HIGH ACHIEVERS: Revitalized Goulbourn Sports Wall of Fame transforms into Stittsville Sports Hall of Fame

By Martin Cleary

Allan Ryan has lived in Stittsville for the past 35 years and it means the world to the retired federal government employee, who has spread his wings in that community for business, sports and politics.

One day last year, he dropped into the Johnny Leroux Arena for a meeting of some sort. While he couldn’t remember specifically what the visit was about, he did leave the building with a lasting and painful memory.

The Stittsville and District Community Centre, which houses the arena, is one of two sites for the Goulbourn Sports Wall of Fame. The other location is the Richmond Memorial Community Centre. (The Township of Goulbourn takes in Stittsville, Richmond, Munster and Ashton.)

Ryan stopped to look at the plaques in the arena that honoured the great 19 athletes, builders and teams of the Goulbourn sports scene. He felt ashamed that many of the plaques had fallen into disrepair.

“Quite frankly, they were deplorable,” Ryan said about the state of the wall of fame plaques in a phone interview this week. “It had been let go. When the city amalgamated (2001), they never picked it up. It’s an integral part of a small community.

“We have a lot of great, local athletes and the wall is really important for us. Plaques were off (the wall) and pictures were missing. It looked terrible. I said to myself: ‘that’s not right.’”

Ryan used those words to fuel an initiative that has seen the rundown Goulbourn Sports Wall of Fame, which opened in the early 1990s, to be rebranded, re-established, revitalized and reborn as the Stittsville Sports Hall of Fame.

On Nov. 28, Ryan and project co-chair Bob Mills will stage the grand opening of the Stittsville Sports Hall of Fame at the CARDELREC Recreation Centre at 1500 Shea Road. The event will start at 7 p.m.

Past inductees or members of their families have been invited to attend the ceremony, which also will welcome four new members into the hall. The last induction ceremony was held in 2000. All the inductees will be escorted to the hall by a bagpiper and a ribbon will be cut to open the Stittsville Sports Hall of Fame.

“Stittsville has grown so much, it should have its own hall of fame,” said Mills, who was a former director of municipal parks and recreation for the Township of Goulbourn. “I’m excited about it. It was my stomping ground for 24 years.

“A fair number of athletes have gone on to the Olympic, international and pro levels and they should be honoured in the hall.”

Ryan and Mills said the names of the four new inductees would not be revealed until the night of the dinner to make it a big surprise for everyone.

“We want to keep it quiet and make a special night for them and the community,” Ryan explained. “They are four recognizable athletes. They look forward to sharing this with everyone on the 28th. The athletes are humbled by it.”

While Stittsville hasn’t honoured any of its elite national, international, Olympic, Paralympic or Special Olympic sports figures in 24 years, Ryan said the new hall will make amends by inducting four more in each of the coming years.

The Stittsville Sports Hall of Fame will be located in the hallway leading into the Matt Bradley Arena. A new ceiling has been installed with pot lights to shine on the plaques on the corridor walls.

“Whatever brought me to the (Johnny Leroux) arena that day I was in the hallway and saddened to see the state of it (wall of plaques),” Ryan added. “This was not right. We will make it right on November 28.”

Ryan and Mills have put in a lot of volunteer hours over the past year to create a bright and clean hall of fame from a tired and well-worn wall of fame.

A committee was formed by Ryan to handle the wall-to-hall transformation and he proudly said the project didn’t require any City of Ottawa money. Ryan and Mills also met with Ward 6 Stittsville councillor Glen Gower, who fully supported the idea.

One of his first tasks was to upgrade and modernize all the existing plaques. Ryan went into the Stittsville business community and was enthusiastically greeted by Stittsville Home Hardware Building Centre owner Bob Bent, who covered the cost of restoring the plaques.

A call went out to the Stittsville residents asking for nominations of deserving athletes, coaches, builders, officials and teams, who have made an impact on the national and/or international sports scene. Organizers more than met their goal.

Ryan and Mills were co-chairs of the selection committee, which included Ross MacGregor, Scott Phelan and Ross Bradley.

“I’m more excited for the athletes and the community,” Ryan enthused. “Sports are a big part of our community. I’ve played sports. Sports are really important. I’m so delighted for the kids of the community and to see the athletes grow up in the community.

“I’m excited for the previous inductees. And I’m more excited for the four new inductees. We are proud of them and they are proud of the community. They should be in the hall of fame.”

The original members of the hall of fame were: Ken Doraty, George Lyon, Steve Hull, Kyle Jamieson, Micheline Rioux Metcalfe, Brad Tierney, Dan Murphy, David Saunders, Frank Libera, Frank Dunster, Barclay Frost, Gordon Willis, Shelley McKay, Mike Hudson and Julie Steggall as well as the 1956 Stittsville softball team, the 1976-77 South Carleton High School Redskins boys’ hockey team, the 1972 Richmond Royals’ peewee hockey team, and the Richmond Curling Club’s 1992 Bell Cellular Governor-General’s double rink Ontario curling team.