As of Saturday night there are officially six new members of the Yorkton Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
Don Chesney joins the Hall of Fame for his work as both an athlete and builder of hockey, while Blaine Knoll and Mike Matich also enter the hallowed halls with the double title of athlete/builder, Knoll for football and Matich for gymnastics.
Joining the three dual inductees are baseball's Bryce Jacobs as a builder and former NHLer Larry Popein as an athlete in hockey.
The 2002-03 Yorkton Harvest are also inducted into the Hall of Fame in the team category for their run to the 2003 Air Canada Cup tournament, where they finished as the fourth best midget 'AAA' team in the nation.
"We're very honoured to induct these individuals and this team into the Yorkton Sports Hall of Fame," suggested Yorkton SHOF board member Darren Spelay immediately following the official induction ceremony Saturday night. "I think's not only great for them but for their families as well to get that recognition because they all sacrificed a lot to get to where they are."
However the members of the board of directors aren't the only people to be honoured by the six inductees.
The inductees themselves, such as current Director of Marketing and Public Relations for the Yorkton Terriers Don Chesney, are also humbled and honoured by this occasion. "It's a big honour for us and I know all of the other guys are so excited because whether you're a coach, player or builder you put a lot of time in and it's great to have everyone here tonight and I'm so proud to be inducted," offered Chesney, adding that being inducted into the Yorkton Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is right up there with winning the Royal Bank Cup in 2013.
Future inductees
With the Class of 2014 successfully inducted into the Hall of Fame, Spelay and the rest of the board of directors will now focus on the next batch of nominations and inductees. "We've been working on this group over the last three years but now it's time to focus on the next group," suggested Spelay. "We've got some names already and some papers are already out so when those come back in we will evaluate them and hopefully we'll have another banquet next year."
Spelay also mentioned that, while they already have some names submitted to induction review, the public can still submit names of athletes, builders or teams that they believe deserve a spot in the Hall of Fame. "Absolutely anyone can be nominated for review," offered Spelay, continuing, "We have members from baseball and hockey but we also have a water skier and some curling teams so no one is omitted."
Spelay went on to add that nomination forms could be picked up from any of the members of the board of directors or from City Hall and that any member of the public could recommend someone for the induction review and process.
Note: Larry Popein (athlete, hockey) was unable to attend and therefore not photographed.
