for immediate press release
June 11th, 2011 - The Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame is proud to announce four new inductees to its ranks: two builders and two athletes, to be enshrined at its 13th Induction Dinner and Ceremony slated for October 1st 2011 in the Brian Orser Hall.
The committee received seven nomination packages from the general public by our May 31st deadline and all were well done. They gave the PSHOF committee great portraits of the nominees and invaluable historical information about them and their sport’s contribution. All nominators should be applauded for their fine efforts. The 2011 field of nominees are exceptional and indicate a rich and varied array of sporting life and accomplishments in and from Penetanguishene and area. Amazingly, all were not born here, but moved here and left their mark!
Builders-
1-Larry Banks, nominated by Jacquie Robson, was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, moved to and played minor hockey in Elmira, Ontario before coming to Penetanguishene as a young Phys-Ed teacher in 1970 at Penetanguishene Secondary School alongside another PSHOF Inductee, Mate Lichtenberg. Larry’s excellent coaching skills soon brought championships to PSS in football, hockey and track & field over his 17 year career. He was instrumental in organizing the first of many CKMP Track and Field Meets for local high schools. He was an avid supporter of local hockey, was on the Penetanguishene Minor Hockey executive for numerous years and ran many hockey and coaching clinics in the area throughout the 1970s and 80s. He was also a member of the Penetang Brulé Garrisons Intermediate “C” hockey team. In 1973, he established the Penetang-Midland Touch Football League which is still running!
2- Doug Mundy, nominated by Gilles Charlebois and the Penetanguishene Recreational Hockey League, was born in Brantford, Ont. and he moved to Penetanguishene in 1967 to teach at PSS. He immediately joined the executive of the Little NHL in Penetanguishene, coaching and being involved extensively for 20 years. He was voted “Mr. Hockey” in 1972, and won the CKMP Coach of the Year Award in 1974. He was an instrumental executive member, secretary, treasurer and fundraiser with the Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame committee from 1990 until 2006. He was also a minor baseball coach in town and a basketball coach at PSS. Since 1989, he has been timekeeper, statistician, publicity director, treasurer, secretary and Executive Director of the men’s Rec Hockey League, and he is still going!
Athletes -
3- Edmund Desrochers Jr., nominated by Madeline Twitchin, was born in Welland, Ontario, but moved to Penetanguishene in 1944. He soon took up the sport of boxing at the age of 14 when he hung a punching bag in the family barn. As an amateur he won several bouts, winning The Armand Trophy in 1960, The G.H. Wells Trophy and the Northern Ontario Championship in 1961. He signed a professional contract with boxing manager John Duncan in 1962 and later that year he won the Buffalo Boys Town Golden Gloves Championship at Madison Square Gardens in New York. In 1964, he was on the preliminary boxing card at Maple Leaf Gardens of the first Cassius Clay-Sonny Liston fight broadcast from Miami. Edmund, a hard puncher, was “born to be a boxer”, but without proper training and a good manager, he retired from boxing at 26 years of age.
4- Chris Kontos, nominated by Dave Young and Stan LeClair, was born in Toronto but his family moved to the Waubashene area where he played minor hockey in Coldwater. He moved up to play junior hockey for the Sudbury Wolves and the Jr A Toronto Marlboros. He played for the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins and the Los Angeles Kings before joining the Tampa Bay Lightning in their inaugural season in 1992. This same year he moved his young family to Penetanguishene while toiling for the Lightning. In 1993, he played for the Canadian National Team when they won Silver in Lillehammer, Germany and was escorted down the Main St. on the town fire truck. He would play with the Nationals again the following season. He also played for the IHL Cincinnati Cyclones, Quebec Rafales and the Manitoba Moose. He retired home to Penetanguishene after the 1997-98 season with the Revier Lions of the DEL.
The PSHOF now boasts 177 individuals amongst: 64 Inductees made up of, 30 Athletes, 9 Teams and 25 Builders, representing 18 different sports: hockey, track & field, soccer, wrestling, football, tennis, baseball, ball hockey, softball, karate, horse racing, curling, figure skating, golf, swimming, bowling, boxing and volleyball!
The 2011 PSHOF Induction Dinner & Ceremony will take place on Saturday, October 1st, 2011 at the Brian Orser Hall. The tickets will be available towards the end of the summer. It promises to be a historical evening and tickets will be in great demand as seating will be limited. Further details to follow. |
May 31, 2013 is final day for Nominations
A Penetanguishene Wartime Tragedy of a Different Kind - How WW2 Changed the Life of Phil Marchildon (By Bob Bald)
