Women instrumental to building sport in Manitoba

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/10/2021 (252 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With October being Women’s History Month in Canada, Memories of Sport continues the celebrate women builders who have made contributions to sport in our province and beyond. More than 20 individual sports halls of fame and honour societies have recognized their best , so not all will get their due here.

Many builders were also athletes and were honoured as athlete/builders or in an all-around category.

In 2009, coach Jill Mathez was the first woman inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame (a multi-sport athlete who was good at everything she played, Mathez is also in the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and the Softball Hall of Fame).

Dianne Woods, who spent 16 years as executive director of Hockey Winnipeg, joined Mathez in 2015. Jean Mayne, who was a minor softball builder, became the first female president of Softball Manitoba in 1984. She entered the softball shrine with its second group in 2003. Builders from the 1930s, Elizabeth McKenzie Haid and Mary Phillips went into the Manitoba Basketball HOF in 1984. Isabel (Duncan) Thomson has been recognized for her volunteer work by both the provincial basketball and softball halls.

Iris Callis and Felicity Warner, who formed Manitoba’s first ringette team in Wildwood in 1969, were the initial inductees into the Ringette Manitoba HOF in 1990.

Joyce Collier, who served as president of the Manitoba Golf HOF, was inducted as a builder in 2012. Lorraine MacLeod, a past-president of the Manitoba Ladies Golf Association, was inducted in 2014.

The Ten Pin Federation HOF has inducted builders Cathy Burton, Kathy Mitchell and Donna Wass. Lawn bowling doesn’t have a provincial HOF, but Clarice Fitzpatrick entered the Sports HOF as an athlete-builder in 2012. Her volunteer work included coaching, umpiring, and serving as the Manitoba director to Bowls Canada.

Pixie Bruzzell from equestrian was the only woman to serve as chair of the Manitoba Sports Federation (MSF), which eventually evolved into Sport Manitoba. Janet McMahon is the first female president and CEO of Sport Manitoba. Sue Boreskie, who serves on the Canada Games Council board of directors, has a lengthy volunteer resume. She was president of the Canadian Association for Athletes with Mental Handicaps, and has been a director of the Commonwealth Games of Canada Association and the Coaches Association of Manitoba.

In 1994, former Winnipeg Free Press reporter Barbara Huck was the first woman named to the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association media roll of honour. Sportswriters Ashley Prest and Judy Owen have since been added. Ina Light, who wrote a column on women’s curling for the Free Press, has been inducted into both the provincial and Curling Canada halls as an athlete-builder. Her positions included serving as Canada’s ladies representative on the International Curling Federation from 1986 through 1989.   

Colleen Horton, who is described as having "been there and done it all" in her Rugby HOF biography, will be inducted as a builder when the 2020 class will finally be honoured on Oct. 15, 2022.

Laura Shea, who is a member of the 2021 Football Manitoba HOF induction class, spent more than two decades volunteering for amateur football. Vickie Czarnecki, who died on Sept. 11, was the first woman inducted into the Winnipeg Blue Bomber HOF. She worked for the club in many roles from 1954 to 1991.

Marilyn (Mouse) Fraser, a coach, official and the first woman president of the Manitoba Runners’ Association, entered its HOF with its first group in 2006. She is also part of the Manitoba Sports HOF class of 2020 that has had its induction delayed owingto COVID-19.

The first section — featuring multi-sport athlete Ralph Lyndon, hockey athlete-builder Sheldon Kennedy, racquetball’s Jennifer Saunders, and the 1996 and ’97 U of M Bisons women’s basketball teams — will be inducted on Nov. 4.

The second group — featuring Fraser, volleyball player Ruth Klassen, curler Ed Werenich, Baxter Humby of kickboxing/muay-thai, and multi-sport builder Paul Robson will be honoured at the Sport Manitoba Night of Champions on April 21, 2022.