Last Friday night was another nice night in a sequence of nice nights conducted by the Owen Sound Sports Hall of Fame.
The Hall, which started hosting Induction Nights more than 30 years ago, welcomed 10 new inductees Friday evening.
As I watched and listened to the inductees, I was struck by an interesting divide.
Five of the inductees, the Builders and the Special Merit inductees; Bill Dane, Harold Sutherland, Howie Traynor, Flea Christie and Earl Georgas are people you will encounter day after day in the city and region.
Interestingly, the 5 athletes inducted this time around; Bob Gray, Jerry Bouma, John Campbell, Bob Hamley & Jaquie Terry, now reside far beyond Owen Sound, living elsewhere in Ontario, Alberta and the United States.
The common denominator naturally is sports and the city of Owen Sound.
And with each acceptance speech, it was clearly obvious how much the city meant and how significant sports was to the fabric of the inductees’ lives.
Yes, there were segments were victories or defeats were featured, but the far more universal theme was the people- the people they played with, the people they played for, the people they encountered in city sports long ago on their way to the Owen Sound Sports Hall of Fame.
The next induction ceremony for the Owen Sound Sports Hall of Fame will be in 2014, and I eagerly anticipate the next opportunity to experience a walking & talking history of both sports and the city.
I’m Fred Wallace