Meet the 2023 Brant Sports Hall of Fame Inductees

By Casandra Turnbull

The 2023 Brant Sports Hall of Fame inductees were formally approved last month, marking the first time a group of athletic champions will be inducted into the Hall of Fame since 2019. The induction ceremonies will take place later this year. There were a lot of nominees with roots tied to Paris. Seven of the nine 2023 nominations come from the Paris talent pool while four of the seven inductees are all from (or were born and raised in) Paris. Dennis McKinna, Bill Cracknell, Robert Perley, Linda Madden and Don Pancoe and Keith & Elaine Hall are this year’s inductees.

Every year the County asks for nominations to recognize individual and team achievements, to recognize the efforts of builders of sport in the community, to foster civic pride by recognizing accomplishments of local athletes, teams and builders and to create public awareness of health and well-being

In 2022, the 1958 Brant Oxford Intermediate C Ladies Champions were inducted into the Hall of Fame. In 2019 (several years with no inductions due to Covid) Baylea Wilkins was inducted as the Athlete, Roger and Edith Davis as builders and the 1980-1981 Burford Minor Hockey Bantam Team as the inducted team. The Sports Hall of Fame Ad Hoc Committee has met at council chambers in April, May and again in June to discuss year’s nominees, inductees and ceremony details.

Here’s a look at the Paris inductees and nominees and why they were selected as Hall of Fame calibre players/builders.

Dennis Mckinna

Dennis McKinna has volunteered more than 50 years in various capacities within the recreation activities in the County of Brant.

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Bob Perley receives the Ontario CurlOn Volunteer Award this past April for all his hard work and contributions to the Paris Curling Club over the years. Bob is one of four people being inducted into the Brant Sports Hall of Fame Bob is pictured is the club’s outgoing president Craig McComb

He started coaching in the Paris Athletic Association (later becoming the Paris Minor Hockey Association) in 1968 as a Pewee House League coach. He also enjoyed years of referring within PMHA and the Grand Valley Hockey League OMHA playdowns. He held numerous positions within the PMHA executive until the late 1990s He also convened for the Ontario Minor HockeyAssociation (and still does).

In the summer, he was an active executive member of Paris Minor Softball Association as a carded umpire for 32 years Over the years he has been honoured with a number of distinctions: Expositor Volunteer of Distinction Award 1992; Minor Hockey Association (SCMHA) Induction as a Life Member in 2016; Grand River Local League (GRLL) Induction as a Life Member in 2017; and Ontario Municipal Recreation Community Association Award for Volunteering on the Town of Paris Recreation Committee

Billcracknell

Bill Cracknell’s history within the local hockey league dates to the 1960s when he was President of the Paris Minor Hockey League. At that time, he was also the convenor of the Paris Peewee local league and convened the Peewee tournament for 15 years. He is credited with starting the Grand Valley Hockey League consisting of players from Burford, Paris and St. George He was President of the Southern Counties Hockey Association in 1978, 1979 and 1980 He handled OMHA playoff contracts and Paris Minor Hockey OMHA contracts for 45 years.

He received the Lifetime Award from Southern Countries Hockey Association in 2017.

He is a well-respected resident as well. He received the Volunteer of the Year Award for the Town of Paris in 1991, a Celebration 88 Award from the Paris Olympic Awards Committee in 1988 for his community volunteerism and an Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Recreation Award in 1987.

Robert Perley

Bob Perley, as he is commonly known, has lived in Paris his entire life.

He’s been a member of the Paris Curling Club since 1960, one year after they moved to the current facility on OakAvenue.

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Bob has served in every capacity with the curling club from Bonspiel coordinator to President He is a Past President of the Club and was a co-ordinator and convener of the Thursday Morning Mixed Curling league for over 20 years.

In addition to his work on the ice, he’s also served in just as equal of a capacity off the ice. He was a volunteer fair parking liaison for over 5 years, has served as an Ice maker, cleaner and mentor at the Paris Curling Club, he’s still responsible for grounds and maintenance and is a major driver of the club’s business sponsorship packages.

In 2017, Bob led the largest renovation (since the construction of the original building) in the Curling Club history with the floor replacement project, serving as designer and project manager. The last 2 two years during Covid 19 restrictions, Bob still was in charge of maintenance and well - being of the Club building He still either repairs things himself or has the lead in calling in trades to perform maintenance if someone can convince him to use a professional service.

Bob has garnered the respect all everyone within the Curling Club, surrounding clubs, and industry specialist whom he has been in contact with The biggest take away from all the above noted accomplishments is Bob is a volunteer. He acts as a manager and keeper of the Paris Curling Club as a volunteer.

Lindamadden

Linda Madden was born at the Willett and raised in Paris. She attended Paris Central and Queens Ward School before graduating from Paris High. She’s been a member of the Ontario Provincial Police, Brant Detachment, since 2002 As a well-rounded and naturally gifted athlete, her prowess spans across multiple sports, but some of her most notable accomplishments happened on the baseball diamond.

In 1977, 1984 and 1985, Linda was a member of the Bad News Bears

Brant County Fastball Champions

Ladies ‘A’ team. She won MVP in 1984 She racked up three more championship titles in Brant County between 1987-89 and a Tri Counties Championship win in 1998.

Between 1990 and 2018, Linda has played on 10 Provincial Championship Slo Pitch teams, one Canadian Championship team and one Canadian finalist team. She’s competed in the Huntsman World Senior Games bringing home a silver in 2014 (50+), a gold in 2019 (50+), two bronze in 2022 (50+, 55+ and 60) and she’s off to the games again in October 2023 to compete in the 50+ and 55+ divisions.

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On the basketball court, Linda still holds many longstanding records. In 1979 she set the record at Mohawk College for scoring 52 points in a game The record was then tied in 1980 and shared with Linda until 2009 When Linda set the record there was no 3-point line as the current record was broken using the 3-point line.

Also, in 1979 Linda had the most 2-point field goals in a game, a record that is shared with another female still to this day over 40 years later.

Linda played competitive co-ed volleyball in Brantford from 1996-2002. In 2012 she travelled to Michigan for the Senior Olympics where she won a Bronze Medal in the “Ladies 50+” division

Alook At The Other Paris Nominees

The other Paris nominees included the 1994-1995 Paris District High School Senior Boys’ Basketball team: Blair Goodman, Mark Sutherland, Bill England Jr, Matt Kerr, Dave MacDonald, Dan Hammond, John Thompson, Adam Sleeth, and Jason Rupert. Head Coach Ross Enslev and Assistant Coach Bill Lord; and Ronald Hampson, a Paris resident for over 40 years and a National Judo Heavyweight Champion; and Steve Fergus, the man who revived the football culture at Paris High School after nearly fifty years and led the 2022 Senior Boys’ team to the A.A.B.H.N championship title.