CANADIAN BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

ROWAN BARRETT (ATHLETE)

One of the longest-standing Canadian basketball players, Rowan Barrett, proudly represented Canada throughout a 17-year career with the national team, including at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games as team captain. As a member of the national team from 1991 to 2008, Barrett proudly represented Canada internationally on six continents (North America, South America, Europe, Australia, Asia, and Africa) and led Canada to a silver medal at the 1999 Tournament of the Americas. Originally from Scarborough, Ontario, Barrett’s two-decade basketball career began at Scarborough’s West Hill Collegiate Institute in 1987, through New York’s St. John’s University from 1992-96 until he retired following professional stops in Spain, Argentina, Venezuela, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, France, and Italy.

DON CLINE (OFFICIAL)

One of Canada’s most decorated and highly respected basketball officials, Don Cline, officiated all levels of the game in Canada and worldwide throughout his over 40 years as an official. Cline began officiating in 1970 and just five years later received his FIBA license in 1975. He would go on to officiate two Olympic Games, 1984 in Los Angeles and 1996 in Atlanta, three Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, three World Championships on the men’s side and two more on the women’s. At home, Cline was also a fixture at the university level, officiating 22 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) men’s basketball championships. Off the court, he was active in his local board as a mentor, board member, and clinician who regularly gave his time to help grow the game within the officials’ community. After retiring from officiating in 2002, Cline was awarded the Fox 40 High Performance Award for officiating excellence by the Sports Officials of Canada and was inducted into the Ontario Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. Tragically, Cline passed away suddenly in 2011 at just sixty-four years old.

JOEY JOHNSON (ATHLETE)

Often considered one of best power players in the world throughout a wheelchair basketball career that lasted nearly two decades, from 1995 until 2002, Joey Johnson represented Canada for almost two decades, including at five Paralympic Games, capturing three gold medals (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, and London 2012), and one silver (Beijing 2008). He also won a gold medal at the World Championships in 2006 and a Junior World Championship gold in 1997. Johnson was diagnosed with a degenerative hip disease at eight years old and began playing wheelchair basketball the following year. He’d go on to play collegiate wheelchair basketball at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before playing professionally in both Australia and Germany, where he’d lead his RSV Lahn-Dill club team to seven German league titles in eight years and seven of eight German Cup crowns, winning both trophies six times in the same year. Johnson has been inducted into the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame, Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame.