Volleyball, slo-pitch inducts members to halls of fame

Winnipeg

At its annual awards and hall of fame banquet on June 7, Volleyball Manitoba announced its newest group of hall of fame inductees. Alicia Ogoms was inducted in the athlete category and Grant Wilson and Wilma Fehr were honoured as builders.

Ogoms, who represented Canada internationally for nearly a decade, played for the University of Southern California, Canada’s National Senior Women, and in professional leagues in four countries. Wilson coached the Brandon University Bobcats men to multiple Canada West titles and the U Sports national championship in 2025. Fehr is described as an athletic therapist, coach, mentor and volunteer, who has served the sport for more than 30 years in our province and country.

Slo-Pitch National (SPN) Manitoba will induct one player, one umpire and three builders into its Field of Dreams Hall of Fame later this year. Gary Ellis played slo-pitch softball for more than 30 years, including in countless provincial and several national championships. He later became a SPN umpire. Gerry Hiebert became an umpire for SPN in 2004. He is considered to be one of the top umpires by his peers and has worked in six national championships.

Builder Natasha Sanburn of Thompson, Man., was described as “the eyes and ears of the Northern part of Manitoba” for her 20-plus years of service. Kent Kamenz, who has served 25 years as the regional director of SPN National, finally has accepted his long overdue induction. Leadership, dedication, and passion are words that best describe Kent.

In his bio, builder Scott Neiles is described as a major influence, volunteer, and leader within the sport in this province. He was an owner of Home Run Sports where SPN Manitoba has had an office for 15 years. He served as a director of Softball Manitoba and currently is the president of Softball Canada.

This seems to be the perfect time for a history lesson on the “relationship” between Slo-Pitch National and Softball Canada and later SPN Manitoba and Softball Manitoba. In the mid-1980s, when the slo-pitch version was proving to be much more popular than fast pitch, the Softball Canada directors, all fast pitch people, formed a five-person national committee to bring forth recommendations on how to develop slo-pitch under its umbrella. Because of my role as a past-president of Softball Manitoba and a founder and later commissioner of the Winnipeg Men’s Slo-Pitch League (WMSPL), I was appointed as the committee rep for the Prairies. The WMSPL with its more than 100 teams was registered with Softball Manitoba.

The committee headed by Jackie Sheppard from Ontario met several times and brought forth a report on how the national organization could develop that version of the sport. For some reason that the committee members never understood, the executive chose not to present the report at the annual meeting attended by voting delegates of the provincial softball associations. It became a dead issue, which proved to be a drastic mistake for Softball Canada.

To put it bluntly, Sheppard was incensed and decided it was time to move forward without Softball Canada and form a slo-pitch organization. She called me and asked for my support. While I understood the need, I decided not to get involved as I was planning to cut back on my involvement with softball. As a result of her drive and leadership, the Slo-Pitch National Softball Inc. was formed in 1989 with the initiation of tournaments, league and team memberships, and umpire programs tailored for Canada’s slo-pitch community. It was dedicated to serving the slo-pitch community nationwide.

Here in Manitoba, Harold Petrowski took on the leadership role in forming Slo-Pitch Manitoba. Among those involved in the early days were Bev Hendrickson, Adam Mordarski, and Greg Ferguson. Much of the early interest came from the Winnipeg Co-ed Slo-Pitch League. Ferguson, who was a playing coach in the WMSPL, was the driving force with the Winnipeg Women’s Slo-Pitch League. The 2026 version of the league has 12 teams. SPN Manitoba has more than 700 teams registered this year in men’s, women’s, co-ed, and senior divisions with co-ed making up the majority.

Today Softball Manitoba essentially is a fast-pitch organization focusing on minor categories with age groups from U11 to U19. From Aug. 13 to 16, Softball Manitoba will host the U15 boys and girls Western Canadian Championships in Winkler. In 2026, the only Softball Manitoba adult provincial championships will be 50-plus masters men fast pitch and one competitive and two recreational 55-plus divisions for slo-pitch. The fast pitch championship will be in Onanole, Man., July 18 and 19. The slo-pitch is scheduled for John Blumberg Park Aug. 31 to Sept. 2.