles quarterfinals for the third time in her career at the 1992 world championships. The third-ranked player in the world in 1984, she left the international circuit from 1989-91 to focus on obtaining her Canadian citizenship, but rebounded to world No. 6 in 1992 and 1993.

From 1987 to 1997, Wallace was undefeated against all Canadian female squash players and won 11 consecutive national women’s singles championships. She also captured the 1987 Judy Traviss Trophy as the North American women’s singles champion.

Wallace represented Canada at six world women’s team championships in the 1990s and sparked her national team to a sixth-place result in 1992. She was a double gold medallist (women’s singles and women’s team) at the 1995 Pan-American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Showing her versatility, Wallace and Jamie Crombie of Calgary teamed to win the bronze medal at the 1987 world international mixed doubles championships in Hong Kong.

An NCCP Level 4 coach, Wallace was appointed national team coach for three world women’s team championships (1994, 1996, 2004), the world junior team championships (1991, 1993, 1999), the Commonwealth Games (1998) and the Pan-Am championships (2004).

She has been the teaching pro at Goodlife Queensview, formerly Queensview Athletic Club, for more than 20 years.

As a professional player, she won more than 40 titles around the world, including 10 tournaments on the women’s professional circuit. At Goodlife Queensview, she has organized 16 women’s professional events as well as a number of national, provincial, city and club championships.

By being a multi-faceted person in the sport, she has been inducted into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame (2003), Squash Canada’s Wall of Fame (2005), and the Ontario Squash Hall of Fame (2007). She was selected as one of the top 100 sporting icons in Ottawa from 1900-1999 by The Ottawa Citizen newspaper in December, 1999.

“She has more than cemented her legacy as a dynamic and vital part of squash in Ottawa, thanks to her dedication to coaching,” the press release read.

JEAN (ROCKY) LAMONTAGNE, Technical Official

A widely respected and recognized Level 5 starter for the International Skating Union and Speed Skating Canada, Jean Lamontage has been committed to oval skating for more than 35 years.

But he hasn’t forgotten his roots, as he attends Ottawa Pacers Speed Skating Club practices twice a week at the Bell Sensplex, where he’ll manage equipment for skaters ages four to 84 years old.

He is a past winner of the Speed Skating Canada Officials’ Award of Excellence for assisting in the development of race officials.

“His infectious enthusiasm for the sport instills a love for the sport with new skaters from the outset,” the press release read. “Rocky embodies the spirit of camaraderie and sportsmanship, and his passion and dedication leave a lasting impression on those that know him.”

BRUCE MEREDITH, Volunteer/administrator

Recently retired as president of the Ottawa Ski Hawks, Bruce Meredith spent 35 years developing a top-notch adaptive downhill skiing and snowboarding program for blind and visually-impaired skiers.

He could be seen on the hill serving in the areas of technical support, taking video or acting as a guide for Ski Quebec Alpin Para team racer Bradley Barker.

Meredith also dedicated time to the Canadian Adaptive Snowsports, the National Capital Division board and was a national board member on the technical committee for Canadian Adaptive Snowsports. He assisted in re-writing the blind and visually-impaired modules.

The Ottawa Ski Hawks’ Volunteer-of-the-Year award is named after Meredith.

“Meredith has put his heart and soul into Ski Hawks Ottawa, and his impact has been felt by several generations of skiers,” the press release read.

MARTIN COMTOIS, Sport media

One of the most versatile sports journalists in Ottawa, Martin Comtois is comfortable and competent covering any amateur or professional competition.

Comtois, the 10th recipient of the Sport Media award, started working at Le Droit in 1998 and has been on the Ottawa/Gatineau sports beat for 25 years.

He’s covered athletes from the grassroots up to the top international level and shared countless stories from the local sports scene with Ottawa’s French-language readers.

MAYOR’S CUP, Phyllis Bergmans

During her time as a board member with the City of Ottawa Ringette Association and the South Ottawa Little League baseball organization, Phyllis Bergmans has delivered full energy in all her roles.

She thrives on helping others and steps forward with a positive attitude to help, whether she’s an assistant ringette coach or an association president.

“That approach has allowed the City of Ottawa Ringette Association to be a leader in developing women as head coaches, build a popular Ringette for All program and implement a Breaking Down Barriers program, which works to reduce or remove systemic barriers that exist for ice sport participation,” the press release read.

“From media relations to sponsorship to joining her first ringette team as a player at the age of 40, just to ensure she understood the flow of the game from the players’ perspective, Phyllis Bergmans’ passion and vision have made sport in Ottawa better.”